Published
Weekend Reading — ☕ Decafurious
This week we add a word to the dictionary, design a 5-pop-up-sandwich, discover the best AirBnB, and learn to do our own laundry.,
Word of the day is: decafurious (adj) — like “hangry” but when you haven’t had your morning coffee yet — by @qgi001
Tech Stuff
mantine.dev A React library with 120 UI components and hooks.
All the standard components you'd expect from a UI library: layout, input, progress, modals, typography, etc. Also calendar/date UI, notification system, drop zone, rich text editor (Quill), and Command-K. With easy theming, dark mode, and inline styling based on emotion.
I recently started using it on a new project, so far enjoying the experience. Solid docs, API that makes sense, polished UI. Struggling to get it working with Remix SSR, though.
Two different approaches to make the DynamoDB API more bearable to use:
- sam-goodwin/typesafe-dynamodb takes the light touch approach, adding type checks on top of the AWS SDK.
- tywalch/electrodb goes full-on ORM, with a query builder API, joins (yes, joins!), and support for multiple indexes.
Developers will spend $4,000 on a new computer because "it makes me more productive and saves me time"
...but then also NOT spend $12/month on a SaaS tool that makes them more productive and saves them time because they'd rather spend 300 hours building it themselves
Even people who work in software all day long, still perceive more value from tangible objects they can touch.
Jan Schaumann shares 88 ops lessons from the real world:
- Email is the worst monitoring and alerting mechanism except for all the others.
- Absence of a signal is itself a signal.
- The severity of an incident is measured by the number of rules broken in resolving it.
Doodle CSS A simple hand-drawn HTML/CSS theme.
Eye for Design
Should you ever NOT listen to user feedback? Ever wondered what cake mix has to do with SaaS? What's the difference between user feedback and user insights?
Every innovation — whether a small improvement to the usability of a feature, or the creation of a generation-defining product — is borne out of finding an insight about a root problem that real people are experiencing. Knowing how to separate feedback “symptoms” from “causes” is the key skill for being able to design the simplest, most innovative solutions.
A UX case study on Gmail “Typically, one team will design what they believe to be an optimal user journey, but then over time stuff gets added into the product without care.” If you follow these steps then you too can achieve the 5-pop-up-sandwich.
Peoples
One of the worst things you can do as a leader is not correct confused language.
Confused language leads to confused actions and confused outcomes.
Confused language is typically a great indicator of underlying confused thoughts.
Quick, fix it all before it spreads!
Brandon Chu Thread on how to balance conflicting needs: speed of development vs code quality, growth vs revenue, KPIs vs qualitative goals, etc. This works for established companies and young startups alike:
"Swinging the Pendulum" is my favourite operating principle @Shopify. I learned it here and used for many years in leadership.
It's a metaphor we used to communicate when we need teams to start optimizing for the other end of the spectrum.
Managing people Some good ideas here, in easily digestible outline form. I agree with most things. Here’s five but check the full post yourself:
- Processes are expectations made explicit — They can be as simple as "every morning we all do X to ensure everyone else is unblocked."
- Hire based on good decision-making skills; Fire based on poor decision-making skills
- The easiest way to have people trust your work is by transparently sharing it without request.
- You trust different people with different things differently over time.
- Burnout comes from a felt loss of control and/or impact.
would be funny if interviews had real case studies
"PE has bought the company. Through max exodus you become CPO. They've 1/2 the size of the team. Place is swimming with BigN consultants. You have 4d to churn out a strategy, good enough to last you through to your bonus"
GO
Everything Else
Meet the woman who builds the world’s most unique Airbnbs “Kristie Wolfe has built off-grid hobbit holes, treehouses, and potato-shaped abodes — often on a shoestring budget.”
“sorry I responded to this in my head” is a real thing and we should say it
Airports are wild. No rules apply. It’s 10 AM on a Thursday and people are having cocktails and pizza and dressed in their pajamas. An incredible human experience
So sad that kids today spend so much time online. When we were kids we were always outside throwing rocks at one another, smoking, lighting small fires, stealing car hood ornaments, shoplifting, trying drugs... one time I drank gasoline.
Facebook’s Parent Company Will Make Employees Do Their Own Laundry
One employee, when reached for comment on the changes, texted back, “Can’t talk, doing laundry.”
Business Ukraine mag “After 12 days of stealing Putin's tanks, Ukrainian farmers are now unofficially the fifth-largest military in Europe” More at Ukrainian Memes Forces
"Debate is about using rhetorical techniques to convince an audience of your position, irrespective of its merits."
I really, really wish more people understood this, then asked themselves why the worst people in the world are always demanding we "debate" them.
Employees Are Sharing Stories About How Their Boss Blew It After Firing Someone
