June 2012
2 posts
Good reads
Facebook is making improvements to the auto-sharing (from apps) behaviors. We’ll see if it’s enough.
Less is more.
Apple’s supply chain must be simply amazing: “The only company on Gartner’s list of 25 companies that turns over its product faster is McDonald’s”
“There’s only one rule I know of: You’ve got to be kind.”
– Kurt Vonnegut, cited in Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist. Einstein would concur. (via explore-blog)
This, and: Always try your hardest.
May 2012
7 posts
Today's good reads
I love dark chocolate, and it loves me.
Please don’t share shtuff to FB “on my behalf”. Turntable.fm moving back in the right direction.
Mary Meeker’s internet trend presentations are always fascinating, particularly for data geeks. The latest from today. But I’d love to see more talk about non-advertising-based monetization models. It’s clear that building...
Today's good reads
Parts 1 & 2 of The Telegraph’s interview with Jonathan Ive.
Important thoughts on our culture of distraction, our love of our devices, and how we might re-gain some attention. From Joe Kraus. And from Tony Schwartz. Love that people are talking about this more and more.
First person to build a tool to migrate links from del.icio.us to the new bitly has my business. But also lessons...
“I think subconsciously people are remarkably discerning. I think that they can...”
– Jonathan Ive
After I give facebook permissions to an app, I'm...
runningastartup:
April 2012
1 post
“Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes, but he’s a little bit of an...”
– Ze Frank
March 2012
2 posts
The people we work and live with
At last week’s Geekwire Summit, Ray (@rozzie) was asked what kind of impact he hopes to have in the remainder of his career. The implication seemed to be; what good can come from another at-bat at a hair-raising startup? Here’s his answer:
“My aspiration is to keep building, to keep dreaming, to keep taking a risk. When things get too comfortable, to shake things up, to put...
Sweating the details
I love working with super smart engineers and designers. So many times I think I have a feature fully (or well) defined, … until they ask “What about when the user does “this”, from “there”, at “that” moment?”. Sweating the details, making things better or complete. It’s an essential part of the process. I love it.
February 2012
3 posts
On working with grace →
This Inc. article about remarkable employees reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about since seeing Tree of Life a few weeks ago. It’s a deeply complex (and at times difficult to get through) movie that I could not do justice, but the central premise is the distinction - and choice - between the way of nature and the way of grace. Elements of grace, as the movie defines it, are...
“Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right”
– Ani DiFranco
Thanks to Eric Ries and Steve Blank, the Lean Startup movement provides an amazing set of tools and principles for building a company in an agile manner. Everyone on our team has read and internalized their work; it’s a pre-req. We love it and reference it often. That said, one...
Make progress, not perfection... and more
I was talking to a friend today who’s thinking about leaving a big software company to do a startup. He asked about my experience getting going over the past couple months, and specifically what I’ve learned about how best to build momentum when everything is in a highly ambiguous stage. Here are the three things I told him…
1. Make progress, not perfection: There’s too much to do. No surprises...
January 2012
4 posts
Don't play for overtime
Achieving, succeeding, “winning” - whatever you want to call it - isn’t easy. The only guarantee is that it’ll never happen if you don’t give it a chance.
It was ten years ago that the Patriots won their first Super Bowl. The final drive was legendary. Worth re-watching (here), certainly for any sports lover, but also for anyone interested in the desire,...
“If it weren’t for the people, the god-damn people’ said Finnerty,...”
– Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano
Emotion detection based on phone usage →
Proof from Samsung that there’s still so much opportunity to do amazing, new things with our devices.
December 2011
4 posts
Just like riding a bike, kinda
I’ve watched and admired the “Way Back Home” Danny MacAskill video many times. It’s simply amazing. Then there’s this earlier, 2009 video. Also amazing. But better, because of the segment from 0:25-1:20. I won’t attempt to describe what he’s trying to do – just go watch it …
It’s really cool to see him go through the process of trying something new. He fails,...
yongfook: Design is Horseshit! →
yongfook:
In direct response to: http://designerfund.com/infographic
I’ve created products / services in the past that have garnered praise for their design. I love good design in all forms - copywriting in particular fascinates me. I’ve never called myself a designer.
Here’s my pitch. This…
Goodbye Microsoft
After 6+ years, 4 jobs, and 1 cross-country move, today was my final day at Microsoft. Honestly, I never thought it’d be this long. Joining a large, established company wasn’t something I’d ever considered prior to April, 2005. But after being a part of a number of really small, early stage companies for 11 years, I landed in Redmond following the Groove Networks acquisition, eager to try...