Fog, Friction, and the Dark Forest
Looking at the dark forest through the lens of Clausewitz, and exploring whether we can get ahead of the super predators that lurk in the dark of the internet.
andrewlb notes
A digital garden of ideas on technology, design, and strategy.
Recent Writing
All posts
No Such Journey
Self help and consumption communities sell us journeys to become something we aren't. This isn't the way. There are some cleaner ways to realize ambitions, starting with discarding the narrative.
Mining Towns
Looking at the systems behind community identities, and how those identities are subverted and leveraged for profit. It's not great, folks.
Parasites, Symbionts, and the Scabs
Parasitism, or a way of thinking about products that will hopefully prevent you from unleashing something evil.
From the Garden
Explore gardenBudding
Digital Garden Philosophy
Notes on the philosophy behind digital gardens and learning in public.
Featured Writing
All posts
Avoiding Kits
Reconsidering the language and tools of Getting Started
Kitbashing Experience
Putting our different experiences together to make something new
Automating Research Recruiting
How to think about and implementation automation in a user research recruiting process.
Thinking through Research Automation
Automation and orchestration in research ops
Designers in the Military
A first-hand account of working with military professionals and design
Professional Warning People
A quick look at strategic warning intelligence and the professional Cassandra
Craft, Catalyst, and Expertise
Considering craft-based disciplines and catalyzing expertise
Covid Anxiety: A Foresight Game
A serious game about making serious decisions in a crisis
Reconstructive Design Process
Consciously metabolizing past design work to create something new
The Decay of Digital Things
A book chapter I wrote on how internet connected objects decay
Designing Participant Experiences
Thinking about research operations from a service design lens
Sponge Cycles
Identify and define the cycles where you absorb and become