Metamuse: Recent Episodes
Adam Wiggins, Mark McGranaghan
Metamuse is still on hiatus, but this is a brief announcement of some related projects. Localfirst.fm is a new podcast that Adam is helping to produce. And Adam is on the organizing team for Local-First Conf 2024, held in Berlin on May 30.
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Show notes* Localfirst.fm podcast * Local-First Conf 2024
Mark and Adam take a look back at three years of podcasts to reflect on their favorite episodes—and the friends they made along the way. They discus Metamuse’s origin story, walk through the production process, and wax nostalgic on some of their favorite episodes. Plus: a look at what the future holds for our hosts and the podcast.
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Show notes* NPR * The future of iPad * Ferrite * Hello Internet, Gastropod, Lexicon Valley * This American Life, Gimlet Media * Most downloaded episodes: Computers and creativity with Molly Mielke, Sync, Growing ideas with Andy Matuschak * Mark’s favorite episodes: Local-first software with Martin Kleppmann, Local-first one year later, Hiring, Cities with Devon Zuegel * Adam’s honorable mentions: Progress with Jason Crawford, Rich text with Slim Lim * Metamuse podcast guest handbook * lossless audio * Riverside * Audio editor Mark Lamorgese * Post-producer Jenna Miller * Podcasting Microphones Mega-Review * XLR microphone * pro sound dampening material * RØDE Podcaster * Pop filter, plosives * John Michael Greer
Bittersweet news is the topic of this episode. Adam Wulf and Adam Wiggins discuss the end of an era for Muse, leadership transitions, and what the future holds for Muse 3.0 and beyond.
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Show notes * An end, and a beginning * Ink & Switch * Adam Wulf * Loose Leaf * Here, File File * prosumer * Industrial research with Peter van Hardenberg * Netlify proxy, Webflow, Hugo * Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
Is virtual reality useful for productivity software? Yiliu is the founder of Softspace, a VR/AR tool for thought. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss the human brain and body as inherently spatial systems; the question of whether information is fundamentally 2D; and why social comfort is the biggest challenge facing VR today. Plus: how to avoid a dystopian future.
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Show notes * Yiliu Shen-Burke @softspaceninja * Softspace * Wim Hof breathing method * Studio Olafur Eliasson * The Brain Maps Out Ideas and Memories Like Spaces * Oculus * Oculus development kit * heads-up display * Scott Greenwald’s Media Lab thesis * Beat Saber * A Beautiful Mind * Softspace demo * force-directed graph * Steven Johnson on DevonThink * Google Glass, Magic Leap, Vision Pro * Supernatural * vergence * history of VR * PlaneVR: Social Acceptability of Virtual Reality for Aeroplane Passengers
Quotes from famous people or books can turn a feeling or a concept into a memorable chunk of text—how can we do the same for our own ideas? Stephan is the CEO of Obsidian, and he joins Mark and Adam to discuss notes as personal memes, the balance between freedom and cohesion in plugins, and why it's so hard to be messy in digital tools. Plus: why “tools for thought” rubs Stephan the wrong way.
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Show notes * Stephan Ango @kepano @kepano@mastodon.social * Obsidian * Pillowy Swedish cinnamon rolls using the tangzhong technique * Lumi * Erica Xu, Shida Li * Growing ideas with Andy Matuschak * Evergreen notes turn ideas into objects that you can manipulate * Apple Notes, Apple Journal * Zettelkasten * stream-of-consciousness writing plugin * Obsidian developer docs * Launchers with Thomas Paul Mann * Infinite canvases with Steve Ruiz * Obsidian Canvas * Excalidraw, ExcaliBrain * .canvas format
Planning might have a reputation for being boring, but Adam and Mark believe it can be one of the most exciting moments in your team’s work. They discuss the importance of inspiration and collective knowledge; the musical rhythm of planning cycles; and how to “draw the line” when prioritizing. Plus: the importance of revisiting the plan in times of doubt.
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Show notes* Muse for Teams beta announcement * Against boring planning * agile methodology * ticket trackers * Gantt charts, burndown charts * Pivotal Tracker * kanban board * Jesper Jørgensen * V2MOM, OKRs * effort to impact chart * Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy * Amazon’s “working backwards” approach * go slow to go fast * Zoom fatigue * shared knowledge vs common knowledge
How can software improve the practice of reading? Tristan and Dan are the founders of Readwise. They join Adam to talk about the history of read-later apps like Pocket and Instapaper; the difference between reading for betterment and reading for entertainment; and the cat-and-mouse game of web parsing. Plus: how the personal knowledge management explosion in 2020 affected digital reading.
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Show notes* Tristan Homsi @homsIT * Dan Doyon @deadly_onion * falconry * My Side of the Mountain * Readwise * Anki * Dan and Tristan meeting on Hacker News * Reader * Pocket, Marco Arment, Instapaper * Mozilla acquires Pocket * Why We’re Bootstrapping Readwise * Alan Kay on computer science as pop culture * Readability.js * web standards acid test * Reader browser extension * RSS * Explorable Explanations * offline first * JSON Patch * Second Brain * commonplace book, marginalia * etymology of “document”
It's been a year since Muse 2.0 launched. To help commemorate this anniversary, Adam Wulf once again joins Mark and Adam Wiggins to do a technical deep-dive intothe Muse's sync architecture. They discuss the benefits such as less ops burden and good developer experience; and challenges such as event vs state based data, handling different app schema versions, and the tradeoffs of a content-aware server.
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Show notes* Developer Duck * The Pragmatic Programmer * Metamuse episode 56: Sync * Muse 2.0 * Muse for Teams * Local-first software * Pingdom * Local-first software with Martin Kleppmann * Text blocks * innovation tokens * Replicache, LiveBlocks, PartyKit * Automerge 2.0
Twitter has created a whole new generation of internet writers. Francesco is the co-founder of Typefully, and he joins Adam and Mark to talk about the evolution of blogging, the importance of diversifying your platforms, and how Twitter can be used as a beacon to invite like-minded people into your conversations.
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Show notes* Francesco Di Lorenzo @frankdilo * Typefully * Calm companies with Tyler Tringas * Atomic writing * Evan Williams and Blogger * Mastodon, Medium, Substack * Geoffrey Litt * Platforms with Joe Wadcan * Twitter acquisition * So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed * Farcaster
Great leadership is imperative to creating a successful company. Adam and Mark talk about setting up a healthy work environment, the importance of conviction and belief, and the role models who inspire Adam and Mark on their own leadership journeys.
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Show notes* Muse for Teams * Metamuse episode on Hiring * Netflix Culture Deck (2009) * Metamuse episode with Mario Gabriele * Adam’s Heroku’s values * Barbie and Ruth * The Score Takes Care of Itself * Difficult Men * Peter van Hardenberg * George Washington * The story of VaccinateCA by Patrick McKenzie * Sketching User Experiences * Slack: The Myth of Total Efficiency * The Principles of Project Management Flow * Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman * High Output Management * Management
Better tools and techniques for collective intelligence could be a path to building a more democratic society. Conor is the founder of Roam, and he joins Adam and Mark to discuss his motivations for working on a tool for collective intelligence, why knowledge doesn’t always equal articulated thoughts, and a vision for how to program your own mind.
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Show notes Conor White-Sullivan * Roam Research * Bret Victor * Andy Matuschak on roman numerals vs arabic numerals * Logo, BASIC * agent-based economics simulations * Choose Your Own Adventure * “The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them” * The Wealth of Networks * Institutions and Organizations * non-rivalrous goods, public goods * 3D printing organs, open-source medicine * The Centralized Internet Is Inevitable * map-territory conflict * micronations * critical thinking * “I, Pencil” * Limits to Legibility * Localocracy * A Syntopicon * Reinventing Discovery*
Linking has a rich history as a way of connecting, building, and sharing—creating the hive mind of all human knowledge. Adam and Mark talk about the origins of hyperlinks, the untitled boards problem, and measuring importance by citation or backlink count. And Julia joins to talk about the technical implementation of Muse’s linked cards.
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Show notes* Linked cards * Muse for Teams * Citations, symlinks, Wiki backlinks * content addressable * Ted Nelson, coined the term “hyperlink” * Knowledge graphs * Roam, Notion, Obsidian, Logseq * Branching factor * Transclusion and excerpting in Muse * Splunk, grep command in Unix
Folk practices, such as screenshots of text, offer insight into user preferences and can be a basis for building better software. Omar is the creator of ScreenMatcher, Screenotate, and TabFS. He joins Adam and Mark to discuss the impact of Dynamicland; what it means to create “wiggly” computer systems; and the idea of trying to unlock latent demands of the end-user in order to enhance our ability to control computers.
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Show notes* Omar Rizwan, @rsnous * Hijack Your Feed * Metamuse episode with Jason Yuan * Screenotate * Screen Matcher * the analog hole * Mermaid * Metamuse episode with Maggie Appleton * Dynamicland * A Small Matter of Programming * Twine * Max Kreminski on Twine projects * FFI * Vulkan * Exterminate All Operating System Abstractions * Patrick Dubroy on orthogonal primitives * TabFS * Dynamicland Geokit work * Reactive database relatives: Bloom, Eve, Riffle * Displaying graphs in terminal * Pixel parsing: Viewpoint, Prefab * Buttons * Vulkan triangle * the charisma of end-user programming * “always already programming”
It's been possible to have all-remote teams for at least a decade, but in many ways this approach to knowledge work is still in its infancy. Adam and Mark talk about the pros of remote work like the ability to hire from the global talent pool and life flexibility for team members. They also touch on cons like limited tools for creative group thinking and difficulty building trust remotely.
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Show notes* Muse for Teams / demo video * Remote-first * Zoom stocks in 2020 * Hype cycle curve * Messaging with Hilary Maloney * Wise, Firstbase, Deel * The Legal Implications of Remote Working Cross-Border * GitLab’s approach to remote compensation * Economic surplus * Join the Muse community on Discord * Dropbox founder story * Wall Street companies back in-person * Maker vs. manager schedule
What would be possible if hand-drawn sketches were programmable like spreadsheets? James and Szymon are researching this question at Ink & Switch. They sit down with Adam to talk about the unlikely duo of informality and coding, the future of digital ink, and the role of feelings in research.
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Show notes* James Lindenbaum * Szymon Kaliski * Ink & Switch * kegging cocktails * “there’s always money in the banana stand" * Heavybit * Inkbase: Programmable Ink * Potluck: Dynamic documents as personal software * Crosscut: Drawing Dynamic Models * Understanding Media * Lisp * projectional editors, Scratch, MaxMSP * Szymon demoing at Strange Loop * SketchUp * Apparatus, Cuttle * ThingLab / demo * SAT solver
A command line and a GUI are two completely different ways to operate a computer—but quick launchers and command palettes have found a way to bring them together. Thomas is building Raycast, an extensible quick launcher for macOS. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss the evolution of launchers from Quicksilver to Spotlight to the Chrome address bar; reasons to embed web technologies into a native app; and how voice interfaces like Siri and Alexa fit into this story.
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Show notes* Thomas Paul Mann @thomaspaulmann * Raycast * Spark AR * Raycast API * Metamuse episode on platforms * Spotlight, iOS Search * KDE, Krunner * Quicksilver * Superhuman, Linear, Notion * Arc * Siri, Alexa
In the world of tech journalism, a well-crafted narrative is part of conveying truth about the world. Mario writes weekly briefings at The Generalist, and he joins Adam and Mark to discuss his creative process for writing; what Michelin, Stripe, and WeWork have in common; and flaws in the now-popular Silicon Valley narrative of hubris and excess. Plus: how to speedrun creating conviction.
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Show notes * Mario Gabriele * The Generalist * Telegram: How to Counter-Attack * Anduril: The Business of Defense * Helium: The Network of Networks * Metamuse episode with Dan Shipper * Metamuse episode on storytelling * Aaron Sorkin – Teaches Screenwriting * Whose Story Wins? * Y Combinator: The Institute of Innovation * Geoff Ralston * WeCrashed * Softbank: Twilight of an Empire * Terra: The Moon Also Rises
The Muse team has begun work on multiplayer features, so Mark and Adam are pondering how groups of people can best co-develop ideas. They discuss the ad-hoc workgroups vs durable teams; the Wisdom of the Crowds; and the implications of local-first on sharing permissions. Plus: TV writer’s rooms.
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Show notes * Group ideation * survey for joining the multiplayer Muse alpha program * Exhalation, Arrival, Project Hail Mary * chalk talk * Loom * Nikolaus Klein on collaborative creativity * Hilary Maloney on creative trust * TV writer’s rooms, war rooms * Idea Generation and the Quality of the Best Idea * The Wisdom of the Crowds * Gather * Dropbox selective sync
What if we could start with a plaintext note and gradually evolve it into an app? That’s the question asked by Max and Geoffrey in their latest research at Ink & Switch. They join Adam to discuss data detectors, language models and personal text, and the creative process on a research project. Plus: why Stable Diffusion is like a slot machine.
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Show notes * Geoffrey Litt and Max Schoening * Ink & Switch * An Everlasting Meal * The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science * previous Metamuse episode with Max Schoening * previous Metamuse episode with Geoffrey Litt * Potluck essay and live demo * GPT3, DALL-E * An app can be a home-cooked meal * Bonnie Nardi * data detectors * NSDataDetector * variable rewards * Metamuse episode with Peter van Hardenberg * Formality Considered Harmful * Paul Shen, Paul Sonnentag * command pallettes * “if you’re not embarrassed, you’re shipping too late” * GitHub Copilot * Cambria
Selling software via the App Store has unique benefits and challenges compared to selling on the web. Markus joins Mark and Adam to talk through the 13-year history of MindNode on Mac, phone, and iPad sold via freemium, paid upgrades, and finally subscriptions. They discuss early inspiring Mac apps like NetNewsWire; the distribution benefits of the App Store; and the emotional journey of transitioning from indie hacker to team leader. Plus: the surprising connection between comic books, infinite canvases, and mind mapping.
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Show notes * Markus Müller-Simhofer * Mindnode * infinitecanvas.tools by Arun Venkatesan * Metamuse episode on infinite canvases * Reinventing Comics * InfiniteCanvas, an online comic experiment * NeXTSTEP * iMac G2 * Delicious Library 3,, NetNewsWire * The Road to MindNode 1.0 * “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” * AttributedString * Vapor framework * Rands in Repose on “should engineering managers code?” * Apple’s Mac App Store Opens for Business * Mindnode and Stage Manager * Metamuse episode on brands * StoreKit * business models in the App Store * Things 3
As a product creator, how do you prevent confusion with other similarly-named products in the market? Josh is an intellectual property attorney specializing in trademark law. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss why trademarks exist to protect consumers, not businesses; the legal differences between ™️, ®, wordmark, and logomark; patent trolling and trademark bullying; and the APIs used to monitor trademark databases. Plus: the trademarks of Apple, Monster Energy, and LeBron James.
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Show notes * Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) * Gerben Intellectual Property * TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System, or TESS) * origin of the name “Google” * Lanham Act * retainer * Metamuse episode on Brand * US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) * common law right * Dove soap, Dove chocolate * case law vs statute * expert testimonial * mutually assured destruction * word mark vs logo mark * trademark watch service * trademark bullying * Gerben Trademark Library
Your company exists to build a product, but the meta-project is to build a team. Adam and Mark discuss hiring managers and job descriptions; the benefit of pilot projects over lengthy interviews; and the “dream candidate” exercise. Plus: hiring lessons we can learn from Zappos and Ghostbusters.
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Show notes * Linda Ma * Ghostbusters steady paycheck scene * hiring manager * Local-first engineer JD * 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Business * Zappos pays employees to quit
Building your business on a platform like iOS, Wordpress, or Shopify gives you access to that platform’s customers, but comes with many tradeoffs. Joe helped to create the GitHub Marketplace and built his most recent startup as a Slack bot, so he knows both sides of this experience. He joins Adam and Wulf to discuss the power asymmetry between platforms and their developers; best-of-breed vs unified suites; and how Slack seeded their early ecosystem. Plus: timezones, definitely the easiest problem in programming.
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Show notes * Joe Wadcan (@joewadcan) * Ballotshare * Business Development * Abstract * Fantastical * Evenbot shutdown posts * GitHub Boards * GitHub Marketplace, Heroku Add-ons, Slack Apps * Slack’s 5 years as a platform post * Travis CI, CircleCI * New Relic, Sendgrid * Zynga * Twitter acquires Tweetie (2010) * Sherlock app
A renaissance is happening in productivity tools—and that goes beyond the software itself and into online gathering places for users passionate about those tools. Ramses is the community manager for Logseq, and he joins Mark and Adam to discuss language learning communities and the great flashcard debate; platform options like Discord, Discourse, and Circle; why people join communities in the first place, and why they stick around in the longer term. Plus: why community is not a moat.
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Show notes * Ramses Oudt (@rroudt) * Think Stack Club * Spaced repetition * Flashcard * Duolingo, Anki * Outliner * Logseq, Emacs, Workflowy, Dynalist, Roam Research, Obsidian * Knowledge graph * Readwise * r/puppy101 * Logseq’s forum, Craft’s community * Discourse, Circle * Loom * Logseq’s Github
All your questions about Muse, answered! Mark, Adam, and Wulf discuss the purposes of search in knowledge tools; the need for an infinite canvas file format; the many facets of board archival; and how to fund a research lab. Plus: the dangers of iPad use in a darkened plane cabin.
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Show notes * Prison Entrepreneurship Program * national recidivism * quasimode * Storytelling episode of Metamuse * Zoho Mail * Yahoo’s web directory in the 1990s * The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff * Kinopio * Hick’s Law * origin of “hyperlink” * Linked cards sneak peek in Muse * Paulo Pereira episode in Metamuse * Sofware Longevity episode of Metamuse * DevonThink, Craft, Notion, Roam, Obsidian, Logseq, Evernote * mind palace * Deeplinks in Muse * FigJam, Miro, Freeform, tldraw, Goodnotes * Zettelkasten, GTD * Hillary Maloney episode of Metamuse * text blocks in Muse * Ink & Switch * Automerge * Panic * definite optimism
Designers use general-purpose vector editors like Sketch and Figma to mock up mobile UIs. Play is a design tool that offer a different approach: designing directly on an iPhone or iPad. Dan from Play joins Mark and Adam to talk about the problem with mirror apps; how much time you should spend on sketching before “getting your hands on the clay”; and why developer handoff should be a collaboration, not a handoff. Plus: the correlation between the loudness of your mechanical keyboard and your coding skills.
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Show notes * Dan LaCivita * Play @createwithplay * Karate Kid * UI pattern * Play’s Slider * Figma Mirror, Sketch Mirror * WYSIWYG * Spatial Interfaces * Play’s spatial UI * Honor the Material * Metamuse episode with David Hoang * Play’s UIButton, Apple’s UIButton * Textfield, UICollectionView * iOS Design System for Figma * Metamuse episode with Paulo Pereira * Higher Fidelity Prototype * Origami, Protopie * iOS 15 Modals & Haptics * Bezier Curves * Waterfall Methodologies * Principles of Product Development * Picker in Play * Ken Adam: The Art of Production Design * Early Ideation * Play’s Launch article on Medium * User Testing * No-Code, Low-Code * Variables in Play * Glide, Adalo * HyperCard * Gradual Enhancement * Low Floor, High Ceiling * SwiftUI Charts
A new foundational document type is on the rise: the so-called infinite canvas. Steve is the creator of tldraw, an open-source canvas toolkit. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss why the canvas might be the ultimate fully-generalized form of all digital documents; why “infinite” refers to openness and possibility rather than just available space; and why canvases create a sense of place that is suited to multiuser collaboration. Plus: smash that fork button and own this thing forever.
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Show notes * Steve Ruiz @steveruizok * tldraw * MacPaint scene in Steve Jobs Movie * perfect-freehand * excalidraw * direct manipulation * Mural, Miro, FigJam * Codemirror, Prosemirror * AceEditor * Github Sponsors * Framer * Model View Controller * Framer Classic * Play * Illustrator * Hypercard * LegendKeeper, WorldAnvil * HTML Canvas * Desktop Metaphor
If you’re on a team responsible for a mature and beloved product, how do you decide what to build next? Paulo is a product manager at Sketch, and he joins Mark and Adam to talk about managing the ever-growing backlog of feature requests and how to balance that against long-term product vision. They also explore the evolution in the design tools market over the last ten years; Sketch’s company culture which values sustainable growth over KPIs and dark patterns; and the privilege and responsibility of working on a beloved tool.
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Show notes * Paulo Pereira @paulozoom * Sketch * meditative YouTube: Primitive Technology, Ishitani Furniture * XOXO, Build * Sketch’s editor on Mac and viewer on web * corner radius controls * Foresight * Artboard Templates * Sketch pricing page * KPIs * dark patterns * Sketch series A fundraise * Sketch 3 (2014) * Metamuse on calm companies * ramen profitability * GitHub’s pivot to venture funding (2012)
Messaging is how your company talks about its product strategically and systematically. Hilary recently worked with the Muse team to create a new message for Muse 2.0, and she joins Mark and Adam to talk about her creative process. Topics include why product messaging exists to solve a problem at a particular point in time; how Apple builds its brand message into product marketing; work idealists; and the importance of creative trust on teams. Plus: some cliché phrases to avoid when marketing your productivity software.
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Show notes * Hilary Maloney @HilaryMaloney * Bishop, bouldering, Free Solo * brand strategy * photojournalism * Parlore * Muse 2.0 launch memo * messaging * Notion’s “source of truth” message * Metamuse episode on brand * Dropbox, WeTransfer * above the fold * Apple’s “Think different” campaign * challenger brand strategy * Apple’s “Behind the Mac” campaign * Muse memos * knowledge management, second brain * the four Cs * Always Sunny pinboard meme * Deep Work * brand persona * Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule * trope * Crossing the Chasm * Metamuse episode on collaboration with Nikolas Klein
The foundational technology for Muse 2 is local-first sync, which draws from over a decade of computer science research on CRDTs. Mark, Adam Wiggins, and Adam Wulf get technical to describe the Muse sync technology architecture in detail. Topics include the difference between transactional, blob, and ephemeral data; the “atoms” concept inspired by Datomic; Protocol Buffers; and the user’s data as a bag of edits. Plus: why sync is a powerful substrate for end-user programming.
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Show notes * Adam Wulf @adamwulf * Fantastical * Loose Leaf * Wulf’s iOS ink libraries * OpenGL * Bézier curves * Houston * Muse 2.0 launches May 24 * Metamuse episode on local-first software * Core Data * Pocket * Clue, Wunderlist * CouchDB, Firebase * Adam’s writeup on sync technologies from 2014 * Evernote * Pixelpusher * Slow Software * CRDTs, operational transform * Automerge * Actual Budget * last write wins * Actual open source * hybrid logical clock, vector clock * CloudKit * lazy loading * API versioning * Protocol Buffers * Wulf’s article on atoms * Datomic * “put a UUID and a version number on everything” * Swift property wrappers * functional reactive programming * Sourcery * Sentry * HDD indicator light * Muse job post for a local-first engineer * Local-first day at ECOOP 2022
Pro apps on macOS have a look and feel unlike apps on any other platform. Julia and Lennart join Adam to get into the details of designing and implementing Muse for Mac. Topics include the pros and cons of building with Catalyst, how the Muse canvas mixes with system conventions and UI chrome, and our experimental approach to developing the keyboard+mouse command vocabulary. Plus: how Julia rediscovered her love of right-click context menus.
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Show notes * Muse for Mac * Metamuse episode on native apps * Mac Catalyst * 80-20 rule * Apple HIG * macOS Finder * Craft and their guide to Catalyst * Metamuse episode on career * Audacity labels * macOS help menu search * Transmit, OptImage, Forecast * TestFlight * AppKit * React Native * “medium for thought” * What’s a computer? * iPadOS morphing cursor
Customer support is sometimes an afterthought for tech product companies, but it can be one of the most important parts of user experience. Mark and Adam discuss using support as a type of user interview; how to balance long-term product vision with listening to customers; and support reputations of companies like Zappos, IBM, and Comcast. Plus: the value of transparency vs why airlines conceal flight delays.
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Show notes * Safe mode * Zappos: Deliver WOW Through Service * Front * Zendesk * triage * IBM’s legendary customer service * First Republic * Speakeasy * Comcast cares * traceroute, line test * credit card authorization and capture * Flighty * Heroku incident reponse and status page * pager rotation * Oren Teich * ARPU, Google’s ARPU
Your career is more than just a way to earn a living—it's a foundation for leading the kind of life you want. Shawn joins Mark and Adam to talk about navigating the non-linear course of a career; whether to correct weaknesses vs investing in strengths; salary negotiation; brag documents; and how to create luck. Plus: the Spinal Tap scale for rating software engineers.
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Show notes * Shawn Wang @swyx * Temporal * VBA, Haskell * Fullstack Academy * Two Sigma, Netlify * rough notes on what’s missing in serverless * Build in public, Personal brand * Learn In Public * zero-sum * Elasticsearch, Typesense * cron job * Descript * The Coding Career Handbook * “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward” * Maslow’s hierarchy of needs * Never Split The Difference * a leak in your poker game * brag documents, Julia Evans * recency bias * Adam’s pitch to Berlin startups in 2014 * How to Create Luck * luck surface area * closed-form solution * indie games, Braid * So Good They Can’t Ignore You * lifestyle design * Kevin Kwok, P/E ratio, gravitas as a P/E ratio * 10x developer * Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat and their coding productivity * “these go to eleven”
If you’ve built a great product, a launch is how the world can find out about it. Adam and Mark discuss the anatomy of a product launches, including creating a “moment” in your social graph; why you should decouple product releases from your marketing launch; and mechanics like waitlists, feature flags, and press. Plus: how sharing your work with the world strengthens your team identity.
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Show notes * Muse for Mac * Product Hunt * How they launched it: Mailchimp * soft launch * waitlists * gradual rollouts and feature flags * press embargo * TechCrunch, Gigaom, The Verge * Heroku Postgres * Ubuntu release cycle * Heroku Cedar * How to Launch on Product Hunt
Meeting potential collaborators online is easier when you represent yourself through a personal brand. Brian Lovin is a designer at GitHub, a podcaster at Design Details, and a prolific online maker. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about personal websites; the pros and cons of cold contact over the internet; whether follower counts matter; and how the Twitter algorithm can push back against your personal growth. Plus: the tension between thoughtfulness and daring.
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Show notes * Brian Lovin @brian_lovin * Design Details * /r/battlestations * GitHub mobile apps * Mark and Adam on Design Details * Spectrum * Buffer * Security checklist * more readable Hacker News * How my website works * On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog * Metamuse episode on brand * Prof. Dr. Style * “I respond to every thoughtful note” * how to email busy people * fortune cookie tweets * Staff Design * alt accounts * Facebook’s policy on real names * dark matter * Staff Engineer * Brian’s design critiques * App Dissection
What’s the best way for a solo entrepreneur to market their product? Pirijan is creating Kinopio, a spatial canvas on the web, and he publishes new features as screenshots or short demo videos on Twitter. He talks with Mark and Adam about how personality and building-in-public are a unique advantage of small teams; PC Magazine versus YouTube influencers; and why the struggle of building a business is best shared in realtime. Plus: choosing a tool based on vibes.
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Show notes * Pirijan @pketh * Kinopio * Gleason’s boxing gym * The Endless Summer (surf documentary) * “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” * Fog Creek / Glitch * Joel Spolsky * Copilot, Kiln * Wasabi * Metamuse episode on urban design * text blocks beta * HandBrake * teaching hospitals * pave the cowpath * Indie Hackers and revenue sharing example * moonlighting * The Making of Prince of Persia * posturing * MKBHD
The great works of human civilization can last for centuries—but software often decays in just a tiny fraction of that time. How much should this concern us in this increasingly-digital age? And as software creators, what can we do about it? Adam and Mark discuss the durability of papyrus vs CD-Rs vs the cloud; open-source Quake and remix culture; flat file formats; and digital preservation efforts like The Internet Archive and MAME. Plus: sometimes you just have to draw the rest of the owl.
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Show notes * Cesna 172 * ForeFlight * iPad aviation kneeboards * The Long Now Foundation and Clock * Buy it for life * Metamuse episode on pricing * Internet Archive * CD-R * MAME * arcade game ROMs * DOOM and Quake as open source * Text Mode Quake II and DOOM on a pregnancy test * Python 2 and 3 * farmers fighting to repair and modify their tractors * How To Draw an Owl * Ship of Theseus * CalDAV * SQLite long-term support * TIFF extensible file format * Cambria data lenses * the Lindy effect * Arc browser, Not Boring Apps
Rich text editing is a foundational interaction in productivity software. Slim joins Mark and Adam to explain how rich text is more than just bold and italics for prose, but also includes math equations, diagrams, slideshows, and sheet music. Their discussion includes WYSIWYG versus markup languages for end users; how block-based editors change our understanding of rich text; and why Pandoc is Slim’s favorite piece of software. Plus: how to choose the best wagon in Oregon Trail.
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Show notes * Slim “Sarah” Lim @sliminality * UC Berkeley, Notion, Ink & Switch * 14" vs 16" MacBook Pro * The Oregon Trail, 5th Edition * Khan Academy R&D group with Andy Matuschak * Ply, Slim’s CSS inspector * Bert Bos (co-creator of CSS) * Notion’s inline equation editor * Peritext * Further Research is Needed * Welcome to Night Vale * structured editors * Lisp and S-Expressions * Pandoc * CommonMark, ReMarkdown * Beamer, reveal.js * AsciiDoc * Eternals * Overleaf * stan * Association for Computing Machinery * ACM switch to HTML from PDF as archival format * MathML * MathJax, KaTeX * MathOverflow * Jonathan Aldrich * Bear * Finale, MuseScore * Graphviz, Mermaid, Svgbob * Sketch-n-Sketch
Designing tools for creators is harder than consumer software, but also potentially more rewarding. David leads design at Webflow, and he joins Adam and Mark to talk about mental models, opinionated versus open-ended tools, and being true to the materials. Plus: why complexity is unfairly villainized in design.
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Show notes * David Hoang @davidhoang * Webflow * Seeing Spaces * low-fidelity wireframes * One Medical * Quartz Composer * Black Pixel * SwiftUI * no-code tools * Heroku * citizen developer * journey map * The Big Bed * Civilization built on Webflow * Metamuse episode with Weiwei Xu * GeoCities * Metamuse episode with Maggie Appleton * Dreamweaver * Web3 * RSS * mental models * Xcode’s Auto Layout vs Figma’s auto layout * position: absolute * the box model * flexbox * JavaScript minification * Jobs to be Done * paradox of choice * Webflow’s No-Code Conf * OpenDoc, ActiveX * Rake task * Yahoo! Pipes * low floor, high ceiling * Obsidian * React Native eject * Instagram Stories * Universe * BASIC * sprite * Glitch * original vision for the read-write web * Beaker Browser
Ink & Switch is a research lab inspired by Bells Labs and Xerox PARC. Peter is lab director, and he joins Adam and Mark to discuss DARPA-hard problems; the Ink & Switch academic-meets-web essay format; and how an independent research lab can fund itself through a spinout flywheel. Plus: Mendel and his peas, Thoreau and his ants, and the Arrakis attitude of the knife.
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Show notes * Peter van Hardenberg @pvh * Ink & Switch * hydroponic gardening * computer vision * knight’s movement in chess * efficient frontier * Peritext * Dynamicland * Seinfeld calendar * Zettelkasten * rich text * Metamuse episode with Geoffrey Litt * Metamuse episode with Linus Lee * “Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife […] It’s complete because it’s ended here.” * DARPA * Richard Hamming * National Science Foundation * prime number theorum * Ben Reinhardt on innovation orgs * Bell Labs list of inventions * flywheel * Gregor Mendel’s experiments with pea plants * “It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” * DARPA autonomous vehicles contest and prize * DARPA hard * Gordon Brander * pre-infusion * Yjs * the Hollywood model * Martin Kleppmann * Code for America * no plan survives first contact with the enemy * “pencils down” * peer review * citation
With Muse for Mac on the horizon, the team convenes to discuss the merits of native apps versus web technologies like Electron. Discussion points include the conflict between brand identity and apps that feel true to the OS; “proudly native” apps like Sketch and Nova; and the lost art of designing using system components. Plus: the business case for and against building native apps, and why great native apps tend to come from smaller companies.
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Show notes * The road to Muse 2 * Electron * DMG file * URL * widgets * GTK * /usr * the JVM and write once, run anywhere * Java servlet, Flash * React Native, Cordova * transpiler * browser quirks * siren’s song * Audacity * Flutter * Things * principle of least surprise * Twitter on iOS non-native share sheet * Material Design * Google’s iOS apps retiring custom widgets * WeChat * Microsoft antitrust case in the late 90s * how the web broke Microsoft’s monopoly * Steve Jobs visiting Xerox PARC * Alto, Lisa, Macintosh * Metamuse episode with Weiwei Xu * V for Wikipedia * Twitter’s custom typeface, Chirp * ScreenFlow, Sketch, Nova * Sketch’s proud-to-be-native article * WebAssembly in Figma * Sublime Text * Finda’s 16ms goal * Microsoft CEO deemphasizing the Windows business * Obsidian, Superhuman, Linear * 1Password’s switch to Electron and subsequent outcry * video games and colorblind mode * Game Maker’s Toolkit — Designing for Disability
Journalism is changing, as newspapers and magazines adapt to being online and internet-native media empires like Vox and Vice upend the status quo. Dan Shipper is part of this as a founder of Every, a writer collective for business writing. Dan chats with Mark and Adam about the paid newsletter boom; the impact of recommendation algorithms on creator mental health; and content platforms like Wordpress, Substack, and Ghost. Plus: the pros and cons of antigravity machines.
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Show notes * Dan Shipper @danshipper * Every * John Green, The Anthropocene Reviewed * Irvin Yalom * Substack * Firefly * Superorganizers * divergent mode * Nathan Baschez * The Economist, The New York Times, Disney * Vox, Vice * the death of journalism * editor * dopamine hit * Metamuse episode on social media * yellow journalism * BuzzFeed * crypto * Ben Thompson / Stratechery * Ghost * Pulitzer prize * kids want to grow up to be YouTube stars * Casey Neistat * YouTube algorithm changes * The Long Tail * Harvard Business Review * Bedrock Capital * The Athletic * Divinations * The Generalist
What do the Bible, TED talks, superhero movies, and Steve Jobs’ product announcements have in common? They use stories to share ideas, culture, and worldview. Adam and Lennart discuss this, and the role storytelling can play in product marketing and design.
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Show notes * the smell of autumn * Muse is hiring * Metamuse episode on our partnership model * local-first engineer * designer & storyteller * the Bible * superhero movies as modern myths * TED talks * Steve Jobs as a storyteller * Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone (2007) * marketing * marketing funnel * Muse’s onboarding * dark patterns * the medium is the message * lecture * copywriting * hero shot * html video * responsive design * CSS transitions * scroll hijacking * Explorable Explanations * WordPress, SquareSpace * Notion blew up on TikTok * vignette * aspect ratio * Guy Gavriel Kay * worldbuilding * iPhone 1 notes app * skeuomorphic * slide to unlock * BlackBerry * iPhone 1 commercial “Calamari” * Muse Pencil toolkit * iPadOS PencilKit * Metamuse episode on tool switching * marketing design
In a world dominated by mass-produced software, making your own tools is a way to take back agency in your digital life. Linus joins Mark and Adam to talk about his experiences building a personal software ecosystem; tools that are a reflection of the maker’s values and taste; and packaging/sharing solutions like Docker, CodePen, Replit, and Deno. And: is it possible for software to ever be “done”? — Linus thinks so.
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Show notes * Linus Lee @thesephist * Surface Duo * Nintendo DS * Backbone.js * Spensa (farming technology startup) * Django * Replit * Monocle * full-text search * Ink (programming language) * changing lightbulb meme * DigitalOcean * August (Linus’ self-made x86 assembler) * Metamuse episode with Weiwei Xu * situated software * stream fusion in mathematics * reverse proxy * software erosion aka bit rot * FileMaker Pro * newline-delimited JSON * flat dependency trees * dynamic linked libraries * Go static linking * not invented here * Hundred Rabbits * lil apps * Szymon Kaliski * An app can be a home-cooked meal * Lucerne (Linus' self-made Twitter client) * TweetDeck * Taylor Swift * Go by Example * multi-tenancy * Metamuse episode on local-first * whoami * game modding * Deno * Deno’s sandboxing and permissions * Qubes OS * Docker container * Heroku Buttons * macOS .app bundles * CodePen * xkcd on modern software dependencies * ProseMirror * Metamuse episode on filmmaking * curl maintainer has been at it for 23 years
Local-first is a set of principles that enables collaborative software without the loss of data ownership associated with the cloud. Martin is a computer scientist on the frontier of this movement, and he joins Mark and Adam to discuss how creative people put their souls into their work; a vision for a generic AWS syncing service; and why local-first could be a breakthrough for indie app developers.
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Show notes * Martin Kleppmann * University of Cambridge * Debussy four-handed piano piece * Martin’s previous startup, Rapportive * Apache Kafka * Designing Data-Intensive Applications * Writing a book: is it worth it? * Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud * Ink & Switch * Geoffrey Litt * Pixelpusher * the fish says “what the hell is water?” * “crushing it” * elevator pitch * Google Docs * realtime collaboration * defrag your hard drive * self-hosting an SMTP server and spam filtering * thin client * Peter van Hardenberg * Pixelpusher * Automerge * “there is stuff you always use; and stuff that won’t work when you need it” * Slack’s free vs paid message retention * federation, mesh network * CRDTs * How we pay for software * Swift, Kotlin * technology transfer * fuzz testing, Monte Carlo simulation * local-first Trello clone demo * end-to-end encryption * Firebase
The Muse team worked with Max and his film crew on the pilot episode of a new documentary series. Max joins Adam and Mark to talk about how making films compares to making software; why creative trust is the core of a great team; and why we should hire based on networks, portfolios, and auditions instead of CVs and interviews. Plus: 40 people stuck on a film shoot in the forest due to a forgotten shovel.
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Show notes * Maximilian Becht of Kosmovision * shooting day * post-production * E3 * set runner * Film Academy Baden-Württemberg * Zellenflimmern (documentary on media inside prisons) * Making Movies * Create: a documentary series by Muse * watch pilot episode of Create with Katrin Friedmann * branded content * Marcus Hanisch (Create director) * location scouting * Jasper Techel (Create cameraperson) * Moritz Drath (Create sound and music) * professional network * After Effects * The Queen’s Gambit shot in Berlin * maker biographies * A Modest Genius (Charles Darwin biography) * Creativity, Inc. (Pixar founder autobiography) * Barbie and Ruth (Mattel founder biography) * film screening * the Hollywood model * gig sites * Christopher Nolan * wide angle shots * herding cats * production manager * “fix it in post" * the null hypothesis * suggest a protagonist for future episodes of Create
Why are we driven to create, and to express ourselves online? Weiwei is the founder of Sprout, a collaborative creation space. She joins Mark and Adam to talk about how tools influence group communication and our sense of belonging; why we should make our online spaces feel more like bedrooms than stadiums or hotel lobbies; and why children’s tools have a special magic. Plus: Nintendo’s withered technology, Winamp skins, and cursor waves.
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Show notes * Weiwei Xu @weiweiwei33 * Sprout * monowheel scooter * Dynamicland * growth mindset * HCI * Metamuse episode with Jason Yuan * MakeSpace * Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facetime * Miro * Pointing in virtual spaces * Slackmojis, Discord custom emojis * Sharpies, butcher paper, calligraphy pens and markers * Kindle * sushi knives * Deluxe Paint * introvert * Muse Backstage Pass * Winamp * iOS widgets * engagement loops * clickbait * Metamuse episode on video games * World Cup, European championship * Adam’s homepage * gwalb – grey with a little blue * Citizen Kane, Mank, Jaws * Nintendo’s “withered technology” * Switch
As the world’s economy is remade via software, some founders are finding the one-way ratchet of venture capital too restrictive. Tyler Tringas is working to expand funding options available to entrepreneurs via the Calm Fund. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about a return to classic good business practices; how founders can maximize their optionality; building an investment thesis out in the open; and how to be long-term ambitious.
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Show notes * Tyler Tringas @tylertringas * Calm Fund * Mexico City * digital nomad, slowmad * Earnest Capital rebrand * bootstrapper, indie hacker * building in public * Small Giants episode * brand episode * lifestyle business * The Entrepreneur’s new path of maximum optionality * the peace dividend of the SaaS wars * B2D * two-sided market * red ocean * winner takes all * craigslist, Thumbtack * covertible note, SAFE * Shared Earnings Agreement (SEAL) * Calm’s crowdfunding campaign * 12factor * profit-sharing plans * co-op * carried interest * Joe Wallin * Calm Company Express
Creating software is typically done in text-based environments—but would programming be more accessible with graphical programming tools? Maggie joins Mark and Adam to talk about the relative success of Scratch, Shortcuts, and Zapier; how to make the abstract visible; embodied metaphors; and the false duality of artistic versus logical thinkers. Plus: how to make blinking lights for your Burning Man art installation.
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Show notes * Maggie Appleton @mappletons * egghead.io * Centre for Computing History * Pacific Pinball Museum * Nintendo 64 * the noughties or the aughts * React * Scratch * Zapier, IFTTT, Integromat * low-code / no-code * Rocky’s Boots * circuit diagrams * DrScheme * Origami Studio * Muse memo on infinite canvas with Origami screenshot * LabVIEW * Logic Pro, Reason * the environment in Logic * iOS Shortcuts (née Workflow) * console loggings * end-user programming: embodiment * VS Code, npm, Ruby on Rails, GraphQL, React hooks * cultural anthropology * Geroge Lakoff, Mark Johnson * embodied metaphors * Dan Abramov * Just Javascript * pointers in C * Redux actions * _why’s poignant guide to ruby * Learnable Programming * Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations, Beautiful Evidence * Graphviz DOT graphs * jigs in wordworking * Unity * episode with Geoffrey Litt * Flutter, SwiftUI * XState * Apparatus * direct manipulation * Dreamweaver * Interface Builder * Hacker News folk wisdom on visual programming * Adafruit * circuit debouncing with capacitors * walk uphill in the snow * Visual Programming Codex * Whole Code Catalog
Text blocks are a new beta feature for Muse. Mark and Adam use the opportunity to discuss the origins and philosophy of text in computing, including text as a datum in environments like wikis, REPLs, and social media; the writing workflow of collapsing spatially-arranged ideas down to a linear text buffer; and company memo culture. And Mark shares his vision for how the Pencil could become the X-Acto knife for fast text editing on a tablet.
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Show notes Review Metamuse on Apple Podcasts
- Podstatus
- Cortex, Accidental Tech Podcast
- “going viral slowly”
- text blocks beta manual and memo
- Notion, Roam, Craft
- plain text
- ASCII art
- logograms
- The Humane Representation of Thought
- William Playfair
- Literature & Latte, Scrivener, Scapple
- terminal, REPL
- Man-Computer Symbiosis
- TTY = teletype
- Roam backlinks and knowledge graph
- view source
- Sublime Text
- Twitter was 140 characters for SMS
- episode about iPad
- emacs Org Mode, WorkFlowy
- Miro, FigJam, GoodNotes
- uncanny valley
- IPython, Jupyter
- Markdown
- Atlassian’s wiki
- “turn my ideas into our ideas”
- responsive design
- folio keyboard, Magic Keyboard
- iOS voice input
- Scribble
- infinite canvas beta → flex boards
- kill your darlings
It’s been over a decade since Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s tablet as a “third device” between Mac and iPhone. Mark, Adam, and Lennart discuss iPad’s potential as a creative platform; multitasking, filesystem, and scripting/extensions; multimodal inputs; and the background process problem. Plus: why Apple should build its own pro apps for iPad to demonstrate their vision for the platform.
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Show notes * iPadOS 15 * The Tragic iPad * Procreate * iPad with cellular network connection * user confusion on minimizing vs closing an application * Steve Jobs on the third category of device * prosumer software * iOS fork / iPadOS rebrand in 2019 * the Dock, drag and drop * iPad morphing cursor * the history of mouse cursors * keyboard shortcut quick reference by holding down ⌘ * macOS Big Sur Control Center seems designed for touch * Apple says it has no plans to merge Mac and iPad * Surface Studio and Surface Hub * Tony Stark’s lab * Apple device wifi password sharing * Universal Control to share a pointing device between a Mac and an iPad * episode with Rasmus Andersson * Macbook Touch Bar * frustrating text selection on iPhone and iPad
In today’s world, apps and their data are tightly coupled—but what if each person could pick and choose their own tool for use in a collaborative project? Geoffrey Litt is a researcher working on this problem at MIT. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about email as the original BYOC case study; how shared protocols enable niche software; whether it’s possible to design software for someone other than yourself; and how to accidentally become an expert.
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Show notes * Geoffrey Litt / @geoffreylitt * “teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea” * Project Cambria * MIT Software Design Group * Ink & Switch * Human-Computer Interaction * Doug Engelbart * Superorganizers profile of Geoffrey including Muse screenshots * Bring Your Own Client * email as one of the first internet protocols * Pine, Mutt * Superhuman, Front, Tempo * not many clients support video in HTML emails * tractor attachments and the three-point hitch * HTML meta tags for Google and Twitter * progress enhancement * reverse engineering * ad blockers * end-user programming * aspiring programmer progressing from Livejournal to HTML coding * PHP * Hubspot, Mailchimp * “toolmaker humility” from Balint @ Craft * Solid * accessibility in collaborative writing * VS Code won the text editor wars * “ed is the standard text editor” * episode on video games * Flash, Java servlet * Changing Minds * Bonnie Nardi * ethnographic study of distributed problem-solving in spreadsheets * Wildcard
Tech product designers could learn from the immense challenges of designing cities. Devon joins Adam and Mark to share her knowledge and passion on urban design and economics. They discuss how open source communities compare to cities; historical preservation versus growth and change; the messy middle of public and private goods; wi-fi spectrum ownership; and what to do when the neighbor’s new building puts shade on your vegetable garden.
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Show notes * Devon Zuegel / @devonzuegel * Order without Design (book) * Order Without Design (podcast) * episode on Seattle and Berlin * urban economics, planning, and design * The World Bank * Venture funding in 2020 * Paris city walls * path dependence * Miami Art Deco historic protection * centrally-planned economy * TCP/IP * Manhattan street grid plan (1811) * Eminent Domain * 1960s highway revolts * Discretionary Review * Berlin rent cap * artistocracy * San Francisco’s privately-owned public spaces (POPOS) * LinkedIn public cafe * Sacré-Cœur Basilica * La Défense Paris business district * biography of Gustave Eiffel * first-past-the-post voting * seasteading * charter cities * Special Economic Zone * Shenzen * electromagnetic spectrum auction * Georgism * universal basic income * air rights * Prospectus On Próspera * voxel * zoning laws in Japan * no on-street parking in Tokyo * The High Cost of Free Parking * A History of Future Cities * City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism
Pricing a product is one of the most difficult and high-stakes part of running a software business. Adam, Mark, and Lennart discuss the latest pricing updates for Muse; the pros and cons of selling through the iOS App Store; concerns with subscription payments for software; and why it’s important to be experimental and iterative with your prices.
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Show notes * Lennart Ziburski * Potsdam, Germany * Ink & Switch essay on the Muse prototype * Desktop Neo * The Cloudfall * Muse pricing * idea maze * psychology of why most prices end in .99 * conversion rate * freemium * total cost of ownership * Things * Mars rover software * static linking * Heroku pricing * pricing books: Priceless, Don’t Just Roll the Dice, Pricing on Purpose * pricing for the enterprise * Notion previous pricing / free tier with 1000 blocks * Sublime Text * nagware * We’ve Always Had Freemium, It’s Called Piracy * Muse newsletter where we first asked beta users to weigh in on price
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have transformed how we come to a shared understanding about our world. Tobias has been writing about social media for half a decade. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss velocity and virality in information dissemination; how to train your YouTube algorithm; rage tweeting; and how to improve the internet we all inhabit.
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Show notes * Tobias Rose-Stockwell and his writing * MUD * TinTin++ * techno-optimism * clickbait * This Is How Your Fear and Outrage Are Being Sold for Profit * The Social Dilemma * The Dark Psychology of Social Networks * Jonathan Haidt * How to Stop Misinformation Before It Gets Shared * Renée DiResta * moral psychology * algorithmic feeds * System 1 and System 2 thinking * dopamine hit * dunk quote-tweeting * The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority * How to Disagree * moral grandstanding * episode on The Information Age * the intellectual dark web * “The internet is the Freak Liberation Front.” * the food pyramid * yellow journalism * Central Park zoo escape (1874) * Great Moon Hoax (1835) * Prisoner’s Dilemma * Substack * Plandemic * Free Speech Is Not the Same As Free Reach
Great tools can enable co-creation between humans and computers. Molly Mielke joins Mark and Adam to talk about her thesis on the subject. They discuss product design as a fusion of creative and analytical; how consumer preferences may conflict with the Engelbart/Kay vision of computing; the emerging social norms of collaborative software; and why we should bring back skeuomorphism.
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Show notes * Molly Mielke * Whole Earth Catalog and Stewart Brand * biopic * Abstract * Computing History Hub * senioritis * episode with Andy Matuschak * Kid Pix * Computers and Creativity * The Mother of All Demos * TRON * Balint Orosz on toolmaker humility * episode with Nikolas Klein * CVS and Subversion * LaTeX * Always Has Been meme * flow state * deep work * operational transform, CRDTs * Tuckman’s stages of group development * the Satir change model * Writely * skeuomorphism
Probabilistic modeling is useful for answering all kinds of questions, from assessing financial risk to making engineering time estimates. Yet spreadsheets are poor at this job, which is why Taimur and his colleagues are building Casual. Taimur talks with Mark and Adam about ranges as an intuitive way to estimate; the usefulness of Monte Carlo simulations; and the role of math in dating cave paintings.
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Show notes * Taimur Abdaal * Casual * Not Overthinking * Airtable * Drake‘s equation * line of best fit * “not even wrong” * Flatland * Monte Carlo simulation * R * closed-form solution * RoboCup * Slack (management book) * queueing theory * The Principles of Product Development Flow * tail risk * expected value * gambler’s fallacy * distribution shapes e.g. bell curve * fan chart * Samo Burja of Bismark Analysis * meta-analysis * preregistered studies * confidence interval * false positive, false negative * onboarding episode * A/A testing * carcinization * combinatorics * two-tailed test
Video games are often on the leading edge of technical, design, and social innovation in the software world. Mark and Adam discuss what productivity tools can learn from games including the culture of performance; tools like Twitch and Discord; and end-user programming via scripting and modding.
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Show notes * Seattle cherry blossoms * episodes with Rasmus Andersson and Andy.Works * Serious Play * “death march” in game development * developer experience * esports * Age of Empires II * Counter-Strike * FEZ; Papers, Please; Baba Is You * Core-A Gaming * Playing to Win * the metagame * the Olympics * Nvidia * frame rate counters * Nintendo Switch * Makepad * code folding * Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) * Cyberpunk 2077 and everything is securities fraud * Duke Nukem Forever * No Man’s Sky and launch controversy * Mass Effect, Horizon Zero Dawn * Muse onboarding * scripting, modding, skinning * tower defense * A Small Matter of Programming * My Life as a Night Elf Priest * World of Warcraft * free-to-play (F2P) games * Team Fortress * Valve * Left 4 Dead * Steam * Valve employee handbook * Candy Crush, Wooga, FarmVille * Twitch * Justin.tv * CGP Grey on Twitch * American Truck Simulator * Among Us, US congressperson livestreams * consumer surplus * Discord * T90 * Zero Punctuation, Girlfriend Reviews * Game Maker’s Toolkit * Metroid * Nintendo Power magazine * haptic feedback * Batman: Arkham Asylum / detective mode * Tetris max-out score * four-minute mile * speedruns * Twitch paid subscriber emotes * Myst built in Hypercard * Strider, Angband, rougelikes * Lucas Pope, Return of the Obra Dinn
Design and engineering polymath Rasmus Andersson joins Mark and Adam to talk about his new project, Playbit. Play as a means of discovery and learning; virtualization as an underexploited technology for making safe playspaces for programming; and whether macOS will still exist in ten years.
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Show notes * Rasmus Andersson @rsms * Playbit * What counts as a weed? * maskros flowers * “write access to your entire worldview” * Jason Yuan on fidgitability * Virginia Postrel on work vs play * Rust * Roadster in space * foam roll * “Adamisms” e.g. make it real * Hobo * Go, Go by Example * slow hunch * malleable software * xorg.conf * convention over configuration * macOS notarization woes * Chrome OS * sandboxing * GPU * time-sharing * write once, run anywhere * macOS virtualization, Hyper-V, KVM * Linux namespaces * Ruby gem: bundle * root user * An app can be a home-cooked meal * Replit * Dreams * The Cathedral and the Bazaar * Macromedia Director * demoscene, BBS culture * MOD trackers * Gameboy DJ performance * Raspberry Pi * flip displays * teenage engineering * Alfazeta flipdots vendor
When you pay for software, are you paying for the data storage or the interface? Balint is the founder of Craft, a writing app designed for iPad. He chats with Adam and Mark about design conventions for multimodal input; why import/export is so important; and how to have humility about how your product fits into your customer’s life.
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Show notes * Balint Orosz of Craft * Budapest: bridges, parliament building, castle * Making computers better * Skyscanner * Markdown * Mac Catalyst * retina displays * homeostasis * multimodal input * Craft on data ownership * Ulysses * I/O * TestBundle format * best of breed * Instagram * DSLR cameras, RAW format, Lightroom * bidirectional links * Excel * low floor, high ceiling * iOS share sheet * SVG * JSON * Visual Studio Code * Google Photos going paid * churn * Small Giants * Office 365 revenue via Microsoft 2020 annual report * bootstrapping
Agenda is software that encodes an unusual philosophy for note-taking. Alex of Agenda joins Mark and Adam to talk about being an indie developer; note-taking as a technique for calming the mind; and the benefits of community and learning tools socially.
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Show notes * Alexander Griekspoor * Agenda * easter egg * Papers * biology wet lab * R, Jupyter, Matlab * CodeWarrior * open loops * Parkinson’s law * Drew McCormack * Agenda community * Zettelkasten * deep dive on notes tools * search engine optimization * localizations by Agenda community volunteers * authentic marketing * “cash cow” business model
A “small giant” is a company that chooses to optimize for mojo instead of growth. Mark and Adam describe how Muse was inspired to follow this path, designing the business model, team makeup, and funding source accordingly. Plus: a digression into tender offers and the fine points of US tax law.
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Show notes * Partnership, freedom, and responsibility * Adam Wulf * Small Giants * S&P 500 * Clif Bar, Whole Foods, Union Square Cafe * Startup = Growth * existence proof * Signal, Panic, Vanguard * index funds and ETFs * Chef’s Table * meme stocks * Delaware C-corp * Harrison Metal * career capital * revenue-based financing * maker vs manager * VC Math * tender offer * stock buyback * dividends * TrustCommerce * growth stocks vs income stocks * foundations: Mozilla, Apache, Processing, Wikimedia
Tools for collaboration are changing team culture. Nikolas Klein has been a part of this shift in his academic work and on the product design team at Figma. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss creative collaboration including how guardrails can increase comfort with working collaboratively; changing mindset from “my ideas” to “our ideas”; and screensharing as an intimate act.
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Show notes * Nikolas Klein @nikolasklein * time logistics for teams spanning US and Europe * Sketch Runner * Artifacts * Schwäbisch Gmünd / Hochschule für Gestaltung * CLUI * Shopify design system / Polaris Telescope * Figma * hypergrowth * user redesign of Figma comments * sea shanty TikTok * remix culture * bisociation / Arthur Koestler * hammock-driven development * Sketching User Experiences * OBS Studio * ring light * Zoom Studio * Figma cursor Halloween costumes * Designer News reaction to Figma launch * people who understand the capabilities of software * The Dream Machine
Brand is not just a name or a logo—it’s the character of a company and its products. Adam and Mark discuss the memetic and emotive elements of branding; brand as tribal identity; and Muse brand values like thoughtfulness and curiosity.
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Show notes * Brand New * history of the Heinz brand * logomark * Richard Branson / Virgin * Pixar * Nike / the Swoosh / Just Do It * 37signals * Tarsnap * Sabaki * the Muse newsletter * The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding * FedEx business biography * memetic * Notion illustrations by Roman Muradov * Cragistlist and brutalist web design * proof of work * typography of Apple, Inc. * packaging design on 99designs * Harley-Davidson * consumerization of IT and Bring Your Own Device * BlackBerry, corporate VPNs * administrative legibility
How to prototype advanced gestures; how to organize your Muse boards; and how to spot good ideas. Plus, a peek at the long-term Muse roadmap.
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Show notes * Ferrite * listener questions thread * Balsamiq, Framer, Origami Studio * Make it real * infinite canvas memo * reductionism * spatial reasoning * Growing ideas with Andy Matuschak * retrospective * Paul Buchheit * Slow Software * self-hosting * End-user programming * Minecraft redstone * MySpace customization * Figma plugins
Maps can visualize space, time, biological processes, social graphs, and much more. Anne-Laure of Ness Labs talks with Mark and Adam about the multi-thousand-year history of map-based thinking, and how we can use maps in our own creative work today.
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Show notes * Anne-Laure Le Cunff @anthilemoon * winter solstice * Algerian food * Ness Labs @ness_labs * mindful productivity * the Dunning-Kruger effect * How to Be Idle * Thinking in maps * Cassiodorus * Babylonian map of the world * the map is not the territory * The Invention of Nature * Alexander von Humboldt’s Chimborazo map * Disney business process map (1957) * Krebs cycle * floppy disc save icon * D3.js * Parametric Press * Connected Papers * digital object identifier (DOI) * babies using touch gestures on magazines * heads-up display (HUD) * Scapple by Literature and Latte * focused mode and diffuse mode / Barbara Oakley * affinity maps
Jason Crawford writes about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about technologies like messenger RNA vaccines, nanotech, and supersonic jets. Plus society-level questions like whether we are in a period of stagnation, how we fund maverick ideas, and why we need hubris.
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Show notes * Jason Crawford / The Roots of Progress / @jasoncrawford * Fieldbook * A Small Matter of Programming * We Need a New Science of Progress * The Torch of Progress — Ep. 13 with Adam Wiggins * The Great Stagnation * Bessemer steel process * germ theory * We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters * The Rise and Fall of American Growth and Jason’s summary * Where Is My Flying Cars? and Jason’s summary * Luddites * Victorian-era concept of Progress * A Culture of Growth * Francis Bacon * growth mindset * The March of Progress * World’s Fair posters * phase 3 clinical trials * Hardcore History * techno-optimism * 1927 Charles Lindbergh ticker-tape parade * Why haven’t we celebrated any major achievements lately? * Academy of Thought and Industry * Boom * 747: Creating the World’s First Jumbo Jet * Concorde
Thinking and creativity require privacy. In this data-intensive age, what does “privacy” mean for a tool for thought? Mark and Adam discuss product decisions in the context of digital privacy for the tech industry and society overall.
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Show notes * US Supreme Court oral arguments live * The Right to Privacy (1890) * LiveJournal * GDPR * Brave, Duck Duck Go, ProtonMail, Fathom * Signal, Telegram * TLS * Clipper Chip * Alan Turing and the Enigma Machine * Local-first software * Open Whisper Systems * web of trust * Signal contact verification * Zoom end-to-end encryption whitepaper * PGP * telemetry * PII * cookie warnings * browser fingerprinting * Tor * TikTok iOS 14 clipboard notifications * Designing for Pragmatists and Fundamentalists * Edward Snowden, Citizenfour * Tails * The Stasi * The Lives of Others
Jason Yuan believes that we all should feel empowered to think about ways to improve our computer's operating system. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about stage design, dreaming big versus delivering practical products, and why software should be fun.
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Show notes * Jason Yuan / @jasonyuandesign * Mercury OS * MakeSpace * Screenotate * Omar Rizwan * Tyler Angert * Repl.it * Weiwei Hsu * Desktop Neo * Artifacts * iOS 14 widgets * Sketch * Orgami * Quartz Composer * Android launchers * Gall’s law * the iPod click wheel * virtual workspaces * Dynamicland * Bret Victor * spring damping * David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet * Xanadu * philosopher’s stone * The Mother of All Demos
Andy.Works believes in design-forward products, as seen in his work on Paper for iPad to a handmade analog clock for his young kids. Mark, Adam, and Andy discuss products as vector for culture; maverick game designers; innovation budgets; and pushing back against the idea of scale in software.
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Show notes * Andy of Andy.Works * Andy’s clock project * Microsoft Courier * Surface Duo * FiftyThree * Paper * Paste * No More Boring Apps * KPI * John Baldessari * Muse podcast with Josh Miller * user-centered design * Frank Lloyd Wright * The Guggenheim * local maxima * Making Movies * Playdead / Limbo, Inside * Oskar Stålberg / Townscraper * Jonathan Blow / Braid * Notch / Minecraft * Jordan Mechner / Prince of Persia * not the user’s fault * Choose Boring Technology
It's a new world: many creative professionals can now choose where they live, independent of where their employer is headquartered. Mark and Adam discuss the implications of this. Plus: the magic of Silicon Valley, cities that feed your creative soul, and strategies for making big life decisions.
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Show notes * Emigration and other hedges * Stripe relocation incentive and Zapier relocation incentive * Y Combinator * Amazon HQ2 * Stripe Atlas and Firstbase * Apple and Ireland tax case * Amazon and sales tax collection
Jane Portman of Userlist joins Julia and Adam to share her expertise with onboarding. Why guided tours don't work, the legacy of Clippy, and drip campaigns that are more personal and considerate.
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Show notes * Jane Portman @uibreakfast * User Onboarding: The Ultimate Guide for SaaS Founders * Userlist * Benedikt Deicke * Intercom * lifecycle messaging * Claire Suellentrop, Forget The Funnel * UI Breakfast podcast * tooltips * Inspire, Not Instruct * aha moment * Clue * out-of-box-experience (OOBE) * Samuel Hulick, UserOnboard, podcast interview * Clippy * call to action * Val Geisler * drip campaign * tech touch * A/B test or split test * Max Seelemann
Josh Miller from The Browser Company joins Mark and Adam to discuss how to make a better web browser in 2020. The conversation ranges from user agency in software to architecture to social capital to end-user programming.
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Show notes * Josh Miller @joshm * The Browser Company * Branch * Nate Parrott * Einstein quote * beginner’s mind * Evan Williams * Brownian motion * The Roots of Progress * Jobs to be Done * David Adjaye * Museum of African American History and Culture * Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) * HVAC * Bjarke Ingels * Abstract * A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction * Snap S1 * Snapcodes * Evan Spiegel * Norton Commander * Electron * sociology * web browser as Figma canvas * CERN and the birth of the web * Taxi Magic * timing matters / Adam’s Heroku values * Robert D. Putnam * Bowling Alone * Scott Heiferman * Greasemonkey * Rust
Andy Matuschak joins Mark and Adam to talk about rituals for deep thought, how to develop an inkling over time, and the public goods problem of research.
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Show notes * Andy Matuschak: homepage Twitter Patreon * How can we develop transformative tools for thought? * Michael Nielsen * Bret Victor on representation of thought * Quantum Country * spaced repetition * Anki * IDEO * iBooks * deliberate practice * Solitude and Leadership * LiquidText * evergreen notes * exponential backoff * Heroku haiku names * positivism and existentialism * deontological ethics * intelligent tutoring systems * ALEKS * Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software * Ivan Sutherland / Sketchpad * Palladium Magazine * mechanical keyboards on Reddit * Pricing niche products: Why sell a mechanical keyboard kit for $1,668? * tech transfer * Genentech and recombinant DNA * Dolby * Pixar * Why does DARPA work?
Lisa Enckell joins Mark and Adam to talk about picking a category, aspirational creativity, and the purpose of product launches.
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Show notes * Lisa Enckell * Antler * episode with Max Schoening * Patrick McKenzie on North Star podcast * Platform-as-a-Service * containerization * dynos * serverless * Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind * Points of Parity, Points of Difference * purple cow * N26 * Circles.Life * silhouette iPod ads * Signaling as a Service * hey.com * library of Trinity College Dublin * The Substance of Style * Marie Kondo * Marc Benioff * “It’s not when people notice you’re there that they pay attention; it’s when they notice you’re still there." * DreamForce, Google I/O * Ubuntu release cycle * Wrapp * 23andMe * DNA Day
The rich history of tools for thought stretches back to the 1960s. Adam and Mark talk about how today’s computing, from iPads to Twitch to AI, might help us gain knoweldge and develop novel ideas.
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Show notes * Tools For Thought * How can we develop transformative tools for thought? * bicycle for the mind * Doug Engelbart * Alan Kay * Vannevar Bush * As We May Think * the two-step process for developing ideas * Roam Research * Thinking, Fast and Slow * industrial-strength noise-canceling headphones * white-noise generators in a Muse email update * GPT-3 * Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins * generative design * Twitch * Discord
This modern Information Age can make it challenging for a creative professional to keep their focus. At the same time, there are many benefits to being plugged in. Mark and Adam discuss.
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Show notes * A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age * the Information Age * The end of mobile * The Information Pathology * The Slot Machine in Your Pocket * digital detox * the Industrial Revolution * The Rise and Fall of American Growth * Thinking About Attention * RescueTime * Screen Time * Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products * Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World * Center for Humane Technology * Gell-Mann Amnesia * The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority
Max Schoening of GitHub joins Mark and Adam to talk about principled design, authentic marketing, tools for thought, and more.
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Show notes * Max Schoening * @mschoening * end-user programming * tools for thought * SQLite * US Library of Congress recommended storage formats * Read the Fabulous Manual * composability * The Twelve-Factor App * GitHub Actions * ivory tower * Trello / card aging * Zen of Palm * Google Chrome launch comic * Things * OmniFocus * Exponent / Principle Stacks * unix / everything is a text stream * Overcast * Marco Arment * free and open podcasts * Brave * Signal * Telegram * Fathom Analytics * the year of Linux on the desktop * flame war * khaki pants * Daring Fireball * Muse email updates * no spinners * Situated Software
Lachlan Campbell of Hack Club joins Mark and Adam to talk about path from research prototype to released product.
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Show notes * Lachlan Campbell * Hack Club * interactive media arts at NYU * Real web development on iPad * Fonts on iPad * GoodNotes * iA Writer * Shortcuts * usability tests * Minimum Viable Product * Notion * software release life cycle * Gmail beta lasted five years * excerpting and wormholes * shelf * TestFlight * The Long Now * Steam Early Access * Kickstarter * Patreon * Future Fonts * Heroku Labs * Gmail Labs * iA Writer / Settings
HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) studies how people relate to their digital tools. Mark and Adam discuss their journey into HCI, how others can get into the field, and its influence on Muse.
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Show notes * You and Your Research * The Art and Science of Doing Engineering * Stripe Press * Human-Computer Interaction * Ink & Switch * Xerox PARC * Microsoft Research * MeetAlive: Room-Scale Omni-Directional Display System * CHI 2019 proceedings * Peripheral Notifications in Large Displays * Sensing Posture-Aware Pen+Touch Interactions on Tablets * A Small Matter of Programming * Strategies in Creative Professionals’ Use of Digital Tools * The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff * Associative memory * Ben Reinhardt and innovation orgs * Brett Victor and Dynamicland * Andy Matuschak and a new mnemonic medium * Johnathon blow and Braid, Jai programming language * Rich Hickey’s Hammock Driven Development * Dan Luu and Computer latency * Martin Kleppmann and Local-First Software
Developing an iPad app with a rich gesture space and unique spatial-zooming visual model is technically challenging. Julia joins Mark and Adam to break down the software engineering behind Muse.
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Show notes * Xcode * iOS Simulator * Swift * Core Data * Firebase * Zoom privacy issue with Facebook SDK * Ruby * Postgres * Heroku * Choose Boring Technology * Dataclips * Gestures as defined by Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines * Shannon Hughes / Detangling Gesture Recognizers * The Omni Group * GestureVisualization * UIGestureRecognizer * two-finger scrolling in Muse * Muse design goals * card-carry maneuver * the inbox * view hierarchy * loading screens * open-world games * stylus swipe from screen edge to switch tools * UIScreenEdgePanGestureRecognizer * unix terminal * ctrl-C to interrupt a program in unix * state machine
The company behind Muse is structured as a small partnership. Mark and Adam talk about why the team wanted this unusual approach and how it's working so far.
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Show notes * Muse is Hiring an Engineering Partner * startup employee stock options * Netflix Freedom & Responsibility Culture * startup founder * Starbucks / Howard Shultz * Google OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) * Salesforce V2MOM (Vison, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures) * alignment * Management by Peter Drucker * expensing * exercise window * vesting and cliffs * dilution * vest in peace * cap table * re-up * agency * Mad Men * professonal services * cult of personality * Disney company transition after Walt’s death * trial project / pilot project * indie
Professional tools need a manual to explain how they work, but not all manuals are created equal. Mark and Adam discuss their mutual love of manuals, what makes a manual great, and why we chose video as the primary medium for the Muse Interface Handbook.
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Show notes * Muse Interface Handbook * How to use your Rocket Espresso machine and make beautiful coffee * Go by Example * Heroku Dev Center * Ulysses tutorials * Working Copy Users‘ guide * GoodNotes how-to guides * Procreate Handbook * Stripe API Reference * unix man pages * The YouTube Revolution in Knowledge Transfer * tacit knowledge * The Matrix / I know Kung Fu * Building Heroku Add-ons * glossary * mental model * Muse design article * Capstone manuscript * green screen * Looom User Guide * RTFM * out-of-box experience (OOBE) * Bear * Notion templates * vi
Ideas are foundational for creative and knowledge work. Mark and Adam talk about fodder, making time to ideate, and the value of fresh surroundings.
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Show notes * ideation * House M.D. * Where Good Ideas Come from * video essays * active reading * Moleskine * Field Notes * post-it notes * commonplace book * OmniGraffle * MindNode * Google Keep * Bear * Drafts * Shape Up * Pocket * Dropbox * Goodreads * Cowen‘s Second Law * Slow Software * Wiggins‘ Law * breadth-first * vertical slice * state of flow * Deep Work * academic sabbatical * Getting Things Done * mindfulness
Muse has a modeless interface with no onscreen toolbars. Mark and Adam talk about the long research journey that led us here.
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Show notes * modelessness * The Humane Interface * administrative debris * quasimode * tablet platforms * command glyphs * Muse design article * Procreate * Paper by FiftyThree * Apple Human Interface Guidelines * Ink & Switch * Surface Studio * Surface Dial * Google Jamboard * Catalyst * Xerox PARC * Bell Labs * Concepts * technical pens * Looom * Teenage Engineering ortho remote * Wacom tablets