Archives for May 2024

I’ve recently started using Komoot for finding running and hiking trails.

The best part about the app is how quickly you can search, sort, and filter for a run or hike that fits your exact needs.

It’s effortless and reliable. And it reminded me, that’s much of the value in software products: being easy and reliable.

I typically don’t need more features, I just need the core features to deliver every time.

I was walking through the Blenheim Palace gardens earlier today; down a meandering path alongside The Great Lake.

When I looked to the sky, I saw a swarm of mayflies. Even from afar, I could identify them by their long tails—perhaps also because I spent days with them on the Mississippi River.

An adult mayfly lives for about 1-2 days. In that time they mate, the female lays eggs, and then they die. Their short adult lives have been written about for millennia, even as early as Aristotle.

Whenever I see a mayfly, or a swarm of them, I’m reminded how today is their day in the sun. I then watch in silence and in awe.

To surf a wave, you need both the swell and wind to be in your favour.

The swell needs to be big enough to create the wave, and the wind needs to be blowing offshore to hold the wave up long enough for you to surface along its clean face.

Surfers don’t settle for one, because a good day on the water requires both.

There’s a lesson in here for how we approach other projects, challenges, and opportunities.

I was walking along the South Bank of the River Thames today close to Tower Bridge. Little did I know that earlier in the day a couple of Red Bull athletes had dropped from a helicopter at 3,000 ft, descended in wing suits down to Tower Bridge, and flown through the gap in the middle of the bridge.

The 2-minute video is stunning. Despite making it look easy, the two skydivers had completed over 200 practice jumps in preparation.

Red Bull continually pushes the limits of what is humanly possible, and looking at Tower Bridge today, I would’ve never thought it possible to fly a wing suit through it. Kudos to Red Bull.

Marc Andressen talks about how the job of a start-up founder is to remove layers of risk; similar to the layers on an onion. As each layer is removed, the existential risk to the business is reduced.

I also think this idea is applicable to any team working on a new project. In the beginning, there are high amounts of ambiguity, where setbacks are the norm and failure is common.

It’s tempting to add new features, processes, or systems, but instead of adding, sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is identify risks, and focus obsessively on removing them.

It sounds trivial, but ask the following question at a dinner and you’ll get a highly engaged crowd.

Of the five base carbs, pasta, rice, bread, noodles, and potatoes, each person at the table needs to place them in their order of preference.

People inevitably end up talking about where they grew up and the foods they ate when they were young. They talk about familiarity, nostalgia, culture, and habit.

Everyone has an opinion on carbs, and it’s funny how few have thought about which are their favourites.

What’s yours?

A patina is “a layer that develops on the surface of an item over a period of time. They tend to be a toned or darker layer that takes decades or centuries to naturally form on a material”.

The patina is character. The item has been around the block a few times. The blemishes are welcomed. And we’re less worried about the little marks, scratches, and imperfections.

The patina is beautiful.

Google Workspace is expensive when all you need is a simple email client for your custom domain. However, I’m used to Google, I got used to justifying the annual fee, and I didn’t want to pay the switching cost.

The switching cost isn’t monetary either, but rather the hassle of setting up a new email host with a custom domain, importing past emails, and ensuring the new service worked as expected without losing any reader emails along the way.

But when I finally sat down and did the work, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I now have a simple service that is fit-for-purpose, and I no longer have to pay for Google services I don’t use.

Being agreeable seems reasonable.

It suggests an easy going and accommodating demeanour.

But progress often relies on a substantial amount of disagreement. Where the status quo is unacceptable, and there is a need to ask, “Can we make this better?”

A lack of agreeableness, although painful, is sometimes what’s required for forward progress.

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they respond to unexpected rain.

And that inspires me to be more calm and gracious when a surprise shower hits.

There’s a great Spanish idiom Maru taught me that says, “con el diario de lunes”.

It translates literally to “with Monday’s newspaper,” and is used when analysing past decisions with the benefit of hindsight.

Let’s say you miss a flight because of unforeseen closed roads and delayed traffic. The saying goes that “with Monday’s newspaper” (i.e., knowledge that traffic was bad that morning), you’d have left home much earlier and planned an alternate route.

The obvious issue is we never get early access to Monday’s newspaper, so we should give ourselves a little slack when things go wrong. And next time round, try anticipate what could go wrong ahead of time.

I’m thrilled my parents are visiting Maru and I in London for the first time in 6 years. Thanks to COVID and New Zealand being pretty far away, it’s taken a while for them to make it back here.

I’m looking forward to sharing a couple weeks of London life with them; doing day-to-day things like getting coffee and walking in the park.

We’ve got a short road trip planned, but otherwise, it’s all about quality time and enjoying the city and its spring weather.

I’ve been reminded recently that the easy option is often the safe option. More often than not, this is decision-by-consensus; where no one rocks the boat.

But I’ve noticed that it’s the opinionated products that are memorable. The ones that take a risk, that do something different with their language, branding, and design. AirBnb’s icons is a great recently example of this.

They don’t try and be all things to all people. They draw a line in the sand and say, “this is what we are, and this is what we’re not”. And I love that.

Many drivers in London default to aggression, and it’s unpleasant. If someone changes lanes too quickly, gets cut off, or takes too long to get moving, people get annoyed. They honk, flash their lights, and the show their displeasure.

When I’m driving in Malaysia, the roads are less orderly than London. People move into each others space and people cut you off regularly. But no one is angry at each other. There may be a little honk to let you know that they’re there, but there’s no aggression.

Whether we like it or not, defaults everywhere. Every human system has a way of doing things, and people respond others in the system in a predictable way.

As long as people are safe, my preference is for systems that default to tolerance. This is where the attitude is a more relaxed, and where people assume good intent.

I may not be able to change the attitude of London drivers, but I can change the default in my home, teams, and friendship groups. That’s something we all have some influence over.

…make it even simpler.

Keep going.

Perhaps push it a little too far just to see where things break.

But more often than not, we don’t push far enough.

There’s almost always opportunities to make things simpler.