Betterment

If you have a series of tasks to do, it’s easier to ignore this question and simply get back to work. Doing the tasks is more efficient than coordinating the help. But if your work is a proje…

In the very small business, the freelancer knows each customer. By name, by volume, by preferences. And in the huge business, expensive software, data analysts and relentless margin seeking pushes …

According to the very first story in Herodotus’ Histories (c. 440 BC, the oldest nonfiction book in the Western Canon), King Croesus was the richest man

On My Mind Reminder: After decades of predicting and writing about the future, we end up looking either geniuses or idiots. This 1995 Newsweek article brushing off the internet as “useless” shows w…

I came across this (ironically) anonymous quote recently: “The offline world is full of sticks, but the internet only has carrots.” When we come together in groups, it can bring out the best …

Scientists have long known the mental and creative benefits of total absorption in an activity. But what causes it, and how can we achieve it?

I ran across an interesting term/concept in Miranda July’s All Fours: third things. A character in the book attributes it to

One of my friends, an outstanding programmer who likes to fly under the radar, frequently tells me he admires my “ability to broadcast”. I guess he refers to the fact that I’m keeping a blog, and that I’m not afraid of writing with transparency about my adventures in software engineering. To me, it all feels natural, so his comment motivated me to explain in more detail why I’m doing what I’m doing.

On The Vergecast: Google’s productivity guru shares her secrets.

The conflict is real. “Jean-Michel [Basquiat] called,” Mr. Warhol wrote in his diary on Sept. 5, 1983. “He’s afraid he’s just going to be a flash in the pan. And I told him not to worry, that he wo…

When we think about purpose, we typically think of our life’s overarching aim; our true calling; the thing we were put on earth to do. But each individual’s purpose encompasses more than this, and in fact exists across three horizons that stretch from the imminent and concrete to the distant and transcendent. In the first […]

This article explores essential tactics for building a long-term talent acquisition strategy that drives innovation and growth.

Boost your tech team's productivity and innovation with a data-driven skills development strategy. Discover 10 elements for crafting a winning plan.

Yesterday’s post was a little glib. Without a doubt, we add more value when we focus on the emotional labor of important work, leaving others the chance to create commodities. But the repetit…

The hard parts of what you do all day can feel fraught. It’s heavy lifting. Emergencies. Dangerous labor. The stakes are high and the work can be difficult. The important parts of what you do…

Tim Brownson points us to this recent poll of people in Great Britain. About one out of four people surveyed (of all ages) believe that they could qualify for the Olympics if they trained for the n…

Everyone is selfish. We do things that increase our chances of survival, help us achieve our goals and give us a story we can tell ourselves about our role in the community. But short-term selfish …

It’s surprising to realize that they’re the same. They are both places to hide. When we ship average work, it’s not our fault. We’re simply doing what the manual says, and i…

There’s a sale on band saw blades, including a really good deal on one that fits the saw you owned years ago. The folks who live next door to the house you used to live in are having a raucou…

When a group comes together, noise is easy. Just a few people have to make a commotion for noise to happen. But silence requires everyone to be in sync.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again — most of what passes for reviews and coverage on social media is nothing butthinly veiled product placement, with influen…

The standard zeros are a handy set of consistently-numbered 'buckets'. They can store information at the top of areas and categories in the unused space at 00-09.

The musician Nick Cave was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier this week (full interview) and he read a letter from hi

Don’t listen to oracles, AI or otherwise. Take responsibility for thinking.

Running into a burning building is heroic work. Keeping buildings from burning down in the first place is actually just as important. And it scales more reliably.

“None of the above” is often the best option. We’re regularly confronted with multiple-choice questions. The foundation is already established, the options are already limited, do…

When talking about architecture, in 1948 Winston Churchill may have said it best: "We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us." Ain’t that the

If you don’t know what message to write, it was too long since you last committed.

IBM spent a fortune fighting calls for them to be broken up. So did AT&T and Microsoft. In all three cases, there’s plenty of evidence that they would have been better off if they had sim…