Monday, 19 October 2026

Seth's Blog : Two commuting hacks

Just about everyone commutes to work, by car or by public transit. And just about everyone carries a smart phone. All organizations have a communications problem, and it gets worse as they grow. Which issues are we facing today? Who else is on the team? ...
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Two commuting hacks

Just about everyone commutes to work, by car or by public transit. And just about everyone carries a smart phone.

All organizations have a communications problem, and it gets worse as they grow. Which issues are we facing today? Who else is on the team? What’s changed in the environment, and what do we need to get in sync on?

Consider starting an internal podcast. Just fifteen or twenty minutes a day. The host interviews team members, informs on important issues or simply helps people see the big picture. When everyone on the team listens to the same podcast each morning, cohesion and focus improve.

A podcast with 25 of the right listeners might be exactly the right size.

The second hack: I’m amazed at how many people on the train are mindlessly swiping through one social media platform or another. Judging by their facial expressions, they’re not enjoying it much.

Instead, we can focus our time and energy on learning. Six months of commuting can easily cover an advanced college course in something that interests us. And using Claude as a Socratic tutor can be a breakthrough. If you’re driving, use voice mode. Ask it to patiently engage you, one conversation at a time, in a journey to learn something difficult. How transistors work. Why the Roman Empire fell. The origin of species.

Day by day, your commute gets better and you get smarter.

        

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Sunday, 18 October 2026

Seth's Blog : Anticipating confusion

I know that you know that taking this exit will get us to Sheridan Drive, but the person who's likely to be driving down this road in a few minutes has no idea. Let's agree that most street signs are for folks who know where they're going. We would ...
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Anticipating confusion

I know that you know that taking this exit will get us to Sheridan Drive, but the person who’s likely to be driving down this road in a few minutes has no idea.

Let’s agree that most street signs are for folks who know where they’re going. We would label things differently if we were instructing those that don’t.

I know that you know that ERASE isn’t the same thing as DELETE, but the next person interacting with your command-line interface might not know.

Of course this is obvious when we say it so clearly. And yet, there are many kinds of USB cables, poorly named and labeled. The instructions that come with just about anything we buy were written by lawyers for juries, not by a product manager who actually wanted to inform and delight.

Design to be understood. And design so that the inevitable confusion of the newbie doesn’t get worse. Because without your active intervention, it will.

        

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