Long Long

A journey begins

Week 9: Annual Reviews & iPhone 16: My Quick Review

Hi friends,

This week, I want to share a bit about what’s been happening both at work and in life.

Work-Related

In my last post, I mentioned a project I was deep into – well, now I’m onto a new one! I somehow thought Q4 might slow down, but nope, it’s packed. Between project planning for 2025, more meetings, and annual review and career path discussions, there’s a lot going on.

Two years ago, when I’d just joined, I was working on only one or two projects. My first annual review was a scramble – I reflected on everything, tried to condense it into a few words, and submitted it just in time. Then last year, ChatGPT was trending, and everyone was discussing how to use it to streamline reviews. As a non-native English speaker, I found it super helpful. I listed each project, what I did, the challenges, and how I tackled them, organized everything in Google Docs, and then used ChatGPT to help me pull it together. After that, I went back and forth editing to make sure it covered everything I wanted to say.

This year, with our new organizational focus on metrics and impact, it’s even easier to summarize what I’ve done. I pulled data from our Slack channels and documented my contributions, challenges, and results. ChatGPT helped summarize it again, and I refined the language to talk equally about each project. With ChatGPT’s help and practice from writing more, I’m feeling more comfortable with writing blog posts and reviews. For next year, I plan to keep a monthly work journal – plus a small reminder that each annual review question has a 300-word limit!

Design & Interface Inspirations
Dynamic Wallpaper & Memories

Switching to an iPhone 16 Pro recently, I discovered the shuffle wallpaper feature – a pleasant surprise. I’ve kept my dad’s photo as my lock screen since he passed five years ago, so seeing that photo daily is meaningful. But with a new baby this year and over 5,000 photos in my album, I want to see those memories too. Thanks to this shuffle feature, I can have both – all the photos I love appear when I pick up my phone. My Apple Watch now has a rotating photo of my cats as well, so I feel surrounded by all the people and pets I love.

From a product designer’s perspective, though, I think the user experience could be improved. It took some trial and error to get the shuffle set up – I spent a lot of time selecting photos from my album and then struggled to add them to the wallpaper. There were times when the images didn’t display as intended and couldn’t be deleted easily. On the customization screen, there are six rectangles stacked together, which show the selected shuffle photos when tapped. But this stacked layout isn’t very intuitive. There’s also a white circle with three dots for menu options like ‘Show in Library’ and ‘Shuffle Frequency,’ but this could be more user-friendly and clear for anyone not familiar with the feature.

Event Planning with Partiful

I also want to share an app I tried out recently called “Partiful” for organizing my daughter’s first birthday party. Usually, I just send out texts, but it’s hard to keep track of RSVPs and details. A friend recommended Partiful, and it made everything so easy. It’s simple to create an event: enter a title, choose a GIF as the main photo (a fun touch!), set a date, and enter more details. I loved being able to choose a theme and effects, giving it a fancy microsite feel that I kept tapping into just to look at! It also made it easy to invite friends by sharing the link, keeping everything in one place. Partiful streamlined the whole invitation process, making hosting less stressful and more fun.

These are some updates from me this week. Thanks for following along! I hope you found some helpful tips here. Till next time.

Long

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