brain waves

A recent piece in the New York Times details all the ways Pinterest is different from your average tech company, to their detriment as well as to their success.  Deep dives like this always make me wonder what it would be like to work at a company.  Here are my thoughts, based purely on the… Continue reading would i work there : pinterest

Earlier this year I read about an app that reminds you that you’re going to die.  It’s based on a Bhutanese tradition that posits people are happier when they contemplate their own deaths five times each day.  This seemed logical enough to me, and I immediately downloaded the app to my phone. WeCroak is extremely… Continue reading don’t forget you’re going to die

A friend of mine recently asked me to help him pick out window treatments during a sales consultation at his new home.  I arrived during the appointed window, but the blinds salesman wasn’t there. He had called to ask my friend if he could detour to another appointment first that was closer to his starting… Continue reading you and your customers have the same goal.

Someone I love was recently telling me about the back-to-school supplies they had to buy for their middle- and elementary-school-aged kids.  The schools’ lists specified materials down to the colors.  Red folder for reading, green folder for writing, blue folder for ‘rithmetic?  It bothered me.  How will these kids learn what works for them? It’s… Continue reading folders, pomodoros, and systems, oh my

In fall 2015, I deleted the Facebook app in order to reclaim time I spent on my cell phone. I didn’t miss it. After a few months and some holiday party invite near-misses, I realized I was logging in to Facebook so infrequently that I felt disingenuous letting folks believe they could use it to… Continue reading data mine