How working with design studio Math Times Joy shaped our podcast — In November 2016, Lisa and I launched the second season of our podcast, Should We, with all-new visuals created by our friends at Math Times Joy. This is the story of how Should We’s identity came to be. Early 2016: All by ourselves We started Should We with a goal of keeping it low-key for…

How we do product management at Quip — In January 2016, I joined Quip as our second product manager, alongside Nate Botwick. Back then, Quip was a small startup working to build the future of productivity. Sixteen months later, a lot has changed: We’ve joined Salesforce, our team has grown to 70 people, and we’ve moved from one…

How Quip fuels strong teams — We build Quip to work the way strong teams do. Our all-new 2017 design reflects everything we’ve learned about team productivity since we first launched Quip in July 2013. At the core of Quip’s product is a simple philosophy: We learn by listening. At Quip, over half of our small…

Out of all the books I read in 2016, my favorites were: Nonfiction—Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art, by Virginia Heffernan. “The Felt Internet” catalogs my favorite parts of the book, along with some reflections. And! Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio…

Last summer, I walked through all twelve weeks of The Artist’s Way. Sticking with it opened something up in me that’s stayed that way, yet I’ve struggled to figure out how to share what it all meant to me. …

On lasting, working, writing, and hustling — Every now and then, I write a letter about what I’ve learned lately. This was the twelfth one, sent on June 27, 2016. When Erik and I moved into our apartment in February, we noticed something odd: the blue plastic fobs we raised to unlock our unit’s door never worked…

I resented shopping until I got good at it. I got good at it by overthinking it. This is the story of how that happened and what I learned from it. Starting from the beginning: Erik and I recently moved back to San Francisco from Berlin. We left almost everything…

Highlights from Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art — Consuming art [on the Internet] feels like truancy, like something shady, something you shouldn’t be doing. And this is the best effect art can have. — Virginia Heffernan Three weeks ago, a book arrived at my apartment. The book was made of paper. This initially stymied me. I do almost…

Every now and then, I take some time to reflect on what I’ve learned lately, in letter form. This was a special edition, sent June 6, 2016. If you’d like, you can read the first eleven on Medium and subcribe at expertnovice.com. To all new readers: welcome! My name is…