Episode

Mental models for building products people love ft. Stewart Butterfield

Stewart Butterfield, founder of Flickr and Slack, shares mental models for building products people love, including utility curves for judging when a feature has earned enough investment, and his 'don't make me think' philosophy that friction is only a problem when the real issue is comprehension. He recounts Slack craft stories like the shouty rooster and staged Do Not Disturb rollout, warns against 'hyper-realistic work-like activities' that mimic productivity in growing organizations, and offers hard-won advice on when to pivot.