I had to install Adobe Illustrator to export something for work. Haven't used a Creative Cloud app on purpose in 10 years.

This is the industry standard? Are we sure?

Refining some macrodata (collecting paperwork for taxes)

Getting organized can be a form of procrastination.

I consume so much more coffee on days that are gloomy.

My task for the week is to get my *systems* in order.

Note-taking, task management, file management... anything that I've been neglecting that I can make run on autopilot.

Last week of funemployment begins today!

Another great 'AI In Practice' series last night in the Hudson Valley. Discussions on building a chatbot, hosting your own local models, vectors, ethics and the future. Thanks to Mike Thicke for organizing, @barnfox.bsky.social for the space, and @connecthv.com for bringing us all together.

I could only hear the bassline of the music playing in this coffee shop and I was pretty sure it was Biggie Smalls.

But now I'm listening and I think it's a techno remix of Neil Young?

I like Feedbin as my RSS reader, for a few reasons:

🔠 Good typography
🎨 Good design in general
🎚️ Has filters, so I can knock out stuff I'm not interested in seeing
▶️ Supports YouTube & Reddit feeds too
☁️ Connects with Raindrop, my preferred bookmarking service

I have folders set up so I can choose whether I'm looking at just publications, or just the blogs I actually want to read everything from.

The key will be keeping up with it. I'm not afraid to declare RSS Bankruptcy every so often if needed.

I've been missing so much good stuff because it doesn't pop up on the Atlantic's homepage, or because I checked Ars Technica at the wrong time, or something.

Now I'll at least see all the headlines.

I'm not planning to read everything.

I'm using the RSS feed as a way to flag stuff I might be interested in reading later, in a chronological (not algorithmic) order.

Now I'm subscribing to EVERYTHING I'm even remotely interested in.

Bloggers, news sites, magazines that I'm a paying subscriber of, etc.

My unread count is now overwhelmingly high.

So why would I do this to myself?

I was previously a minimalist. I only saved the feeds I wanted to read everything from.

That meant mostly indie bloggers and newsletters, no major publications or sites posting 3x a day.

I cleared out my RSS reader and am trying a new approach...

👇

It doesn't hurt to just ask for what you want.

Be direct. Directness is underrated.

The new Chris Hayes book, The Sirens' Call, is an apropos discussion of this topic: sirenscallbook.com/

So is this excellent blog post, "Stop letting algorithms dictate how you think": usher.dev/posts/2025-...

I've been thinking a lot about how to stop letting algorithms (and, by extension, corporations and other "non-me" entities) dictating what I spend time thinking about.

Finally, notes are raw material for future work.

They can be fodder for an LLM that I want to set to a particular task.

They can be byproducts to package as "content."

They can be the seeds of something new.

Third, notes help me retrace my thought process. They're a favor from Past Me to Future Me, and accelerate future work.

Second, the more I can offload from my mind, the more I can save my brainpower for cognitive tasks.

You can store thoughts in multiple possible places, but cognition can only take place in the mind, so save the mind for cognition.

First, writing helps me clarify my thinking. I write so that I know what I think.

I want to get better at rigorous note-taking, for a few reasons:

👇

One underrated part of funemployment is that I can do everything on one computer, using the tools I prefer.

No more using Jira for work tasks and Linear for ConnectHV, or Google Docs for work notes and Obsidian for personal.

Digital Terroir Reflections on high-impact product design, decision-making, and the intersection of software and society.

There's a real lack of quality writing aimed at staff/principal/lead-level design ICs and "player-coach" design leaders.

So here we go — a newsletter aimed at mature product designers who don't need more Figma tutorials. Check it out and subscribe for free!

digitalterroir.org

I propose renaming “elevator pitch” to “waiting for the last person to arrive in a Zoom meeting pitch”

One-way doors aren’t bad—they just require thoughtful planning.

Sometimes, the best design decision isn’t the one that’s optimal but the one that keeps future options open.

Choose wisely!

🔗 Third-party integrations – Once an integration exists, taking it away is a nightmare. Just ask any developer who relied on Twitter’s API before it got locked down.

So what's the takeaway?

🚫 Permissions models – It's easy to open up access, but locking down a once-available feature? Expect backlash.

⚙️ Workflow changes – Users are more loyal to their workflows than the product itself. Remove a widely used feature, and you risk losing them.

🔑 User trust – Rapid changes, especially ones that are reversed later, can make a product feel unstable. In industries like finance or healthcare, that’s a deal-breaker.

What are some examples of one-way door decisions?