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Letâs get to the best links I found on the internet this week. If youâre enjoying the newsletter, share it with a friend. If this was forwarded to you, check out some previous issues and subscribe for future updates.
đ What I Wrote
Notes on Your Music and People
I first learned about Derek Sivers on a podcast with Tim Ferriss a few years ago and since that point, he's become one of my favorite thinkers. Your Music and People is described as "a philosophy of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected" â which feels spot on to me.
đ What I Read
The Frame Makes the Photograph
I was wandering around the Snapchat archives and this perfectly communicates an idea that Iâve felt for a while, but havenât been able to put into words: âWe used to think of photography, as an art object, as content, rather than what it is often today, less an object and more a sharing of experience.â
Notes on Notes
This post from John Hurst is a lot of fun, and a really clever idea in general. It makes me want to include footnotes in my future blog posts. HmmâŠ
Data Quality at Airbnb
When a company is in hypergrowth, data quality and analytics infrastructure isnât always numero uno on the priority list. I enjoyed this comprehensive overview of the steps Airbnb took to overcome recent data challenges.
How to be Strategic
Itâs easy to fall into the trap of thinking that being strategic means setting metrics goals, writing long docs, and creating frameworks. These might be useful, but I like the definition from this Julie Zhou post: âGood strategy is a set of actions that is credible, coherent and focused on overcoming the biggest hurdles in achieving a particular objective.â
đ„ What I Found Interesting
Everything Happens So Much
I had never heard the story of âThe Library of Babelâ before this. The similarities to where we are heading with the open web are striking.
Zebras All the Way Down
Dipping my toe back in my tech talk habit that I built up over quarintine. This talk outlines why data engineering is so difficult, and what you should do when you come across the inevitable âzebraâ from time to time.
đ€ Quote I'm Pondering
âAlways design a thing by considering it in its next larger context â a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.â â Eero Saarinen
Thanks for reading Oversimplified this week! Did anything stand out? Iâd love to hear about it. Reply to this email or tweet at me and letâs chat đ
Until next time,
Conor