Kathy Sierra

Programming instructor and game developer; co-creator of O’Reilly’s Head First book series and author of Badass: Making Users Awesome (2015). Wrote the Creating Passionate Users blog from 2004 to 2007 and the Serious Pony blog from 2013 to 2014.

Kathy Sierra did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake

Creating Passionate Users (archived)Serious Pony (archived)Interviews Books

What they believe

The most dangerous time for a woman with online visibility is when others are seen to be listening and following her.

I now believe the most dangerous time for a woman with online visibility is the point at which others are seen to be listening, "following", "liking", "favoriting", retweeting.

web.archive.orgSaid 7 Oct 2014This on korrents
For non-professional performers, the audience attends a session for their own experience rather than for the presenter.

Because unless you're a paid performer - musician, comedian, motivational speaker - you are not the reason they came to the conference. They are sitting in your session because of someone that matters far more to them than you: themselves. They are there for their own experiences, and "watching you present" is not one of those experiences.

web.archive.orgSaid 4 Oct 2013This on korrents

The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.

All 27 beliefs, on korrents

Feed

As its own page →

Everything, newest first — across every channel.

Sources

7 October 2014

Kathy SierraKorrents 7 Oct 2014

From one piece Trouble at the Koolaid Point 3 beliefs · web.archive.org

korrents.com
Law enforcement agencies in the United States are unlikely to take action when individuals are harassed online.

America

Their words

You're probably more likely to win the lottery than to get any law enforcement agency in the United States to take action when you are harassed online, no matter how viscously and explicitly.

Trouble at the Koolaid Pointweb.archive.org
korrents.com
Twitter acts as a hate amplifier that boosts the power and speed of trolls.

Their words

Twitter, for all its good, is a hate amplifier. Twitter boosts signal power with head-snapping speed and strength. Today, Twitter (and this isn't a complaint about Twitter, it's about what Twitter enables) is the troll's best weapon for attacking you.

Trouble at the Koolaid Pointweb.archive.org
korrents.com
The most dangerous time for a woman with online visibility is when others are seen to be listening and following her.

Their words

I now believe the most dangerous time for a woman with online visibility is the point at which others are seen to be listening, "following", "liking", "favoriting", retweeting.

Trouble at the Koolaid Pointweb.archive.org

4 October 2013

Kathy SierraKorrents 4 Oct 2013

From one piece Presentation Skills Considered Harmful 3 beliefs · web.archive.org

korrents.com
A presenter should aim to act as a user interface that enables an experience without drawing attention to themselves.

design

Their words

And if it's a user experience, then what am I? Ah... now we're at the place where stage fright starts to dissolve. Because if the presentation is a user experience, than I am just a UI. That's it. I am a UI. Nothing more. And what's a key attribute of a good UI? It disappears. It does not draw attention to itself. It enables the user experience, but is not itself the experience.

Presentation Skills Considered Harmfulweb.archive.org
korrents.com
The most important aspect of a presentation is the post-UX experience, or what happens to the audience as a result of the presentation.

design

Their words

Because what matters most is NOT the UX but the POST-UX UX. What happens after and as a result of the user experience? The best software and product designers know this. The best game designers know this. The best authors know this. The best filmmakers know this. What happens after what happens happens?

Presentation Skills Considered Harmfulweb.archive.org
korrents.com
For non-professional performers, the audience attends a session for their own experience rather than for the presenter.

Their words

Because unless you're a paid performer - musician, comedian, motivational speaker - you are not the reason they came to the conference. They are sitting in your session because of someone that matters far more to them than you: themselves. They are there for their own experiences, and "watching you present" is not one of those experiences.

Presentation Skills Considered Harmfulweb.archive.org

24 July 2013

Kathy SierraKorrents 24 Jul 2013

From one piece Your app makes me fat 3 beliefs · web.archive.org

korrents.com
Cognitive resources are a zero-sum game.

Their words

What you consume here, you take from there. Not just their attention, not just their time, but their ability to be the person they are when they are at their best.

Your app makes me fatweb.archive.org
korrents.com
The act of making choices is a cognitive drain.

design

Their words

If your UX asks the user to make choices, for example, even if those choices are both clear and useful, the act of deciding is a cognitive drain.

Your app makes me fatweb.archive.org
korrents.com
Willpower and cognitive processing draw from the same pool of resources.

discipline

Their words

Willpower and cognitive processing draw from the same pool of resources.

Your app makes me fatweb.archive.org

1 March 2007

Kathy SierraKorrents 1 Mar 2007

From one piece Creating Passionate Users 3 beliefs · web.archive.org

korrents.com
Context-sensitive FAQs, done right, can greatly reduce a software user’s cognitive load.

Their words

Context-sensitive FAQs--done right--can make a dramatic difference in software, and greatly reduce the user's cognitive load.

Creating Passionate Usersweb.archive.org
korrents.com
Providing fabulous training materials is valuable for motivating and retaining users.

Their words

Bottom line: never underestimate the value of providing fabulous training materials in getting--and keeping--users motivated to get better.

Creating Passionate Usersweb.archive.org
korrents.com
People place an extremely high value on quality learning and support materials.

Their words

people place an extremely high value on quality learning and support materials.

Creating Passionate Usersweb.archive.org

11 February 2007

Kathy SierraKorrents 11 Feb 2007

From one piece Creating Passionate Users 3 beliefs · web.archive.org

korrents.com
Neuromarketing research will continue to develop regardless of public opposition.

Their words

Should we be worried about the hot new research known as neuromarketing? Yes. But it's going to happen regardless of what we do.

Creating Passionate Usersweb.archive.org
korrents.com
Marketing approaches should use emotions to enhance thinking rather than prevent it.

Their words

But people can't learn and improve without thinking, so any marketing approach based on helping users get better needs to use emotions to enhance thinking, not prevent it.

Creating Passionate Usersweb.archive.org
korrents.com
Companies may need teachers more than marketers, because helping customers get good is what will win.

education

Their words

The good news is this: in the he-who-does-the-best-job-of-getting-his-customers-past-the-suck-threshold-wins world that's beginning to emerge, companies may need teachers more than marketers.

Creating Passionate Usersweb.archive.org

29 December 2005

Kathy SierraRecommends 29 Dec 2005

Lovedrcmnd.app
The Book of Cool

Their words

Without a doubt the coolest present I've ever gotten is The Book of Cool, which is really a set of DVDs (plus a companion picture book)

web.archive.org

The whole feed →

Beliefs

Korrents What they believe 27 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
- The most dangerous time for a woman with online visibility is when others are seen to be listening and following her.
  
  I now believe the most dangerous time for a woman with online visibility is the point at which others are seen to be listening, "following", "liking", "favoriting", retweeting.
  
  Trouble at the Koolaid Point Said 7 Oct 2014
  
  Full record — everyone who holds this →
- Twitter acts as a hate amplifier that boosts the power and speed of trolls.
  
  Twitter, for all its good, is a hate amplifier. Twitter boosts signal power with head-snapping speed and strength. Today, Twitter (and this isn't a complaint about Twitter, it's about what Twitter enables) is the troll's best weapon for attacking you.
  
  Trouble at the Koolaid Point Said 7 Oct 2014
  
  Full record — everyone who holds this →
- Law enforcement agencies in the United States are unlikely to take action when individuals are harassed online.
  
  You're probably more likely to win the lottery than to get any law enforcement agency in the United States to take action when you are harassed online, no matter how viscously and explicitly.
  
  Trouble at the Koolaid Point Said 7 Oct 2014
  
  Full record — everyone who holds this →
  
  America
Show 24 more

For non-professional performers, the audience attends a session for their own experience rather than for the presenter.

Because unless you're a paid performer - musician, comedian, motivational speaker - you are not the reason they came to the conference. They are sitting in your session because of someone that matters far more to them than you: themselves. They are there for their own experiences, and "watching you present" is not one of those experiences.

Presentation Skills Considered Harmful Said 4 Oct 2013

Full record — everyone who holds this →

The most important aspect of a presentation is the post-UX experience, or what happens to the audience as a result of the presentation.

Because what matters most is NOT the UX but the POST-UX UX. What happens after and as a result of the user experience? The best software and product designers know this. The best game designers know this. The best authors know this. The best filmmakers know this. What happens after what happens happens?

Presentation Skills Considered Harmful Said 4 Oct 2013

Full record — everyone who holds this →

design

A presenter should aim to act as a user interface that enables an experience without drawing attention to themselves.

And if it's a user experience, then what am I? Ah... now we're at the place where stage fright starts to dissolve. Because if the presentation is a user experience, than I am just a UI. That's it. I am a UI. Nothing more. And what's a key attribute of a good UI? It disappears. It does not draw attention to itself. It enables the user experience, but is not itself the experience.

Presentation Skills Considered Harmful Said 4 Oct 2013

Full record — everyone who holds this →

design

Willpower and cognitive processing draw from the same pool of resources.

Willpower and cognitive processing draw from the same pool of resources.

Your app makes me fat Said 24 Jul 2013

Full record — everyone who holds this →

discipline

The act of making choices is a cognitive drain.

If your UX asks the user to make choices, for example, even if those choices are both clear and useful, the act of deciding is a cognitive drain.

Your app makes me fat Said 24 Jul 2013

Full record — everyone who holds this →

design

Cognitive resources are a zero-sum game.

What you consume here, you take from there. Not just their attention, not just their time, but their ability to be the person they are when they are at their best.

Your app makes me fat Said 24 Jul 2013

Full record — everyone who holds this →

People place an extremely high value on quality learning and support materials.

people place an extremely high value on quality learning and support materials.

Creating Passionate Users Said 1 Mar 2007

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Providing fabulous training materials is valuable for motivating and retaining users.

Bottom line: never underestimate the value of providing fabulous training materials in getting--and keeping--users motivated to get better.

Creating Passionate Users Said 1 Mar 2007

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Context-sensitive FAQs, done right, can greatly reduce a software user’s cognitive load.

Context-sensitive FAQs--done right--can make a dramatic difference in software, and greatly reduce the user's cognitive load.

Creating Passionate Users Said 1 Mar 2007

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Companies may need teachers more than marketers, because helping customers get good is what will win.

The good news is this: in the he-who-does-the-best-job-of-getting-his-customers-past-the-suck-threshold-wins world that's beginning to emerge, companies may need teachers more than marketers.

Creating Passionate Users Said 11 Feb 2007

Full record — everyone who holds this →

education

Marketing approaches should use emotions to enhance thinking rather than prevent it.

But people can't learn and improve without thinking, so any marketing approach based on helping users get better needs to use emotions to enhance thinking, not prevent it.

Creating Passionate Users Said 11 Feb 2007

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Neuromarketing research will continue to develop regardless of public opposition.

Should we be worried about the hot new research known as neuromarketing? Yes. But it's going to happen regardless of what we do.

Creating Passionate Users Said 11 Feb 2007

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Micromanagement does not scale.

While it's oh so tempting to just step in and DO IT, micromanagement doesn't scale.

Creating Passionate Users Said 26 Dec 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Micromanagement can lead to employees becoming unmotivated or acting like 'zombies'.

But it's a downward spiral-- Micromanagement creates zombies. Of course micromanagers don't actually create zombies--they simply inspire (or force) zombieism on the job.

Creating Passionate Users Said 26 Dec 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Companies should not make the management track the only career path.

The companies I love to hate are those that allow only a single career path--the "management track".

Creating Passionate Users Said 26 Dec 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Companies that provide products and services that give the most 'I Rule' experiences, without exceeding the Happy User Peak, will be the most successful.

We believe that those providing the products and services that give the most "I Rule" experiences, without tipping too far over the Happy User Peak, will be the most successful.

Creating Passionate Users Said 12 Jun 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Continuing to add new features eventually leads to a decline in usability and maintenance.

And besides, continuing to pile on new features eventually leads to an endless downhill slide toward poor usability and maintenance.

Creating Passionate Users Said 12 Jun 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

design

Competing solely on features is an unhealthy and unsustainable way to live.

Fighting and clawing for market share by competing solely on features is an unhealthy, unsustainable, and unfun way to live.

Creating Passionate Users Said 12 Jun 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Learning and growth are the key components of passion.

The more we analyze and reverse-engineer passion, the more we see learning and growth as a key component. No, not a key--the key.

Creating Passionate Users Said 6 Jun 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Increased knowledge and skill lead to increased passion.

The more knowledge and skill someone has, the more passionate they become, and the more passionate they become, the more they try to improve their knowledge and skills.

Creating Passionate Users Said 6 Jun 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

What a company teaches is more important than what it sells.

It's not what you sell, it's what you teach that matters. Or rather, what you help someone learn.

Creating Passionate Users Said 6 Jun 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Instructors should focus on making students smarter rather than proving their own expertise.

Most of the time students don't CARE how smart you are. They come in assuming that you're supposed to be here, so stop trying to prove how smart you are and get on with helping them get smarter.

Creating Passionate Users Said 3 Jan 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

Effective teaching involves designing interactive situations rather than just delivering content.

Of course this means you, as the instructor, have to design and enable situations that cause things to happen. Exercises, labs, debates, discussions, heavy interaction. In other words, things that THEY do, not things that YOU do (except that you create the scenarios).

Creating Passionate Users Said 3 Jan 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →

design

Authors who focus on proving their own technical prowess can inadvertently make learners feel less intelligent.

That the instructor or author is simply proving their own technical prowess (in what we believe is a misguided attempt to help you), but at your expense.

Creating Passionate Users Said 3 Jan 2005

Full record — everyone who holds this →
All 27 beliefs →

What is a korrent?

A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.

Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.

Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.

Recommends rcmnd

rcmnd What they recommend 1 thing — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
- Loved The Book of Cool 29 Dec 2005
  
  Without a doubt the coolest present I've ever gotten is The Book of Cool, which is really a set of DVDs (plus a companion picture book)
  
  web.archive.org 29 Dec 2005
  
  What others say about The Book of Cool →
All 1 recommendation →

Where they publish

Blog Creating Passionate Users (archived) Her group blog on users, learning and the brain, 2004 to 2007, as preserved by the Internet Archive.

Open web.archive.org

Link verified 24 Oct 2026.
Blog Serious Pony (archived) Her 2013–2014 site and essays, including Trouble at the Koolaid Point; the domain has since lapsed to an unrelated owner.

Open web.archive.org

Link verified 24 Oct 2026.
Interviews Talks Conference talks she gave on making users badass.
Open youtube.com
The conversations
- Mind the Product
- O’Reilly
Link verified 24 Oct 2026.
Books Badass: Making Users Awesome Her 2015 O’Reilly book on building successful users rather than successful products.

Open amazon.com

Link verified 24 Oct 2026.

About the English under a post

Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.

The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.

Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.