Ben Guttmann

Embrace the limits of decision fatigue to make better choices

It turns out that we only have so much gas in the tank each day, and we only have room to really consider, deliberate, and make well-thought-through decisions so many times before our brains fizzle out. By some estimates we can make thousands of decisions each day, and each one takes a toll on our cognitive capacity to make the next one.

August 29, 2022

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The literal textbook on how to be terrible at work

We’ve all been there, sitting in a meeting that is so awful it almost feels criminal. Nobody quite knows why they’re there. There’s no agenda or goal. Some loud-mouth jerk won’t shut up, and another prickly son-of-a-gun keeps trying to table things or nitpick on process. It turns out that they might accidentally be following the CIA's textbook on sabotage.

August 19, 2022

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Nobody tells you when things just sort-of suck

The users who viewed your website and didn’t trust it just left. The customers who saw your logo and didn’t understand it just moved on to the next company. You didn’t get an exit interview with each of them where they were interrogated on what worked and what didn’t.

August 15, 2022

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Skeuomorphism strikes back

Looking back, iOS 6 was wild. Between 2007 and 2013 we were so collectively enamored by the glossy sheen of high-res touch screens that we went absolutely nuts.The notes app was a yellow legal pad with leather binding.Game Center had a green felt background and wood trim. But everything old is new again...

January 25, 2022

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Love and hate are closer than apathy and passion

Red Bull routinely scored miserably on taste tests, but has built a devoted following as one of the top beverage brands in the world. The Eiffel Tower was called “A half-built factory pipe, a carcass waiting to be fleshed out with freestone or brick, a funnel-shaped grill, a hole-riddled suppository” and is now the most visited monument on the planet.

June 11, 2021

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