A flag post for my dear brother @behzod.com who through my perfect judgement is an excellent startup operator, organization designer, researcher, drummer, human and friend. He is a man who understands service and how to be of service. via flagpost.org

A brief reflection on my first month at Vercel — behzod.com/blog/30-days...

“Be with people who make you feel alive” — an airport reflection

August 5th is the next time the sun will set in Seattle before 8pm.

Reviewing my past course content as I build "Mastering Customer Feedback" for Reforge (launching in March: www.reforge.com/courses/mast...). I knew it was long, but I didn’t realize it was 550-page-book long.

Yet Another Year in Review - Year 04.5: behzod.com/blog/yet-ano... In this (very delayed) annual-ish reflection, I highlight lessons from the first four years of being me-as-service and talk about how I prioritize projects based on earning and learning.

"Every gift you give this holiday season will (most likely) be disposable garbage." Thank you Kasey for this kind of writing and thinking.

Feels like we’re moving back into an era of products giving us more levers to control our experience. I love how elegantly Particle does this for content preferences. (particle.news)

One of the recurring themes from talking to other indies/solo studio folks over the last 5 years is the need for more community and conversation as we navigate our practices. So, if you're interested in a Solo Studio Summit (series?) in January, lmk 👇🏻 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

"Talk to customers" is the same kind of advice as "lift weights" — it's directionally correct and also lacking sufficient detail to be useful. In the same way that you can spend hours in the gym and see no results, you can spend hours with customers and get nothing out of it.

I’d love to see Demi Lovato support Linkin Park on their tour. HOLY FVCK is an underrated album.

I really wish Tesla owners had to watch a video on how regenerative braking works before using their car. My rate of getting carsick from “uber drivers in Teslas” feels like it’s almost 100% and braking is the number one culprit.

Enjoyed this piece by John Maeda on embracing a hybrid path — johnmaeda.medium.com/embracing-th...

Interiors, lately.

📣 I created a starter pack for the UX research community! I made so many friends and learned so much over the years on Twitter. Let's recreate that magic here. ✨ go.bsky.app/K7LqGXU

When people ask me what I do, the best answer I've come up with is "I'm hired to care." Here's a short-ish riff on what that looks like and some of the traps advisors fall into. behzod.com/blog/being-h...

Nice to see so many new people here. Feels like the discover feed got quite a bit more interesting this weekend.

For those who are trying to plan for what’s ahead, I highly recommend @sarahkendzior.bsky.social’s “Hiding in Plain Sight” — us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

This is the best description of my self-employment journey (and honestly most of my life) — via henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/unfolding As if I needed yet another nudge to read Christopher Alexander... 😅

"For those of us in good orbits, perhaps the most valuable thing we can do is alter gravity in such a way that creates more collisions." behzod.com/blog/introdu...

Trying to get better at sending these postcards 📬 buttondown.email/yetanotherme...

I just published Yet Another Year in Review - Year 03.5 behzod.com/blog/yet-another-year-in-review-year-035 This is a personal reflection on my professional activities that I write for myself and share in hopes that it can helpful to others (especially indies, solopreneurs, and small biz owners).

Careers are long, winding journeys and I’ve been lucky to work with and learn from so many amazing people along the way (like Maykel). Grateful for the chance to talk with him about my adventures, mistakes, and lessons learned on Full Stack Whatever fullstackwhatever.com/episode/behz...

I'm teaching a new course on "effective customer conversations" this fall: www.reforge.com/effective-cu... As I'm refining the content, I'm curious: - Where do you feel like you struggle the most when talking to customers? - Where do you wish you had more competence or confidence?

I've found myself more and more excited about focused, well-crafted apps. Two examples I use almost daily are Soulver soulver.app and Tot tot.rocks Curious if other people have examples they love?

Orcas Island ferry w/ @jim.bsky.social

New Hampshire & Maine

I’m staying at a hotel where they’ve removed beds from *seven floors* of rooms to make additional meeting rooms for a conference. They have not done anything special about the elevators, which makes them about as usable as you’d imagine.

POV: You posted a free couch online.

“Is X like sleeping?” This is a question I’ve found myself often asking when I get stuck. https://behzod.com/blog/is-x-like-sleeping

I don’t have strong feelings about “skeets” but I do hope we’re calling Bluesky moderators “Air Traffic Controllers.”

Finally took this idea out of speaker notes and gave it a home. https://yetanother.studio/blog/the-mistake-almost-everyone-makes-when-doing-user-research

FKJ at Showbox SoDo

This is not the guidance I was expecting.

Request for Client: I'd love for someone to build a Bluesky client that has a feed of only posts with images a la Tumblr. So much of what I get excited about with Bluesky is that because of ATP, a thousand clients may bloom.

April in black and white

Great seeing everyone at the Bluesky meetup today in Seattle! Thank you @camille.bsky.social for organizing 🙏🏻 More photos in thread:

"Five Mistakes to Avoid as an Advisor" — Elena Verna sharing wisdom and writing about things I *definitely* did wrong over the last few years: https://elenaverna.substack.com/p/five-mistakes-to-avoid-as-an-advisor

Got outside and touched sky.

I've learned a ton from Elena Verna over the past few years, and one of the most helpful conversations we've had is about solopreneurship. I'd encourage anyone who's considering that path to read her recent post about it: https://elenaverna.substack.com/p/is-solopreneurship-right-for-you

"AI cannot produce art, but of course it can be used to produce art."  I enjoyed this nuanced thread about the role of AI as a tool: https://twitter.com/bildoperationen/status/1649781669434359809?s=20

Evening walk with @jim.bsky.social & @why.bsky.social

If watching live music on your couch is one of your favorite ways to celebrate 4/20, may I suggest some of the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuc9C-C6Ldw&list=PLVqd5w22SCtVw1P4M2gI0YGmblleh8pwe&index=1

Where are my UX folks at? Content designers? IAs? Design Ops?

Grateful for another season of riding with my dad. I hope I can still shred in my 60s.

NYC people — would love recommendations for a space to host a 30-50 person event in late May/early June. All guests will be pre-registered and well-behaved.

Closing out the snow season at Whistler

@iamrosewang.bsky.social @jay.bsky.team @why.bsky.team @pfrazee.com The video archive of Bluesky meetup in Tokyo has been released. I'm leaving the main part. I am happy to be able to deliver the state of Tokyo to everyone in the world. Thank you. https://youtu.be/dOAyiuOGAmY

Happy Friday from the Sea to (Blue) Sky corridor!