Oversimplified: Volume 129

Digital nomad reflections, why life can't be simpler, and faster analytics

Mar 15, 2022

Hey there 👋

Oversimplified is a digest of the best links I stumble upon each week, and any new posts from me. If this is your first issue, welcome! You can subscribe with the big blue button below:

✍️ 6 Months Digital Nomading: A Review

Last August I dropped my lease and went all-in on the “digital nomad” lifestyle. It’s been a little over 6 months since then. How’s it been? Overall, it’s been energizing. It’s also been challenging! More details in the post, but long story short I’m settling down for the next year in New York. If you’re around, let’s grab coffee.

📚 On Hustle Culture

This post from Erik Torenberg is a thought-provoking one. Personally, I see myself swinging back and forth between embracing and rejecting “hustle culture.” I’m still searching for the right balance, but regardless it’s nice to see an argument for hustle that’s actually well-thought-out.

📚 Speed Changed Analytics

A lot of the observations in this post hit home for me and resonate with what we’re working on at Metabase. One interesting prediction: “The last decade felt like the decade of the data scientist. The last few years felt a push towards analytics engineering. I imagine the next few years are going to be all about the decision scientist.”

📚 Search Party

Why does Google still have that “I’m Feeling Lucky” button? It doesn’t get used all that often and actively steals advertising revenue from Google, but it persists. This is a really cool prompt for an essay and nice execution from Adam Willems.

📚 Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

“We’d all like life to be simpler. But we also don’t want to sacrifice our options and capabilities. Tesler’s law of the conservation of complexity, a rule from design, explains why we can’t have both. Here’s how the law can help us create better products and services by rethinking simplicity.”

🔗 Gmail UX Case Study

I enjoyed clicking through this slide show examining the Gmail setup flow. Even the behemoths make the mistake of overlooking aspects of the new user experience.

🔗 30 Quotes I’m Pondering and Revisiting

There’s a lot of wisdom in this collection of behavior- and thought-influencing quotes. One of my favorites: “The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.”

Food for Thought

“Language can become a screen which stands between the thinker and reality. This is the reason why true creativity often starts where language ends.” — Arthur Koestler

I made it to the NCAA Men’s Basketball ACC tournament last weekend and got to see my alma mater, Virginia Tech claim the school’s first-ever championship. Cool stuff!

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 or tweet at me and let’s chat.

Until next time,

Conor