Oversimplified: Volume 145
Advice for deliberate practice, human interfaces, and historical tech
Hey there đ
Oversimplified is a digest of the best links I stumble upon each week, alongside the humble inclusion of any new posts from me.
đ How I Practice at What I Do
Tyler Cowen shares tactical advice around what intellectual practices work for him. Writing, reading, interactions with smart folks, and reflection cover a lot of his bases. The trick of course, is setting yourself up to do these things consistently.
đ Instrumental Interfaces, Engaged Interfaces
I quite like this breakdown of instrumental vs. engaged interfaces, something that Iâll probably steal at some point. The interesting part of this is that most products actually find themselves in both camps, just at different points in the user journey.
đ EM <> PM: A Song of Ice and Fire
This x100 â It took me time to understand the dynamics and get into a groove working with EMs, but itâs an extremely fun and rewarding dance once you do. This line in particular spoke to me: âWe werenât just aligned â we were interchangeable by design. Not because we did the same things, but because we invested the time to understand the why behind each otherâs choices.â
đ Historical Tech Tree
What a wild data visualization from Ătienne Fortier-Dubois: âThe tech tree is an interactive visualization of technological history from 3 million years ago to today. It currently contains 1959 technologies and 2306 connections between them.â
Food for Thought
âEvery strange thing youâve ever been into, every failed hobby or forgotten instrument, everything you have ever learned will come back to you, will serve you when you need it. No love, however brief, is wasted.â â Louise Miller
Wrapping up
As always, if you're enjoying Oversimplified, it helps me out if you share this with a friend or two. And if anything stood out, whether good or bad, I would love to hear about it. Just reply to this email and letâs chat.
Until next time,
Conor