In April last year, I went all-in on using calendar events to manage my personal time. Time-blocking, the practice of scheduling chunks of time to get things done, is often praised by productivity gurus on the internet. Some even suggest planning an ideal week — a list of events you want to achieve in a given week.

So what happens when you actually follow the advice? Something like this:

The problem with scheduling your whole life on a calendar with recurring events comes down to the lack of three things —extrinsic motivation, willpower, and intention.

When I set out to create a system, my extrinsic motivation and willpower were probably at their peak. While extrinsic motivation1 comes and goes in waves, willpower is a depleting resource. Although I had the right intention when I began, as days went by, the calendar event notifications started to feel like a chore and I eventually started ignoring them.

My wake-up call to reassess the system I had created for myself didn’t happen because I wasn’t following through with the schedule though (I wish!). I was conveniently ignoring the huge chunk of time-blocked events on my calendar. It happened when I double-booked myself for two paid events. :(

Since my calendar was a mess with random recurring events dictated by my past self, I couldn’t process important events.

Here’s what I’ve done since then:

1. Hid all the recurring events (this was easy since I had already created separate calendar feeds for each)

2. Integrated Superlist with my calendar. Superlist automatically blocks time on the calendar for tasks you schedule (Also stopped creating recurring tasks :3).
   Would totally recommend it.

This is how my calendar looks now:

What did we learn, Palmer?

1. Scheduling/time-blocking something gave me a false sense of accomplishing the task. Does that sound like a me problem? Probably. Does the new approach work better for me? Absolutely.

2. Having a task management system means nothing if you don’t do said task. There, I said it.

3. Superlist is heckin awesome.

Until next time.

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Stay sane,
Subin

Hello again! Welcome back to another edition of Product, a section where I post about my journey to product management. This edition covers my thought process while analyzing the market of AI tools for productivity.

The Problem Statement

As part of NextLeap’s (last!) Learn in Public challenge, the cohort was tasked with analyzing one of the following markets and creating a case study:

• Credit on UPI

• AI Tools for Productivity

• Indian Space Economy

• The Creator Economy

• Mental Health & Wellness

Initial Thoughts

The first thought in my mind, obviously, was to decide which of these markets to focus on. After a brief while of brainstorming and imagining the directions each topic would take, I decided to play by my strengths.

As someone who used to write about (productivity) apps for a living and has an ongoing newsletter on productivity and tech, I convinced myself that I wouldn’t go wrong picking the AI tools for productivity market.

Segments

I broadly classified the AI tools for productivity market as follows:

• Chatbots

• Customer support

• Content creation and editing

• Project management

• Legal services

• Coding assistants

Of these segments, I focused on the content creation and editing segment and continued my research.

The Research

I typically use AI tools at the end of my research to validate it. This way, I have enough context to understand if the LLM is giving me factual and relevant information. This time around, I introduced AI towards the middle of my research and let it be my research partner for the rest of the process.

The most valuable resources I found during the research were the AI Ascent 2024 keynote from Sequoia Capital (linked below) and Figma’s Design Trend Report. It was also fascinating to explore the products of the top AI Assistant startups funded by Y Combinator.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. Goldman Sachs1 and The Economist have offered a counter view calling out the relatively low return on investment and the significant infrastructure cost of AI data centers so far. That’s also highlighted in Sequoia’s AI’s $600B Question piece, where they argue the gap between AI infrastructure investment and actual revenue growth in the AI ecosystem has widened significantly.

This is not the first time AI has been the hot thing either. It has been happening since the 1970’s, leading to a phenomenon known as the AI winter.

Case Study | Closing Thoughts

Here’s the case study:

View on LinkedIn

From this exercise, I realized we have a while to reach peak AI. The key is to solve user problems with AI, instead of leveraging AI for the sake of it and slapping an AI label over a feature that could work just fine without it.

It also gave me a sense of bhai kya kar raha hai tu for sitting on the sidelines. Will I end up taking a leap to start/join an AI startup or work on an AI-enabled product? Stay tuned to find out!

Until next time,
Subin

Hello there! Look who finally remembered the existence of their newsletter! 😬
Welcome to Product, a new section where I post about my journey to product management. This edition covers my thought process while creating wireframes for a travel platform.

The Problem Statement

As part of NextLeap’s Learn in Public challenge, the cohort was tasked with creating wireframes. The problem statement reads as follows:

“You need to create wireframes for a travel planning assistant on a travel platform (eg. MakeMyTrip/Expedia etc). Assume that the assistant is powered via OpenAI or similar technologies and is completely automated. The assistant is an attempt to help potential customers get inspired, plan their travel itinerary faster and help them in the travel booking journey. Remember, it is NOT a chatbot.”

Initial Thoughts

As someone who has never created wireframes, I felt a little lost in the beginning, to be honest. I had a high ambition though. I wanted high-fidelity wireframes that looked visually appealing. Since I’ve never really used Figma for designs before, I knew it was going to take a while to get accustomed to the interface. (Thanks to my designer friends for clarifying my noob queries!)

For the uninitiated, a low-fidelity wireframe highlights the core structure of the screen. A high-fidelity wireframe is a detailed version of the screen with all the UI elements and images, something developers can refer to get to their final front-end output. Here’s a nifty comparison image that conveys the idea:

One might argue that it is not about fidelity and is more about what you create, to which I partially agree. I think if you don’t make it presentable, your chances of getting eyeballs on what you have created decrease significantly.

Of course, I didn’t set out to be a product designer with this challenge. In fact, I have a newfound respect for all the product designers out there, who transform rough ideas into visually pleasing artifacts.

Choosing the Travel Platform

The first thing I had to do was finalize a travel platform. The examples given were of travel aggregator platforms (Makemytrip, Expedia). However, I chose to go with Zostel.

Zostel? Isn’t that a hostel, you ask? It is. However, one insight I have that led me to choose Zostel over other platforms is the target audience. People primarily come to Zostel when they travel, not when they’re just looking for accommodation.

As the company puts it, “A pioneer of the new-age travel culture in India, Zostel is also the world's largest backpacker hostel chain. Stay with us at 60+ destinations across India and Nepal, exploring remote locations, remote parts of famous locations, and unconventional experiences on your holiday.”

Finding the Right Problem to Solve

With the app finalized, I went on to think of ways to integrate a planning assistant into Zostel, which is not a chatbot. Customer chat support? Maybe. Smart trip destination suggestion based on trip history, why not? Ideas went in and out until I remembered one thing: my solo trip to Chitkul!

You see, when I booked my tickets to Chitkul, I had no idea about the places to visit there. I postponed that as tomorrow me’s problem and thought I’d figure it out eventually. When I arrived at Chitkul, I was pleasantly surprised to see this board right outside the reception:

All the nearby top attractions were listed there, along with the distance from Zostel. This drastically simplified my efforts to plan my days in Chitkul. My hypothesis also strengthened when we naturally started sorting places to visit by the distance from Zostel Jaipur for an upcoming Jaipur trip (if weather permits!).

With these two anecdotes, I decided to create a trip itinerary planner that lists the top attractions near Zostel. Solo travelers and the planning-obsessed can utilize this to add a pinch of certainty to their trip. Off I went to sketch out early pen-and-paper wireframes of how the feature should look.

Early Wireframes

I decided to add a “Top Attractions” page on the Zostel landing page, where users can view the top attractions near the Zostel. Users can sort either by relevance or distance from Zostel. There’s even an option to download a PDF copy of your itinerary before you book the stay, say for times you have to revisit the plan or discuss with friends or family.

The initial wireframe had food delivery app-esque card layouts, which I later changed to match the larger cards of the Zostel app. After the trip, users can rate the itinerary, which then creates a feedback loop for the recommendation system to improve.

Final Wireframes | Slide Deck

With all that said, here’s the final slide deck featuring the wireframes:

View on LinkedIn

PS: I’ve created a separate section for Product Management-related posts and have not copied over the subscribers from my other sections here. If you’re here for my random ramblings, I won’t force you to go through these. That said, if you like what you read, feel free to subscribe! :D

Until next time,
Subin

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him. You must have heard of Carl Pei even if you’re a casual follower of technology. Once an OPPO corporate guy, Pei got the attention of media and tech enthusiasts after the legendary OnePlus One. Dubbed “flagship killer”, the device truly lived up to its hype and every tech enthusiast wanted one (although the young ones couldn’t afford it) back in the day.

OnePlus One offered the best of both worlds — flagship-grade hardware and customizable software. The device ran Cyanogen OS (CyanogenMod, anyone?) based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box. In a world of laggy Samsung TouchWiz phones and expensive Nexus phones, the device struck the right balance and was truly a breath of fresh air.

Although Pete Lau co-founded OnePlus alongside Carl Pei, Pei was the extroverted one of the duo. He made constant media appearances and was presumably actively involved in the company’s branding efforts. After the infamous turn of events that led to the eventual demise of Cyanogen OS, Pei and team rose to the occasion to develop their own flavor of Android, what we now know as OxygenOS. However, OxygenOS no longer has the core DNA it once had and that’s a story for another day.

If there is one thing that sets Pei apart, it has to be his storytelling expertise. So when Pei parted ways with OnePlus (after the company started leaning towards OPPO) and eventually announced his venture Nothing, it’s safe to say that everyone was intrigued.

During my career transition, I remember thinking, “If Carl Pei can leave a company he co-founded and can start from scratch, so can I”. As naive as it sounds, it was great reassurance that anyone can reinvent their life at any point if there’s a wholehearted effort.

Nothing started with safe bets — earbuds and eventually ventured to smartphones. The Nothing Phone 1 sold in decent numbers and they are now out with their second phone, the Nothing Phone 2. Staying true to the marketing playbook, Carl Pei has made one bold claim with the Phone 2 — iMessage on Android.

On the technological aspects, Nothing is collaborating with a company called Sunbird to make this a reality. The TL;DR version is that you will essentially be logging in to a remote Mac owned by Sunbird to use iMessage on your Nothing Phone 2. Do I think this is a safe bet? Absolutely not. Does it turn heads and create marketing buzz, obviously.

If there is one brand that can pull off this marketing stunt, it is Nothing. Knowing that Apple is less likely to take legal action against the company fearing antitrust implications, Nothing seems to have taken a gamble to see how Apple reacts. While my bets are on Apple silently blocking this workaround behind the scenes, we will have to wait and watch how things unfold.

For the record, I don’t think tech enthusiasts are going to flock to the Phone 2 for its iMessage support. Taking an educated guess, Nothing might be hoping for the other way around. The company presumably wants to attract the average Android-leaning iPhone user who is sticking to iPhones for network effects.

Having said all that, it’s safe to say that Carl Pei is the last man standing who tries to cater to the tech enthusiast crowd while simultaneously trying to scale. Although I don’t consider Nothing an enthusiast’s dream brand, the truth is, there are no options left.

The last time I got excited about an enthusiast brand was OSOM Products, the spinoff startup from former Essential employees, which turned out to be a colossal disappointment. As Marton once said, enthusiast brands will betray you, especially when they are trying to expand their business.

To be honest, it’s been a while since I stopped thinking of custom ROMs or Android mods. The thing that provoked the essay is MKBHD’s recent podcast about CyanogenMod featuring Mishaal Rahman and Stefanie Kondik. You can check out the episode below for a trip down memory lane.

Update: Soon after I hit the Publish button on this one, I got to know that Apple has finally announced RCS support for iPhones. According to a report from 9to5Mac, Apple has announced its plans to offer RCS support for iPhones next year. The report confirms that RCS will exist alongside iMessage (iMessage games are safe, yay!). Guess Nothing’s marketing stunt and Google’s relentless RCS push didn’t go in vain, eh?

Until next time!

What is going on with social media platforms these days? I mean, are we on the brink of losing two major social media giants in the same year? Sigh!

That’s what I thought when I first saw the post of Christian Selig, the founder of popular third-party Reddit iOS client Apollo late May. As it turns out, I’m probably right. After the downfall of Twitter (and Spotify), Reddit is now following in its footsteps.

For the uninitiated, it all started when Reddit published a post mid-April detailing its upcoming API changes. TL;DR - It’s bad. It’s bad for everyone involved. It’s bad for third-party Reddit apps (like Apollo, RIF, Sync, etc.), it’s bad for Reddit moderators (who are not being paid a penny btw), it’s bad for the community, and ultimately, it’s bad for Reddit.

While I understand that it is reasonable for Reddit to monetize its API, there are two major flaws in the execution:

1. Third-party app developers are not given sufficient time to adapt to the changes.

2. The pricing of the API is exorbitant for most third-party Reddit client apps to sustain and continue operating.

Here’s the thing: While third-party users might make up a minority of Reddit’s monthly active users, these are relatively important people who generate and moderate content on the platform.

One would think Reddit, being a community-focused platform, would care about its power users. Wrong! Judging by the current landscape, the company wants to get rid of them to appear more “investment-worthy” while going public. If things don’t change for the better, I foresee Redditors shorting Reddit stocks after IPO as some sort of revenge (coughs GameStop coughs).

How did we get here?

Let me start with the bad news: Apollo has announced its plans to shut down operations at the end of this month. You know what’s more heartbreaking in the post? The section where Reddit blatantly made allegations about Christian for “threatening” the company. Fortunately, Christian has proof to defend himself and has rightfully made the evidence public.

Here’s a relevant excerpt from the post:

About 24 hours after that call with Reddit, I received this odd message on Mastodon:

"Can you please comment publicly about the internal Reddit claim that you tried to “blackmail” them for a $10,000,000 payout to “stay quiet”?"

Then yesterday, moderators told me they were on a call with CEO Steve Huffman (spez), and he said the following per their transcript:

Steve: "Apollo threatened us, said they’ll “make it easy” if Reddit gave them $10 million."

Steve: "This guy behind the scenes is coercing us. He's threatening us."

Wow. Because my memory is that you didn't take it as a threat, and you even apologized profusely when you admitted you misheard it. It's very easy to take a single line and make it look bad by removing all the rest of the context, so let's look at the full context.

I can only assume you didn't realize I was recording the call, because there's no way you'd be so blatantly lying if you did.

As said, a common suggestion across the many threads on this topic was "If third-party apps are costing Reddit so much money, why don't they just buy them out like they did Alien Blue?" That was the point I brought up. If running Apollo as it stands now would cost you $20 million yearly as you quote, I suggested you cut a check to me to end Apollo. I said I'd even do it for half that or six months worth: $10 million, what a deal!

The bizarre thing is - initially - on the call you interpreted that as a threat. Even giving you the benefit of the doubt that maybe my phrasing was confusing, I asked for you to elaborate on how you found what I said to be a threat, because I was incredibly confused how you interpreted it that way. You responded that I said "Hey, if you want this to go away…" Which is not at all what I said, so I reiterated that I said "If you want to Apollo to go quiet, as in it's quite loud in terms of API usage".

What did you then say?

Me: "I said 'If you want Apollo to go quiet'. Like in terms of- I would say it's quite loud in terms of its API usage."

Reddit: "Oh. Go quiet as in that. Okay, got it. Got it. Sorry."

Reddit: "That's a complete misinterpretation on my end. I apologize. I apologize immediately."

The admission that you mistook me, and the four subsequent apologies led me to believe that you acknowledged you mistook me and you were apologetic. The fact that you're pretending none of this happened (or was recorded), and instead espousing a different reality where instead of apologizing for taking it as a threat, you're instead going the complete opposite direction and saying "He threatened us!" is so low I almost don't believe it.

But again, I've recorded all my calls with you just in case you tried something like this.

Transcript of this part of the call | Audio of this part of the call

I bring this up for two reasons:

• I don't want Reddit slandering me to internal employees or public people by saying I threatened them when they reality is that they immediately apologized for misunderstanding me.

• It shows why I've finally come to the conclusion that I don't think this situation is recoverable. If Reddit is willing to stoop to such deep lows as to slander individuals with blatant lies to try to get community favor back, I no longer have any faith they want this to work, or ever did.

If this isn’t unprofessional, petty, and miserable, I don’t know what is. Soon after this discourse, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman hosted an AMA, which, as you might have guessed, was vague, and didn’t address any real queries.

Is the official Reddit app really bad?

Yes, it sucks. It absolutely sucks.

How has the Reddit community reacted?

To a surprise to absolutely no one, the entire (well, a significant majority) community has come together to push back against Reddit’s poorly timed API pricing changes. If there’s one thing that unites Reddit, that’s fighting for a common cause. I mean, do you remember how people coordinated to secure their community’s position on r/Place? Absolute mad lads! Not to mention, the whole r/wallstreetbets fiasco during the pandemic.

Notably, several popular subreddits have gone on a blackout (public subreddits gone private) for 48 hours starting today to protest against Reddit’s controversial decisions. Furthermore, some subreddits have even gone on an indefinite blackout. 💪🏼

You can check the stats of the subreddits that are currently private from this appropriately titled website called Reddark. At the time of writing this piece, 6292 of 7265 subreddits are dark with a combined subscriber count of 2,617,191,114!

While I have a love-hate relationship with Reddit, I’m personally devastated to see the downfall of what was once a messy cesspool of good and bad stuff. It’s only bad stuff from here and I doubt it’s going to get any better unless the company backtracks on its moves. We will have to wait and find out.

Do we have viable Reddit alternatives?

Not really. There are ones like Lemmy and Nostr, but I doubt they will ever take off and manage to reach even half of Reddit’s MAU. The closest I can think of is Mastodon, which is more of a Twitter alternative than Reddit. And yes, I’m blissfully ignoring Tumblr, 4chan, and the like for my own sanity.

Poorly Aged Things

And in today’s episode of poorly aged things, we commemorate Craig Federighi’s fallen dream of seeing Apollo for Reddit widgets on macOS Sonoma. RIP :(

Update: It’s at 46:36. Substack doesn’t seem to support timed YouTube embeds for some reason.

Hmm, I guess I should post this on r/agedlikemilk. Oh wait, it’s private because of the Reddit blackout movement. Good job, Reddit! 🫡

Honestly, it felt nice to see Apple namedrop Apollo multiple times at the event. And my favorite workout app Any Distance is one of the winners of Apple’s Design Awards 2023, yaay!

Small Wins 🥹🌟

For this edition, my biggest small win is finally getting sufficient sleep last night. My schedule has been packed for the past few days and it feels great to have a good night’s sleep. Here’s to hoping I don’t go sleep-deprived again.🤞🏼

I also felt rejuvenated early last week when I cycled to Bannerghatta National Park. The safari ride was incredible and I got to see and say hi to a lot of animal friends.

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Fight the good fight,
Subin

How about some music while you read the article? Connect your headphones, set the volume to 40% (no cheating 🔫), and enjoy the song in the background while you read. I’ll try to make this a 4-minute read. Yeah, vv extra, I know.

PS: This is experimental and may or may not be present in the future.

Shopping at IKEA is surreal. I remember the first time visiting the IKEA Nagasandra Bangalore store and being mesmerized by the attention to detail and the sophisticated shopping experience. Having said that, it’s easy to splurge on things you don’t necessarily need when you’re at IKEA. Heck, I bought 3 unplanned products during this visit and it’s really hard to resist the temptation when you see a shiny thing and anticipate the idea of it making your life a tiny bit better.

With that in mind, I had to come up with a strategy to shop at IKEA without impulse buying. Before you come to the comments saying “You can always order online 😏”, hear me out. I’m aware. While you can order online and pay the ₹99 delivery fee, there’s something about the IKEA shopping experience that makes me go back and spend hours there.

That said, here’s how I try to mindfully shop at IKEA. It goes without saying that my approach won’t work for everyone and requires doing a bit of homework. Disclaimers aside, let’s get to it!

Part 1: Have a shopping list 📝

Who would’ve thought, right?

It doesn’t take a genius to guess that having a list makes any shopping experience convenient. Growing up, I remember scribbling shopping lists on faded brown papers from my ruled notebook as mom dictated them and rushing to the friendly1 neighborhood grocery store. In 2023, I don’t have to tell you that a lot of people don’t use physical shopping lists. That ship has sailed, for most of us.

Assuming you have adopted note-taking and to-do list apps (or the blocked ex’s WhatsApp chat, you do you) to keep track of things, you probably have a digital space to dump your shopping list. Well, dump it. Congrats, you have completed the first (and the hardest) part. 🎉

Part 2: Find product locations from the online store 👀

Look up all the products from your list on the IKEA app (or web) and find their section location at your nearest IKEA store. I prefer taking screenshots of the location and pasting them to my notes app for quick reference, but that’s optional.

Also optional: You could start using the IKEA names in brackets if you need. Since I have the memory of a goldfish, I prefer keeping things simple.

Note: If you’re planning to buy online, you can check out here and call it a day.

Part 3: Get the store plan sheet

Now that you know the location of the products, you should grab a store overview pamphlet. Typically placed at the entrance, this pamphlet gives you one key piece of info — the number mapped to the section’s location.

For instance, if you’re planning to buy something from the home organization section, you’ll know from the pamphlet that it is the 15th department. This way, you can plan your route and avoid back-and-forth trips with a trolley.

Pro tip: Consider carrying a blue/black ball pen to scribble/circle on the pamphlet. IKEA offers small pencils that looks as if a kid has bitten all the paint out of it, but it’s not practical.

How am I supposed to use a pencil on a paper with a laminated finish? This design decision feels way out of place and not quite IKEA-esque.

Part 4: Sort the shopping list by section numbers

With these two data points at hand, all you have to do is sort the shopping list in ascending order and pick the products as you go. Easy!

Here’s an image for reference:

Wait, did the music just stop? Fret not, I’ve got you covered. Here’s another track to keep the party going (screams DeeeeeJayyyyy Subinnnnnn) [Hey, at least I didn’t say, it’s your boyyyy Subinnnnnn2]. Okay, I’ll stop. 🙊

Part 5: Delegate item finding to staff

Pro tip: If you’re planning to visit IKEA, it’d be a good idea to avoid wearing yellow. It’s the dress code of the staff and you don’t want random people asking you directions for things, do you?

If you’re a people manager, an aspiring one, or a productive person in general, you probably know the power of delegation. Delegation takes tasks off your plate and frees up time for doing something worthwhile. Putting delegation to the IKEA shopping context, you could ask the staff for assistance in finding items on your list.

Tell them the IKEA name of the product (found in the app and they usually recognize it) and chances are, they will direct you to the exact spot. This approach saves me a lot of time and helps me cherry-pick stuff I need.

With that said, if you love the idea of finding things yourself, don’t let me stop you. By all means, take your sweet time to track each product on your list down and grab them. You got this! 🤝

Part 6: Pray you don’t get distracted 🫠

At this point, you have everything you need for a productive IKEA shopping session. But I know things are not that straightforward. After all, we are only human and temptations exist. As long as you have a rational or (relatively reasonable) emotional reasoning for your purchase decision, I’d say go for it. Just don’t max your credit card hehe. Or do, c'est la vie!

Treat Corner 🌟

Did you know there is a system to represent places in three words? Well, I didn’t, until recently. Enter what3words, a cool (yet simple) way to express locations.

As the company states:

We divided the world into 3 metre squares and gave each square a unique combination of three words. It’s the easiest way to find and share exact locations.

It’s like Morse code, without the complexity of Morse code. I hope this goes mainstream in the foreseeable future. Imagine saying something along the lines of “bhaiya, pint.liberty.nylon se right aao (brother, please turn right from pint.liberty.nylon)” when you’re getting food delivered. 😂

Anyway, greetings from feuds.newer.ridge .... - - .--. ... ---... -..-. -..-. .-. -... .-.-.- --. -.-- -..-. ...-- ----. .-.. . -.--

Since it’s been a while, this edition includes both Treat Corner and Rant Box hehe

Rant Box 😤

Ever purchased something at an unbelievable price and thought you scored an amazing deal, only to realize there was a big catch all along? Well, that’s what I’m going through right now. During our recent trip to Ooty, we bought a red wine bottle for roughly 500 bucks!

Alas, my excitement was short-lived as I read the fine print on my way back. As it turns out, it is a “de-alcoholized” wine. Whaaat? That was the day I realized such a thing even exists. You know what, I would forgive the lack of alcohol. What I won’t forgive is the choice of the bottle cap.

It comes with a generic plastic Coke bottle-like red cap and opens anticlockwise! Like, who even does that? Instant turnoff, ughhh! 🫡 I understand it’s convenient, but they should adhere to standard industry design guidelines, no?

PS: If you want to take a look at the bottle cap, drop me an email or reach out on Instagram (If you decide to text on Instagram, please don't say just hello in chat).

As I’m writing this, I’m sipping sophisticated grape juice off a fancy red wine glass.🥲
Not gonna lie, it sorta tastes nice though. Anyway, here’s to hoping the next red wine doesn’t betray me. And dear reader, always read the fine print.

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Happy shopping,
Subin

If you’ve been on the lookout for any new trending app lately, you’d probably be familiar with this: A landing page with a waitlist enrollment box appears, or worse, a Google Forms link asking you to fill in your details for a spot on the waitlist. But how did we get here?

The Scarcity Effect

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter last year, we all knew it was all gonna go downhill for the microblogging platform bird app. Multiple controversial decisions later, it’s safe to say that Twitter has lost its charm and everyone on the platform is looking for a way out. The problem is, we don’t have a true alternative to Twitter and there starts the Twitter clone boom.

While there are a lot of Twitter alternatives in the market, one app that’s receiving the most hype is Bluesky — a platform backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Although the app looks like a literal Twitter clone, a frustrating factor driving hype and building anticipation is the invite system.

As of this writing, opening a Bluesky account involves applying an invite code from an existing Bluesky user. Another option is to sign up for the waitlist and you know… wait. In other words, Bluesky relies on public FOMO to keep itself relevant in a crowded market.

Honestly, this is not the first time we’re seeing an invite-only system. It’s a tale as old as time. One specific example that comes to mind is the invite system for OnePlus’ first phone, the OnePlus One. More recently, however, we have seen a similar approach from platforms like Clubhouse.

To be fair, I understand scaling systems take effort and infrastructure investments. And I agree that no company wants to give their users downtime right when they are trying the service out for the first time. But where do we draw the line?

Is there a way out?

Giving companies the benefit of the doubt, let’s assume the limitations are real. So, the question is, what can companies do to make the experience better for everyone who wants to get in and check out what’s inside?

For starters, it could start with transparency. If there is a waiting list, it’d be nice to see the position you’re in and how long it would approximately take for a new user to onboard (I’m aware some companies do this, and I appreciate you!).

Another approach would be to have realistic estimates and start the marketing efforts accordingly. Almost no one cares about the wider availability of an app that was once hyped and failed to keep up the momentum in the initial run. It’s gonna be dead on arrival. There has to be an efficient roadmap to present the product/software in a way that doesn’t bottleneck the R&D efforts and keeps the anticipation of potential users alive.

Sincerely,
A frustrated early adopter netizen who’s tired of filling out waitlist forms

Having said all that, if anyone has a Bluesky invite code, hit me up on Mastodon or Reddit1🏃🏽‍♂️ What? I'm only human! ;-;

Treat Corner 📱

Now that we’re on the subject, one app that I found myself using a lot lately is Artifact. For the uninitiated, Artifact is an AI-powered news app from the co-founders of Instagram.

A unique feature of the app is the universal comments section where you can comment on news articles and interact with other Artifact users without having to sign up for multiple accounts. So essentially Disqus, but better.

Moreover, it has newly added a summary feature that lets you summarize news articles. And guess what? You don’t require an invite code to access it. 🎉
Check it out and let me know if you’re liking it in the comments.

Until next time. Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Don’t believe the hype,

Subin

When I first read Nir Eyal’s piece on being a schedule builder and not a to-do list maker1, I dismissed it thinking it’d be exhausting to block timeslots for everything and would result in a robotic miserable life. Yet, here I’m, writing a piece arguing how calendars are better than to-do lists.

How is a calendar event different from a to-do list?

Let’s address the elephant in the room — what is the difference? You get notifications on both, can set the time on both, and can keep track of stuff on both. Right? Well, not really. Let me explain.

The main factor that sets a calendar event apart from a to-do list is the timing. As opposed to the to-do list’s conventional approach of starting a task at X time, a calendar event gives you the flexibility to estimate how long the task is going to take. This way, you get a mental picture of the tasks at hand and can prioritize accordingly.

Of course, this doesn’t mean to-do list apps don’t make any sense. They do. In fact, I use a mix of calendar events and to-do lists to plan my day. My primary use cases for to-do lists are shopping lists and time-non-sensitive tasks.

Speaking of time, I find it overwhelming when I don’t complete a task on the to-do list. That’s a stark difference from a calendar event where I can effortlessly reschedule to a convenient timeslot. It goes without saying that you can change the reminder time of the to-do list too, but I get a feeling that I’m slacking off when I’m postponing reminders. That doesn’t happen when I’m rescheduling an event — at least not yet.

How to get started with a calendar?

While you can stick to the default Apple or Google calendar that comes with your phone, one app I found helpful while setting up my calendar is Daybridge2. Daybridge is an aesthetic calendar app that doesn’t compromise on design and usability.

Disclaimer: Daybridge isn’t involved in this endorsement and this recommendation is purely based on my experience.

I’ve been using Daybridge for almost three weeks now and am loving the experience so far. Sure, there are a few shortcomings, like the inability to add notes to calendar events within the app (workaround: you can add using Google Calendar and it will show up on Daybridge) and a general sluggishness when you’re updating an event.

Those quirks aside, I have no major complaints with this app and would recommend it if you’re someone who likes the idea of organizing your day with the help of a calendar.

Pro tip: Use Google calendar to create separate calendars for categories and use them for events within Daybridge. Scalable approach if you consider moving out of the app in the future.

Daybridge is currently in public beta and is available on Android, iOS, and the web. Consider giving it a shot and let me know how it goes in the comments.

Rant Box 😤

Introducing Rant Box, a new section where I rant about stuff I have no control over. Posts going forward will either have rant box or treats. You can’t have it all :P

What’s wrong with the leadership team of Warner Bros???? Bizarre licensing and market expansion strategies aside, they are now rebranding HBO Max to Max?3 Like, whaaaat? What is the point? To be more kid-friendly? Why are you ruining the legacy of HBO by keeping it alongside some random cartoon or U-rated content?!?! Uggghhhh.

Meanwhile, here I was, hoping HBO Max would eventually launch in India and I could stream Succession legally like a sane person. GGWP, Warner Bros. 🫡 And STOP MILKING HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE!!!4

Until next time,

Hearts if you liked it, subs if you loved it!

Stay organized,
Subin

It’s no mystery that people function better when there’s clarity in their responsibilities and a clear action plan for the path forward. On the flip side, keeping everything in the head leads to overwhelm and analysis paralysis. Enter task management software, a solution to offload your thoughts into a system so you can think clearly. In fact, writing down thoughts makes you feel light (trust me, there’s a reason you’re getting these posts) and relieved.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with multiple task management software — Asana, Todoist, Any.do, Trello, Notion, you name it, I’ve dipped my toes into it at some point in life to juice that extra bit of productivity out of me. While I found luck in sorting my personal life with some of these tools, I kept falling behind in efficiently keeping track of my tasks at work.

While I’m grateful that my current employer has the know-how to efficiently track tasks through JIRA, I always find the need to have a personal log of tasks to effectively estimate my efforts throughout the day based on priorities.

If you’re in a Microsoft Teams+Outlook ecosystem, you do have a couple of tools to get you started, namely To Do and Planner. Although I initially found the idea of putting my tasks in one place enticing, I eventually started treating it like a chore. Soon, the novelty faded and I stopped updating them. Back to square one, me being an overwhelmed mess.

In pursuit of the next task management software, I took a step back and thought, why not use VSCode for it all? After all, why use multiple apps when one app do trick? Widely regarded as the best piece of software Microsoft has contributed to the world after Windows, VSCode has been my favorite text/code editor, long before Atom’s demise. Enough said, let’s get to the task management system within VSCode:

My VSCode task management system consists of four basic states to represent a task’s status:

• Await — There are blockers and I’ll have to wait for inputs to get started.

• TODO — I have all the inputs I need, I just need to start doing it based on its priority.

• In progress — The tasks that are currently in progress, with the last updated date and completion estimate.

• Done — Task complete, yaaaay!

Each state is visually differentiated with indentation. For instance, Await state has a tab space, while the Done state has four tab spaces. I also add notes and descriptions for tasks in brackets. Putting it all together, you get something like this (you’ll find a template for it below):

On top of this, I use a task tracker extension that lets me track my daily tasks in the “In progress” state within VSCode. It’s fairly barebones, but does the job. If you’re interested, you can install the extension from here.

Template:

Topic 1:
                Task 1 - Done (Completion date)
            Task 2 - In progress
        Task 3 - TODO
    Task 4 - Await
Topic 2:
            Task 1 - In progress
    Task 2 - Await
                Task 3 - Done
        Task 4 - TODO (Priority)
Topic 3:
    Task 1 - Await (Blocker Description/Notes)
        Task 2 - TODO
            Task 3 - In progress (Last updated date / latest completion estimate)
                Task 4 - Done

P.S: I’ve established this “system” fairly recently and may iterate in the coming weeks to optimize the transition to ✨flow state✨. If you have any thoughts or feedback in its current state, let me know in the comments!

Having said all that, before you turn into a total productivity freak, I’ll leave with you a quote from a recent Ali Abdaal video:

“The truth about productivity is that it’s not really about the apps. It’s not really about having a perfect system or about being disciplined or motivated than anyone else…Productivity isn’t about getting more things done, it’s mostly about learning to enjoy the journey.”

And that brings me to the perfect segue to the teaser for a future post — Is monetizing your passion really worth it? Stay tuned for my thoughts!

Sidenote: I’m all for simplicity and minimalism, but I have a request for all the boomer/ Gen X project managers/scrum masters out there using Microsoft Excel in 2023 to track projects: STOP!

It’s clumsy, overwhelming, chaotic, and makes the rest of us feel like we’ve gone back a few years. Seriously, just stop. You’ll find a lot of really good project-tracking software out there (whispers JIRA). Take some crash courses to get acquainted with the interface and make the lives easier for everyone else, please.

Treat stall: If you spend reasonable time on the internet, you’re likely to have a favorite celebrity/influencer family, possibly with parents sharing random moments of their cute kids. However, one overlooked aspect of this setup is that children are barely at the age to choose or consent to being in front of the camera for clout/content.

This TeenVogue article explores the dark side of being an influencer kid and having a digital footprint at an early stage in life. My favorite quote from the piece: “It almost feels like exploiting your children has become a career choice.”

Ciao,

Subin

If there’s something almost no one takes seriously in the post-Jio era of India, it’s the SMS inbox. Although operators are generously bundling 100s of SMSes with their recharge packs these days, not a lot of Indians use SMS for daily communications or chit-chat. This is unlike the U.S. where iMessage and text messages are deeply entrenched in the daily lives of customers.

While one could argue that a driving factor to this phenomenon is the fact that India has a solid userbase for instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, we should not overlook the aspects that make SMS unusable. Despite recent improvements like RCS, an overarching majority have long ignored SMS for use cases other than OTPs and bank alerts for one primary reason — spam messages.

However, it’s not all that bad. Do you want to get rid of the spam SMS you’ve been ignoring for years? I’ve got you covered. Presenting my three-part solution to a ✨sane✨ SMS inbox experience:

Part 1: Analyzing your SMS Inbox

Bringing sanity to your inbox starts with taking a look at what’s annoying you in the first place. Is it the relentless credit card sign-up lure? Play rummy online for free? Or worse, I’m lonely, please call me on number x?

You should take some time to analyze the kind of messages and note the SMS sender ID. This is typically something along the lines of XX-XXXXX. You’ll need this later (spoiler - in Part 3).

In my case, the worst offenders were Freecharge and Nobroker. I swear, Freecharge
👏just👏won’t👏stop👏 sending SMS messages despite clearly turning it off in their app. I had to send a bunch of emails and hop on a couple of customer service calls to finally get rid of their texts.

Coming to Nobroker, I just wanted to scream at that point. House hunting in Bangalore is a nightmare on its own and Nobroker’s relentless SMS “alerts” leave you in an overwhelming, frustrating, annoying, and tiring mess. Unlike Freecharge, however, stopping these texts was relatively seamless — contacted in-app chat support and they took care of it (dil se thank you to whoever did it🥺).

Part 2: Politely decline phone number requests in shopping malls

This is one of my pet peeves that had been dormant for a couple of years now. But not anymore. Seriously, why do you need my phone number to process a bill for oranges? You see, that’s where the trouble begins. They send you a billing confirmation alert, it becomes a couple, and before you know it, your inbox is flooded with promotional messages enticing you to buy stuff you don’t want.

If they insist on the number and you really need the stuff in your cart, walk out (if it’s not an urgent need, obviously) and buy from their online store. They probably have better deals online anyway (I know you’ll likely need to use your phone number to access their online store, but that’s a rant for another day).

I have started making it a conscious decision to politely decline when the billing staff asks me for my phone number during payment. I’m still beta-testing this approach though. Your mileage may vary.

Part 3: Activate DND on operator apps / NDNC India Registry

This is one of the practical solutions you can execute for damage control. It’s not complicated. All you have to do is send “START 0” to 1909 to get your number enrolled in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC).

You could also check out your telecom operator’s app for DND settings. For instance, I used Airtel’s app to activate DND on my number. I also use it to report complaints whenever I get spam SMS from an unknown sender using the sender ID.

So yes, following these three parts judiciously can hopefully help eliminate (or reduce) distraction while you’re scrolling through the nth YouTube video or Instagram Reel. But hey, I’m not judging, we’re all in the same boat!

Hold on, why not use an app like Microsoft SMS Organizer, you ask? Well, it’s the easy way out, but it doesn’t fix the problem. It’s more of a flex tape solution, you could say. And I like finding the root cause of issues and solving them from within (adds problem solver to resume).

On to why I wrote all these in the next section.

It’s only after a job interview with a certain customer relationship management startup that I became enlightened about how corporations exploit all channels of communication to get your attention, especially if you are a “high-value customer”. So, who is a high-value customer? Let me make it easy for you: If you order food online more than 15 times a month, consider yourself a high-value customer. Not quite the “Top 1%” league, but somewhere right in the total addressable market.

But Subin, isn’t all this a hassle and a lot of effort? Listen, I hear you, I do. It’s easier to ignore and dismiss these SMS-es. But then, there’s something called consent, no? You should have the option to choose to receive these spams (Idk who in their right mind would choose to, but there’s that) rather than being coerced into it.

If you’re still not convinced, hear me out. If an uncle can challenge the Indian judiciary and fight years of legal battles over 20 rupees, if big corporations can pull off massive layoffs and get away with it, if a chaiwala can become the prime minister of the country (this is an overrated analogy, but it works), you can take control over your SMS inbox now (wow, I should’ve been a motivational speaker).

Ah, it feels nice to share stuff without worrying about SEO-friendly titles, say something along the lines of stop spam texts or block spam SMS (Wait, did I just do sneaky keyword stuffing here? You never know 🫣).

Wishing you a sane SMS experience. Stay tuned for a possible future post where I attempt to achieve the great Inbox-zero email status (stares at 6,208 unread emails, sigh. Okay, I should a put real emphasis on the word attempt). Will I succeed? Or will I fail miserably? Find out in the next episode of Dragon Ball Z. I will keep you posted.

Treat corner: Hmm, Academy Awards 2023 is happening tonight. I really hope Triangle of Sadness or Everything Everywhere All At Once wins in the Best Picture category. Or you know, anything other than Avatar: The Way of Water. In other news, I discovered a chill indie pop song called Crush this weekend. It has a nice groove to it, check it out!

Before I wrap up, I’ll leave you with a video recommendation. If you’re a fan of HBO’s Succession, I urge you to watch this How Money Works video where they break down the business side of things in the deals and negotiations you see in the show. Now that we’re on the subject, here’s a 1-hour version of the theme song for you to bask in its glory. Season 4 (last season sadly, but at least they’re not milking the franchise) drops March 26, yaaaaaaay!

Until next time!

Stay sane,

Subin

Dear Spotify,

I vividly remember the first time I saw you. You were dressed in green with a shade of gray that I cherish and hold close to my heart. I crossed the borders for you (with a VPN), just to spend quality time together. You tamed the pirate in me and treated me with music I’d have had to put extra effort to find elsewhere.

When you finally decided to visit me here in India, I was on cloud nine. Little did I know it was a short-lived joy until I realized you forgot the check-in baggage at the airport. It took us years of legal battles to finally get our stuff back. Was all that for nothing, Spotify?

Looking back, I know exactly when things started going wrong in our relationship — the moment you started pushing podcasts. And don’t tell me I never warned you. I had tried convincing you to stop overdoing podcasts, but alas, it fell on deaf ears.

Did you ghost me, Spotify? When did my words stop mattering to you? You made promises you didn’t keep and here I’m, screaming to a screen on the internet. Speaking of ghosting, I even wrote you an open letter a couple winters back, in hopes of hearing from you. Months passed and years went by in vain, as I continue tuning in to music at 320 kbps, which you claim is “Very High Quality” (Narrator voice: It’s not).

I understand what’s going on. You’re now listening to the investors you told me not to worry about, aren’t you? Did our relationship mean nothing to you? As The Verge rightly pointed out, your “new” design is “part TikTok, part Instagram, and part YouTube”. And look what you have become:

Who are you trying to impress, Spotify? The investors? TikTokers? Instagrammers? YouTubers? I know it’s hard to hear it, but let me say it out loud: In pursuit of chasing new shiny things, I think you lost elements that made you you. Your consistency across platforms, your neat interface, your seamless casting experience? Are you willing to throw that all away to entice a bunch of new users? You’re better than that.

I think it’s best for us to take a break. And no, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll date your cool cousin Apple Music for now. I think we might hit it off. 🙈

Not yours anymore,
Subin

P.S: Treat time! I watched a movie called Triangle of Sadness last night. It’s a brilliant take on classism, gender roles, and interpersonal relationships. I later got to know it is one of the nominees for the 2023 Academy Award for Best Picture. The best part? It’s now in a cinema hall near you. Trust me, you won’t regret it (excluding a specific disgusting 15-minute segment. Alright, won’t give spoilers. Off you go, back to doomscrolling). Until next time!