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  • When starting a new project, Robert Caro distills the essence of his new book into as little as a single paragraph. “I can’t start writing a book until I’ve thought it through and can see it whole in my mind…I boil the book down to three paragraphs, or two, or one.” This paragraph acts as…

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  • Even though this book was published about 10 years ago, Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik is still rich with information and provides a great overview of applying analytics analytically (lol). It doesn’t focus on using a specific tool, but more on the principles of effective digital data analysis which I find much more valuable.…

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  • In the spirit of a depth-year, my intent for 2019 will be a much more focused, non-ne reading list. In 2018 I read almost 80 books, almost all of them for the first time. I am still grappling with the need for the new and being intentional about reading. In 2018 I bought ~130 books leaving…

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  • While learning about business writing, the idea of clarity is constantly reinforced. Strip sentences of all flourishes to clarify ideas and their meaning. I find that writing in this manner produces prose that ends up feeling sterile and uninteresting. While the ideas are certainly valuable and easy to understand, there is something missing when you…

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  • Originally written and posted on the Versett blog. One of the first things you do when you launch a new product is to celebrate the big day. But let me share an unpopular opinion—maybe it’s not the right time to be celebrating. Launching a product is a testament to the hard work the entire team…

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  • What does it mean to write better? Last month I said I wanted to write more, but didn’t specify that I wanted to write better, which I think is my true goal. Writing more is one way to get there, but I answered a different question instead. I answered “how do I write more?” instead of…

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  • This post originally appeared on the Versett Medium. I recently finished reading Black Box Thinking, a book about failure and our ability to learn from it. There was a section on James Dyson that got me thinking; how can we increase the quantity and quality of our ideas? Several years ago I worked at an…

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  • For the past few months I have been working on building a couple photo-based apps. Each came about differently and I thought it would be helpful, mostly for myself, to try to articulate my own intention behind each of them. These apps were built specifically for my own needs, and polished up as a way…

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  • This post originally appeared on the Versett Medium. Has the following ever happened to you? You are working on a new project with a client to build a new product for their customers. You come up with this great idea for your client’s needs. You solve the customer’s needs, satisfy business and financial requirements, and…

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  • For the past few months I have been working on building a couple photo-based apps. Each came about differently and I thought it would be helpful, mostly for myself, to try to articulate my own intention behind each of them. These apps were built specifically for my own needs, and polished up as a way…

    Read More