Oversimplified: Volume 107
Building products for delight, treating yourself like an animal, and waking up early
Hey there š
Apologies for taking a short break from your inbox lately. Iām happy to be back to my weekly cadence so you should be hearing more from me! I hope all 1,747 of you enjoy the issue. Letās get to the best links I found on the internet this week.
āļø Building Products for Delight
Conor Dewey | Product | 2021-05-18
I really enjoyed Erik Bernhardssonās recent post regarding his wishlist for the next generation of software infrastructure. It got me thinking a bit about product design. Why do so many products fall short of delight?
š An Interview With Ben Horowitz
Sotonye | Tech | 2021-04-28
āThe influence of bits on the world of atoms, identifying people worth trusting, the origin of joy, the decoupling of the American Dream from the university, and more.ā Check out the section on abundance vs. scarcity for some gold.
š The Animal Is Tired
Robin Hobb | Career | 2021-05-08
āWould I have fed a beloved dog stimulants to keep it working when it needed sleep? Never. Would I have dosed a cat with a mild poisoning of alcohol to relax it among strangers? Of course not. But this one animal received no mercy from me. And I regret that now.ā Heavy, but an interesting point of view that I havenāt considered before.
š Wynter Is 1 Year Old: Retrospective
Peep Laja | Startups | 2021-05
This is a really cool post covering the whole story from origin to successful bootstrapped company. Lots of learnings to reflect on from branding to distribution to product development and iteration.
š 99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice
Kevin Kelly | Self Improvement | 2021-04-19
More unsolicited goodness from Kevin Kelly, from āDance with your hipsā to āA problem that can be solved with money is not really a problem.ā
š Steps to Wake up Early
Frank Oppedijk | Self Improvement | 2021-04
If you have unsuccessfully tried to build the habit of waking up early in the past, it might be worth trying out a few of these tips. Pretty comprehensive list of the advice that Iāve heard and read over the years.
Food for Thought
āIn private correspondence the great mystery writer Raymond Chandler once confessed that even if he didnāt write anything, he made sure he sat down at his desk every single day and concentrated.ā ā Haruki Murakami
Until next time
As always, if you're enjoying Oversimplified, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. If anything stood out, whether good or bad, I would love to hear about it. Reply to this email orĀ tweet at meĀ and letās chat.
Until next time,
Conor