Abridged summary from the publisher: Radical Candor is simple, you have to Care Personally at the same time that you Challenge Directly. When you challenge without caring, it’s obnoxious aggression; when you care without challenging, it’s ruinous empathy. When you do neither, it’s manipulative insincerity. Below are some bullets that really stood out to me: […]

Just finished listening to this book on Audible (pro tip: Listen at 150% speed). Below are some bullets that really stood out to me. Business plan – Google initially created a business plan that didn’t actually tie the engineers to anything. In hindsight this worked quite well in allowing them the freedom to be creative. Obligated […]

  There’s some task managers out there, as well as information on productivity and task management systems, whether digital or something analog. I started thinking about what a task manager that works how I think, taking inspiration from all the things I’ve used over the years. This conglomerate system I use helps me focus and get […]

Just finished watching an excellent video from James Clear on the small changes you can make in your life to improve over time. This lines up very closely with the daily habits I’ve been practicing last year. I highly recommend checking out this talk! Sharing my sketchnotes below:

Last week I installed the iOS 11 public beta on my phone. After playing with it on my iPad for a few months I figured it’d be safe enough to add to my daily driver. It’s a new OS that adds features to a pretty established OS, no real surprise there as someone who uses […]

Contributing to WordPress Core as a non-developer Sharing a post I wrote for XWP, where I work as a Product Owner / Designer.

I gave talks/workshops at WordCamp Toronto 2017, WordCamp Baltimore 2017, WordCamp Europe 2018, and WordCamp for Publishers 2018 on the importance of sketching, wireframes, and prototypes. You can watch these online at WordPress.TV.  In this talk I shared simple steps to create sketches and wireframes that you can add to any development ticket or website […]

While I’m busy building my life, working, learning, planning, and all around staying busy, I often catch glimpses of something far more important that’s quickly passing me by. My son is 4 years old, and right now one of the highlights of his day, especially since it’s Summer time and he isn’t in preschool, is […]

As a teenager I tried running. Any attempts quickly ended in a fit of coughing with my lungs feeling ripped out. Finally around 19 a friend took me running for 2 miles. He kept us at a medium jogging pace, and at the end I didn’t feel like I had lost any major organs. Just […]

Push-ups Can you do a push-up? Whether it’s from the knees or strict I’m sure you can. Go on, try one now. That was pretty easy right? Do you think you could do one more tomorrow when you wake up? Earlier this year I was reading “Tools of Titans”, from Tim Ferriss and I was […]

These two apps, Relax Melodies and Noisli, perfectly illustrate why a simpler, more focused, solution will often win out over one that tries to do everything. For the past few years I’ve used Relax Melodies, the main function I use is the white noise sound. At one point I even considered making my own app […]

Watching video – It's easier to watch video and get a bit more immersed in what you're viewing. This is especially the case since I always watch video (unless it's portrait shot) in landscape.  Taking photos – This is the biggest benefit for me. I LOVE portrait mode. It's the number one reason I decided […]

Lately I’ve been thinking about how I’m spending my time. There are periods of time every week where I find myself consuming content. That could be a TV show or movie, a book, Reddit, social media, news, tech blogs, etc. In all of this I’m merely an open vessel absorbing bits of information. Now granted […]

This is a 3 part mini-review of the new iPad Pro 10.5". Read part 1 and part 2. After spending several days with the 10.5” iPad Pro, I decided to return it for the new 12.9” model. Here’s my reasons: Most of my working time (95%+) is spent at a desk. So for me, portability […]

Often for work I need to travel stateside by plane. I’m constantly trying to whittle down what I’m carrying to see how little I can take. After several tries I’ve gotten it down to the following for a 2-5 day trip: Backpack – I searched a long time for one that was small enough to […]

A few quick notes: Laptop stand – Ergonomics are important. After years of using a laptop at a desk and bending my neck, I decided to elevate the laptop and buy a keyboard and mouse. It’s made a huge difference! This stand will elevate the laptop up to 11 inches off the desk. iPad stand […]

I’ve been curious about AirPods since they came out. I finally got my own (Father’s day gift from my wife) and have been using them all day. I love them! My previous favorite headphones were the Jabra Move Wireless (recommended by The Wirecutter). The fit – I’ve never had a problem with Apple earbuds. As […]