Have you ever played the game Marco Polo? It’s a pretty simple game and it’s the most fun if played in a pool. The rules are simple: one person closes their eyes and tries to catch or tag someone else. In order to find people the person who is “it” can say “Marco” at any […]
The Productivity ManifestoWhat if you could sit down at your computer and write 1,000 words? What if you could focus without impulsively opening Twitter and Facebook? What if you could write three books in a single year? How would those abilities change your life and work? Over the years I’ve learned a few tips and tricks to […]
How to write marketing emails that don’t suckFinding the best way to write a sentence can be extremely frustrating. For me that’s usually when writer’s block comes in. It’s not what to say, but how to say it. I find myself writing and rewriting a single sentence a bunch of times to find the right style. Often the result is a pompous […]
All Bugs Have SoftwareAt WordCamp San Francisco in 2009 Matt Mullenweg was on stage answering audience questions. Someone asked about a recent, fairly serious, bug in WordPress. Matt responded “Well, all bugs have software…” He meant, “All software has bugs” (and quickly corrected himself after a good laugh), but I like the accidental version better. We will make […]
Helping People Who Help ThemselvesI’ve received a lot of help lately from very talented people. At the end of one of these conversations with Amy Hoy, when I was profusely thanking her for her help, she said something that will stick with me for a long time: “I like helping people who help themselves.” Now that I’ve achieved a […]
An Unstoppable CombinationMost people I know who work on web products focus on a single skill, like design, then work hard to become really good at it. They even make it a part of their identity when they proudly state, “I’m a designer.” I know that’s what I did. At least until a couple years ago when […]
Don’t Repeat My Product Launch MistakesWhen launching a product there are any number of things that can go wrong. Luckily for The App Design Handbook launch two weeks ago most things went very well. It’s easy to focus on the success, so now I want to take some time to talk through the things I screwed up about the launch. […]