Published in The Airbnb Tech Blog·Apr 5Hacking Human Connection: The Story of AwedienceHow a home-grown product helps Airbnb employees feel more connected during solitary times — Introduction This is the story of how Airbnb employees stayed connected during a time they had never felt more apart. In this post, you’ll learn how an idea turned into an internal product that is now a core part of how Airbnb operates. When you walk through the doors of an…Virtual Events11 min read
May 8, 2018The stories you tell define youAs you go through your day, you have so many various possibilities available to you. Think about all the things you could do with your next moment. These imaginations are not real — they’re just ideas. But they can become stories when you choose an outcome and achieve it. It takes integrity, commitment, and sustained effort to turn an idea into an awesome story. So go on: tell better stories.Storytelling1 min read
Published in Hover State·Sep 26, 2016Design Brief: Cooler CalculatorWhat’s cooler than bein’ cool? Dry ice! — I built a Cooler Calculator for a small dry ice business in the Bay Area. This is the story of why and how it came to be. I’ll start with the backstory, then unpack my design process, and finally share the end result. Backstory Every year, me and 70,000 of my…Design9 min read
Aug 4, 2016Humble PieHealthy reminders from a disappointing job interview. — It’s not everyday that you get rejected. I’ve applied to a lot of jobs in the last few months. With some of these applications, I’ve just been going through the motions and I haven’t expected anything to materialize. Other applications have been really concerted efforts with companies I truly admire…Web Development4 min read
Jun 9, 2016One Man’s Search for the Perfect JobTurning hard-learned lessons into a laser-focused job search. — As we wrapped up Sunday night dinner at my apartment, my neighbor remembered, “hey, it’s Pi Day tomorrow, we should head down to Pi Bar for a few slices to celebrate.” Pi Bar, which by the way opens at 3:14pm, does great New York style pizza. They’ve also got an…Startup6 min read
May 25, 2016Your Bookshelf, Where Books Go to DieThe next time you read a book, give the gift of knowledge and pass it on to someone else. — I admire bookshelves stocked with books. They’re so inspiring. I stand in awe of this literal wall of knowledge. “Imagine if I knew all the information stored in all these books,” I wonder. “Wouldn’t that be amazing?” A wall of bookshelves conjures a fantasy of sitting by a roaring fire…Books3 min read
Published in Hover State·May 16, 2016Nobody Cares About Your Software UpdatesA plea to developers to improve the experience of releasing new software updates. — Look, I get it. You practice agile development, iterate weekly, run tests automatically, and deploy continuously. You pride yourself on shipping changes quickly and how could that be a bad thing, right? You ship new features whenever they’re ready. The bugs you find today are squashed tomorrow. …Product Management4 min read
May 10, 2016ThirtyWhen I turned 30, I asked myself “what are the most important life principles?” Here’s what I came up with. — Ever since I was 15, I wanted to be 30. Nobody listens to you when you’re a kid. You have no means and no experience so you’re doing everything for the first time. And unless you’re incredibly gifted that also means that nothing you’re doing is very good. …Life Lessons3 min read
Published in Hover State·Apr 21, 2016Hypothesis-Driven DevelopmentI’ll bet that you can’t explain why you’re working on whatever it is you’re working on right now. Scary, right? Because we know that the why of what we’re doing is perhaps the most important question to be able to answer. …Tech3 min read
