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We’re assuming here that you’re already conceptually on board with writing specs. If you’re skeptical, Joel Spolsky will set you straight! Here’s my own mini-pitch for specs: Writing... »
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Death to Auto-Widening Yellow Brick Roads, Part 2
Monday, February 17th, 2020
If you’re just tuning in, and if you care about this for pragmatic rather than philosophical reasons, you’ll want to start with (or stick with) our announcement that we have fully killed off auto-widening yellow brick roads. This is the part where we philosophize about why... »
Beeminder Buzz Press Roundup 2019
Tuesday, January 7th, 2020
Redqueening, Inbox Zero, Backlogs, and Fluid Dynamics
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019
If you’re a fan of Mark Forster (as we certainly are) then this whole post amounts to giving a name — “redqueening” — to step 2 of his »
Motivational Archetypes
Wednesday, September 11th, 2019
Which motivational archetype do you most identify with: Philosopher — better understand the universe, live the life of the mind Hedonist — go on adventures, have wild romances Caregiver — have meaningful relationships, raise children Creator — make beautiful things, make enduring things Politician — lead and influence people, improve the world I would call myself a Philosopher, then Creator/Politician, followed... »
Pareto Dominating The Pledge Cap UI For Goal Creation
Friday, August 9th, 2019
This is part 3 of a 3-part blog series! Previously we defined Pareto dominance and what that means for software, and then we made our case for and committed to the »
The Pareto Dominance Principle for Apps and Websites
Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
This is part 2 in a 3-part series. Part 1 defined Pareto dominance and Pareto-efficient software. I have some advice that now feels (to me, subjectively) too... »
How You Talk Yourself Out Of Reporting A Bug
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019
It’s funny how universal it is for users (including programmers, including myself) to gravitate so strongly to “it’s probably just me / my crappy phone / my timezone / me not reading the webcopy / me not being deserving of love or working software / etc”. It might be an impulse to be kind and not... »
Derailing Is Not Failing; or, Beeminder Revenue Proportional To User Awesomeness
Saturday, March 2nd, 2019
“Potentially Paying Customers” We ended the last blog post with what you might think is an unfortunate epithet for new Beeminder users. Being buried at the end of a bunch of nitty-gritty about business reasons for the timing of collecting payment info, approximately zero percent of people noticed it, until we had to go... »
Commitwall: No More Beeminding Without A Way To Be Charged Money
Thursday, February 14th, 2019
If you’re nervous about handing over your credit card number, let us start by solemnly promising that we’re super trustworthy. Wait, that’s exactly what a scammer would say. Ok, getting more specific: We promise you won’t ever be charged due to any kind of technicality, including confusion about how Beeminder works. (You won’t be charged at all if... »