So your business was basically solving the traveling sales man problem
Among many other things, yes.
It was more about finding the hidden understanding in complex situations.
Even the font used on highway signs matters, as does the amount of reflective paint that exists in lane markings after a year's worth of wear.
It's about solutions, not just the traveling salesman.
We wrote the software used by an international delivery company so that they'd be more efficient. Watch the UPS truck carefully. When was the last time you saw UPS make a left turn?
I know that UPS trucks always try to avoid left turns cause that delays them ever so slightly.
How does the font matter? Speed of understanding the message?
Ease of reading. Even the color contrasts matter, between background and font colors.
Do you know why UPS avoids left hand turns? They made them up until about 1998 or 1999. (The answer is, "Me. Me. I'm why they don't take left turns.")
It makes me happy to be able to say that I've truly influenced the world. I've changed the way things get done. It was a very rewarding career.
It has changed a great deal, just in the past 14 or so years. It's a moving target, a constantly improving art. I kinda miss the challenges it posed. There was always something for me to puzzle over, sometimes for months, while trying to figure out how to describe it with math.
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