Build Something Beautiful
The craft of building great things
Yoshio Goto and
Build Something Beautiful
We are very fluent in blunt, materialistic, capitalist questions: What? How soon? How much? What I hope that we can learn to do is add questions of moral imagination to that mix: questions like “Why?” and “To what human effect?” and “How much is enough?”
The On Being Project • Living the Questions
Kurt, Dave and Chris:... See more
First let me apologize for taking a couple of days to put this outline together. When I spoke to Kurt I was in the middle of making a Fugazi album1, but I thought I would have a day or so between records to sort everything out. My schedule changed unexpectedly, and this is the first moment I've had to go through it all. Apology
Shaun Usher • I would like to be paid like a plumber
a great f*cking letter from Steve Albini to Nirvana.
There is beauty in something well-made. The fine fit of a tailored suit. The delicate stitching of a vibrant rug. The mechanical elegance of a well-tuned watch, ticking silently. The same aesthetic laws that govern these objects – and innumerable others – apply to the business world, too. There is such a thing as a beautiful, elegant business. Not... See more
Mario Gabriele • Modern Meditations: Danny Rimer
A good reminder to self: stop overthinking and make the call
An hour on Bets
Brie set a 60-minute timer to answer the question “how can startups maintain a culture of innovation without losing focus on the core?” “Innovation is less an act of intellect than an act of will” –Joseph Schumpeter, economist What is a bet? A bet is something the company wants to accelerate p...
docs.google.com
On balancing focus with flare
If you want to sell music, you must love those songs. If you want to succeed in journalism, you must love those newspapers. If you want to succeed in movies, you must love the cinema.
But this kind of love is rare nowadays. I often see record labels promote new artists for all sorts of gimmicky reasons—even labels I once trusted such as Deutsche... See more
But this kind of love is rare nowadays. I often see record labels promote new artists for all sorts of gimmicky reasons—even labels I once trusted such as Deutsche... See more
Do: make creative decisions that don’t (or do) scale + makes the heart sail.
Don’t: make creative decisions based on PnLs, on balance sheets, on gimmicky trends that appeal to a short-term audience.
Double diamond model: The creative process
Quality software deserves your hard‑earned cash
Quality software from independent makers is like quality food from the farmer’s market. A jar of handmade organic jam is not the same as mass-produced corn syrup-laden jam from the supermarket.
Industrial fruit jam is filled with cheap... See more