Hello stranger, welcome to my garden. I'm a product engineer, writing about how to be a human in a computer world. I study knowledge production and the narrative arts. Eventually, I'll start publishing some of my speculative web fiction series.
Scroll on through my digital garden. And if you're feeling ephemeral or short of breath, explore my project graveyard.
- Sep 2023Counting GhostsA case for abandoning web analytics
- Aug 2023
When writing about Ideas: hold them up like a wick lit by recent inspiration, observe their colors in the flame. They often snuff out in a moment's breath. Usually though, they smolder on down to my fingertips, just long enough to hurt. Occassionally, I catch fire. My body ignites and burns for days. I always re-form though around the shape of myself, a little bit changed. Rarely—and I may not even notice—the idea becomes something else entirely, a compressed part of me that continues to transmute energy, just beginning to spin. A different kind of fire.When writing about Ideas: hold them up like a wick lit by recent inspiration, observe their colors in the flame. They often snuff out in a moment's breath. Usually though, they smolder on down to my fingertips, just long enough to hurt. Occassionally, I catch fire. My body ignites and burns for days. I always re-form though around the shape of myself, a little bit changed. Rarely—and I may not even notice—the idea becomes something else entirely, a compressed part of me that continues to transmute energy, just beginning to spin. A different kind of fire. - July 2023
I haven't published in a while; I'm updating my site to break that residual pattern.I haven't published in a while; I'm updating my site to break that residual pattern. - Jan 2022SoftwarenessSoftware as a mod on awareness
- Apr 2021Origins of Agile in Japanese Stone MasonryWhere utility ends and beauty begins
- Oct 2020The Aquarius MemoA 100-year framework for investing in knowledge (to avoid climate disaster)
- June 2020How Programming Shapes the MindOn logic, empathy, and the unknown
- Oct 2019Finally, I Closed My LinkedInRuminations on outsourcing our values
- May 2019Debugging Your ArtWhat I do when I'm stuck
- Mar 2019Roll Your Own AnalyticsHow to build a free, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics
Project Graveyard
Hint: SHIFT + WHEEL scrolls horizontally
Feather Bubble - Animated storybook for kidsThe IdeaThe best stories give space to augment the imagination. Nothing online quite captures the spirit of a beautiful and simple children's book. Feather Bubble was my attempt: combine simple illustrations with gentle interactivity, using digital tools to support and inspire healthy attention.
What I Learned I learned to make illustration a deliberate practice. I learned to weave together storytelling, coding, and art to create something new and different. But it's also a ton of work—and so has inspired me to build my own set of tools to automate (not AI). One of my longstanding projects is to build out better tooling to craft, publish, and distribute digital interactive stories.
The IdeaThe best stories give space to augment the imagination. Nothing online quite captures the spirit of a beautiful and simple children's book. Feather Bubble was my attempt: combine simple illustrations with gentle interactivity, using digital tools to support and inspire healthy attention.
What I Learned I learned to make illustration a deliberate practice. I learned to weave together storytelling, coding, and art to create something new and different. But it's also a ton of work—and so has inspired me to build my own set of tools to automate (not AI). One of my longstanding projects is to build out better tooling to craft, publish, and distribute digital interactive stories.
The IdeaThe best stories give space to augment the imagination. Nothing online quite captures the spirit of a beautiful and simple children's book. Feather Bubble was my attempt: combine simple illustrations with gentle interactivity, using digital tools to support and inspire healthy attention.
What I Learned I learned to make illustration a deliberate practice. I learned to weave together storytelling, coding, and art to create something new and different. But it's also a ton of work—and so has inspired me to build my own set of tools to automate (not AI). One of my longstanding projects is to build out better tooling to craft, publish, and distribute digital interactive stories.
Oroboria - A multiplayer game for making mosaic artThe IdeaPlace multi-colored, organic-shaped tiles onto an infinitely expanding canvas. Oroboria is a MMO where anyone can join and play a few tiles per day. The more days you "play" the more tiles you get. Trade them in for rarer shapes and colors. Design your own. And watch creativity become a game.
What I Learned My thesis bet on "art" emerging from collective play. But I never found the core game loop. Without a simple enjoyable feedback mechanism for daily play, the idea was never tested. It needed more time in the forge, heated and hammered into an effective shape.
The IdeaPlace multi-colored, organic-shaped tiles onto an infinitely expanding canvas. Oroboria is a MMO where anyone can join and play a few tiles per day. The more days you "play" the more tiles you get. Trade them in for rarer shapes and colors. Design your own. And watch creativity become a game.
What I Learned My thesis bet on "art" emerging from collective play. But I never found the core game loop. Without a simple enjoyable feedback mechanism for daily play, the idea was never tested. It needed more time in the forge, heated and hammered into an effective shape.
The IdeaPlace multi-colored, organic-shaped tiles onto an infinitely expanding canvas. Oroboria is a MMO where anyone can join and play a few tiles per day. The more days you "play" the more tiles you get. Trade them in for rarer shapes and colors. Design your own. And watch creativity become a game.
What I Learned My thesis bet on "art" emerging from collective play. But I never found the core game loop. Without a simple enjoyable feedback mechanism for daily play, the idea was never tested. It needed more time in the forge, heated and hammered into an effective shape.
Slog - Progress logs for async teamsThe IdeaWhat if your entire company used git to manage its work? I built Slog as a protocol for communicating progress. A way for remote teams to "upgrade their awareness" by surfacing what's happening, without all the meetings.
What I Learned Productivity is subjective and hard to measure. Standing out in the market for productivity tools requires evangalization ("talking about productivity") that as a solo-founder, left no space for doing what I actually love—building things.
The IdeaWhat if your entire company used git to manage its work? I built Slog as a protocol for communicating progress. A way for remote teams to "upgrade their awareness" by surfacing what's happening, without all the meetings.
What I Learned Productivity is subjective and hard to measure. Standing out in the market for productivity tools requires evangalization ("talking about productivity") that as a solo-founder, left no space for doing what I actually love—building things.
The IdeaWhat if your entire company used git to manage its work? I built Slog as a protocol for communicating progress. A way for remote teams to "upgrade their awareness" by surfacing what's happening, without all the meetings.
What I Learned Productivity is subjective and hard to measure. Standing out in the market for productivity tools requires evangalization ("talking about productivity") that as a solo-founder, left no space for doing what I actually love—building things.
Fire Tower - Messaging app for cannabis cultivationThe IdeaWhatsApp with repeatable cannabis cultivation workflows. I teamed up with my wife, a nationally-celebrated grower. Her insight: healthy teams grow healthy plants. We built a messaging app simple enough to use on your feet and powerful enough to manage your entire operation.
What I LearnedThe headwinds facing cannabis and ancillary industries added just enough friction to starting a business that we decided against going all-in.
Nevertheless, building a mobile app for people working with their (sticky) hands in adverse conditions presented interesting accessibility challenges.
The IdeaWhatsApp with repeatable cannabis cultivation workflows. I teamed up with my wife, a nationally-celebrated grower. Her insight: healthy teams grow healthy plants. We built a messaging app simple enough to use on your feet and powerful enough to manage your entire operation.
What I LearnedThe headwinds facing cannabis and ancillary industries added just enough friction to starting a business that we decided against going all-in.
Nevertheless, building a mobile app for people working with their (sticky) hands in adverse conditions presented interesting accessibility challenges.
The IdeaWhatsApp with repeatable cannabis cultivation workflows. I teamed up with my wife, a nationally-celebrated grower. Her insight: healthy teams grow healthy plants. We built a messaging app simple enough to use on your feet and powerful enough to manage your entire operation.
What I LearnedThe headwinds facing cannabis and ancillary industries added just enough friction to starting a business that we decided against going all-in.
Nevertheless, building a mobile app for people working with their (sticky) hands in adverse conditions presented interesting accessibility challenges.
Esoterica - 5-minute word gameThe IdeaA quick mental break of a word-finder game, more rewarding than a glance at your feed. Find words from a honeycomb of letters. The hexagons spin every few turns, making endless new word possibilities in every game. Aftwerwards, make a poem from the words you found, to share and upvote on a global poetry board.
What I Learned The game mechanics were a hit. I added 1-minute and 3-minute games, and an arcade leaderboard. I'd launched initially as a browser game, but I waited too long ot build a mobile app. Timing and momentum create windows—and they vanish in a blink.
The poetry meta game was novel and made people smile, but returning players always skipped it.
The IdeaA quick mental break of a word-finder game, more rewarding than a glance at your feed. Find words from a honeycomb of letters. The hexagons spin every few turns, making endless new word possibilities in every game. Aftwerwards, make a poem from the words you found, to share and upvote on a global poetry board.
What I Learned The game mechanics were a hit. I added 1-minute and 3-minute games, and an arcade leaderboard. I'd launched initially as a browser game, but I waited too long ot build a mobile app. Timing and momentum create windows—and they vanish in a blink.
The poetry meta game was novel and made people smile, but returning players always skipped it.
The IdeaA quick mental break of a word-finder game, more rewarding than a glance at your feed. Find words from a honeycomb of letters. The hexagons spin every few turns, making endless new word possibilities in every game. Aftwerwards, make a poem from the words you found, to share and upvote on a global poetry board.
What I Learned The game mechanics were a hit. I added 1-minute and 3-minute games, and an arcade leaderboard. I'd launched initially as a browser game, but I waited too long ot build a mobile app. Timing and momentum create windows—and they vanish in a blink.
The poetry meta game was novel and made people smile, but returning players always skipped it.
Elf Quiz - Personal prediction "market"The IdeaI built a tool to measure my confidence in predictions. I'd log my confidence as a percentage (65% chance this will work) and update it whenever I felt a change. Over time, I'd learn to identify patterns in over/under estimation and train my predictive abilities.
What I LearnedThe data is more important than the tool used for measurement. I spent too long tinkering with the app when I could have simply used a spreadsheet.
In the end, I still observe my predictions and quantify my confidence as a percentage, as a kind of forcing function, but without any experimental rigour or related tooling.
The IdeaI built a tool to measure my confidence in predictions. I'd log my confidence as a percentage (65% chance this will work) and update it whenever I felt a change. Over time, I'd learn to identify patterns in over/under estimation and train my predictive abilities.
What I LearnedThe data is more important than the tool used for measurement. I spent too long tinkering with the app when I could have simply used a spreadsheet.
In the end, I still observe my predictions and quantify my confidence as a percentage, as a kind of forcing function, but without any experimental rigour or related tooling.
The IdeaI built a tool to measure my confidence in predictions. I'd log my confidence as a percentage (65% chance this will work) and update it whenever I felt a change. Over time, I'd learn to identify patterns in over/under estimation and train my predictive abilities.
What I LearnedThe data is more important than the tool used for measurement. I spent too long tinkering with the app when I could have simply used a spreadsheet.
In the end, I still observe my predictions and quantify my confidence as a percentage, as a kind of forcing function, but without any experimental rigour or related tooling.
Tensr - MMO Go (the classic board game)The IdeaI love the mechanics of Go. The atomic simplicity is stunning and produces infinitely complex, almost fractal gameplay. Go can be played on different sized boards. With Tensr, I re-applied those mechanics into a massively multiplayer online game, where pieces moved simultaneously and the board expanded at the edges as new players joined.
What I Learned I was a bit ambitious. I'd built the game for a hackathon. It was my first game and my first attempt building a live, multiplayer experience. I fuzzed the server architecture and it glitched out with more than a few connections.
But I learned that I could do it. Getting close and missing expanded my ideas of what's possible as a programmer.
The IdeaI love the mechanics of Go. The atomic simplicity is stunning and produces infinitely complex, almost fractal gameplay. Go can be played on different sized boards. With Tensr, I re-applied those mechanics into a massively multiplayer online game, where pieces moved simultaneously and the board expanded at the edges as new players joined.
What I Learned I was a bit ambitious. I'd built the game for a hackathon. It was my first game and my first attempt building a live, multiplayer experience. I fuzzed the server architecture and it glitched out with more than a few connections.
But I learned that I could do it. Getting close and missing expanded my ideas of what's possible as a programmer.
The IdeaI love the mechanics of Go. The atomic simplicity is stunning and produces infinitely complex, almost fractal gameplay. Go can be played on different sized boards. With Tensr, I re-applied those mechanics into a massively multiplayer online game, where pieces moved simultaneously and the board expanded at the edges as new players joined.
What I Learned I was a bit ambitious. I'd built the game for a hackathon. It was my first game and my first attempt building a live, multiplayer experience. I fuzzed the server architecture and it glitched out with more than a few connections.
But I learned that I could do it. Getting close and missing expanded my ideas of what's possible as a programmer.
Bicycl - An app to celebrate small winsThe IdeaWe're so focused on the future. Our task managers, calendars, etc. orient to what we will do. We overlook the small growth that happens every day. I built Bicycl as a tool to celebrate what you learn and accomplish each day, and then aggregate those small wins into bigger stories of progress.
What I LearnedMy first solo-built app: I launched, got a bunch of users, and then they'd drop off in a week or two. As a tool for observation and self-reflection, the app needed to surface its intrinsic rewards more quickly to become sticky. But that's a bit of a conundrum for something intentionally historical.
The IdeaWe're so focused on the future. Our task managers, calendars, etc. orient to what we will do. We overlook the small growth that happens every day. I built Bicycl as a tool to celebrate what you learn and accomplish each day, and then aggregate those small wins into bigger stories of progress.
What I LearnedMy first solo-built app: I launched, got a bunch of users, and then they'd drop off in a week or two. As a tool for observation and self-reflection, the app needed to surface its intrinsic rewards more quickly to become sticky. But that's a bit of a conundrum for something intentionally historical.
The IdeaWe're so focused on the future. Our task managers, calendars, etc. orient to what we will do. We overlook the small growth that happens every day. I built Bicycl as a tool to celebrate what you learn and accomplish each day, and then aggregate those small wins into bigger stories of progress.
What I LearnedMy first solo-built app: I launched, got a bunch of users, and then they'd drop off in a week or two. As a tool for observation and self-reflection, the app needed to surface its intrinsic rewards more quickly to become sticky. But that's a bit of a conundrum for something intentionally historical.