Intent is language.

• For every word we use to describe where we want to go, there's another word that we're walking away from.
• For example: If you want something to be relaxing, it's harder to make it educational.
• The words we choose matter. They represent the ideas we want to bring into the world.
• We need words so we can make plans. We need words to turn ideas into things.
• By choosing those words, we completely changed our options.

What is good?

• Language is any system of communication that exists to establish shared meaning.
• Even within a single language, one term can mean something in situation A and something different in situation B. We call this a homograph.
• Perception is the process of considering, and interpreting something. Perception is subjective like truth is.

Good is in the eye of the beholder.

• When we don't define what good means for our stakeholders and users, we aren't using language to our advantage.
• Without a clear understanding of what is good, bad can come out of nowhere.
• Every decision you make should support what you've defined as good: from the words you choose to the tasks you enable, and everything in between.

Looking good versus being good.

• Pretty things can be useless, and ugly things can be useful. Beauty and quality are not always related.
• When making things, we should aim to give equal attention to looking good and being good. If either side of that duality fails, the whole suffers.
• As sensemakers, we may fall victim to these same assumptions about the relationships between beauty and quality of thought.
• If we're going to sort out the messes around us, we need to ask difficult questions and go deeper than how something looks to determine if it's good or not.

Meaning can get lost in translation.