Summer 2020 — the West Coast was on fire. You could drive for dozens of hours and see fires and smoke non-stop. People that had the means and the flexibility escaped elsewhere — and by “escaping” I mean, going from staying at home in one house to another in the…

Meetings suck. It’s a universally accepted truth. I’m here to tell you that they don’t have to. I’m writing with the fervor of a missionary to stop terrible meetings. After discovering Silent Meetings I am converted. This article is meant to be put to use. It’s part workbook and part…

**** UPDATE: I expanded this post into a much more detailed guide called “Silent Meeting Manifesto v1”. Go there if you want to learn more. *** “There’s nothing I enjoy more than spending time silently typing with you all.” Preface: I learned how to use silent meetings at Twitter about…

Notes from 2012. Starting in April of that year I look towards Brazil. The country was growing rapidly. I speak Portuguese and the jobs were plentiful. My wife is half-Brazilian and always wanted to move there. McKinsey always had available projects looking for staffing and I had no kids. …

This is a story of how to finish a box of donuts, or, how to stop procrastinating by breaking things up into little pieces. Picture this: one morning a colleague decides to bring a big box of donuts into the office. Everyone sees them, thanks her for the gift but…

Japan is the nation of power users. Yes, power users exist globally but in no country other than Japan do they represent the mainstream. I had this realization while sitting on the toilet in Tokyo. I stared down at the advanced features of the toilet’s control panel and pondered, “Why…

There are few feelings I hate more than having read a book and not remembering anything about it. It’s usually a waste of time for all but the best of literature. …

I am a new father as of a couple of weeks ago. It has been incredible and I can’t believe how much I’ve learned in such a short time. …

Why you should disconnect one day a week — It was the end of the weekend and I didn’t feel rested. It wasn’t a lack of entertainment or relaxation. Psychologically, it just didn’t feel like I’d had a break. When asked how my weekend was, I’d find myself answering that I wished it was longer. Where had my weekend…