When failure builds false certainty
Repeated failure transforms 'I don't know what else to try' into 'nothing else can be done.' But those are very different things.
Mike San Román
Mike San Román
Latest posts
Small tasks, big burden: the death by a thousand paper cuts
The quick Slack question. The 'can you just check this?' None make it to Linear. By Friday, you've lost a full day to things you can't remember.
AI's real superpower: consuming, not creating
Everyone's using AI wrong. Its superpower isn't writing for you. It's reading everything you've ever written and finding patterns you missed.
Open APIs create markets, closed ones create competitors
After watching platform ecosystems for over a decade, one pattern emerges: companies that open their APIs create markets. The ones that don't create competitors.
You are not your job
Your job is what pays the bills. Your work is what lights you up. Most of us spend years confusing the two.
Why I do strategy backwards
Most people plan forward from constraints. I plan backwards from outcomes. The difference creates step changes instead of incremental progress.
Your git config is a map of where your workflow was breaking
Every custom git alias represents friction you chose to automate instead of tolerate. Here's what my .gitconfig reveals about workflow evolution and how to build your own diagnostic tool.
Finding clarity in the chaos
Most people try AI tools, get mediocre results, and go back to the old way. The breakthrough comes when you flip your entire approach.
How I used Claude Code to accelerate strategy work
When I needed to reframe our engineering strategy quickly, I discovered that AI could help me structure completable work instead of endless iteration.
The future of engineering: embracing change without losing craft
The future of engineering belongs to those who grow with AI, not those who hide behind it. Craft, clarity, and perspective will define what’s next.
Flow states in engineering leadership: protecting your team's deep work
The day I realized our best engineer was producing 10% of their capability changed how we structure work at Buffer. Here's how we protect flow at scale.
The Obsidian migration: why your tools should reduce friction, not create it
After weeks of tool paralysis, I learned the best productivity system isn't the one with the most features. It's the one that gets out of your way.
Fixing RVM errors while installing a new Ruby version on macOS
How to fix RVM errors on macOS once and for all
Choosing a technical stack for Carpeta: a deliberate approach
Exploring the journey of selecting an optimal technical stack for Carpeta, learning from past experiences and aiming for a smooth, enjoyable development process.
🌴 Weekly review: weeks 34 and 35, 2023
## These two weeks in a GIF ### Productivity I've done **nothing**. ## Health **Key metrics for Week 34**: - Worked out 6 days (⇣14.28%): - 3x strength training sessions (=)....
Living an examined life
After sharing my weekly reviews for the last six weeks, one question that I've been asked a few times is: _"Why do you do this?"_ often hinting not only at the practice itself, but at the level of granularity at which I measure or keep track of things in my life. I've been refl...
Weekly review: week 33, 2023
### Productivity Most of the week was spent on leaving things in a good state before heading out on vacation, but thankfully I wrapped up most of those things by Wednesday, so that extra margin for dealing with some last minute stuff was very welcome. **Key metrics for Week 33...
Weekly review: weeks 31 and 32, 2023
## These two weeks in a GIF ### Productivity Shifting the order of the sections of the weekly review, mainly to explain the GIF. I made a mistake setting two kinds of goals that ...
Weekly review: week 30, 2023
## Metrics ### Health I'm experimenting with not getting coffee after lunch and seeing if it has any impact on my deep sleep or REM sleep phases. So far, it's just been a slight uptick in my daily sleep average, but it also feels good, and I'm keen to see how the body adapts ...
Weekly review: week 29, 2023
## Metrics ### Health I'm reducing my strength training sessions because I'm starting to work with a personal trainer, and I don't want to extenuate myself while we are still defining the workout plan in active training sessions. It's likely going to be an A/B block of strengt...
Weekly review: week 28, 2023
Every week, I do a weekly review ritual that helps me plan the next week and reflect on the one that has passed by. I take both a data-driven approach, since I measure a multiple number of things about my life, behaviour, and overall health, as well as asking myself a few questio...
Goals for 2022
- Publish 52 blog posts - Read 25 books - Meditate 1 hr/week - Work out 4x/week - *I'd love to get back into running regularly as I was doing early last year, provided my shin pain is fully gone.* - Limit alcohol consumption to 2 days / week - Spend less time on my phone: scree...
Exploring tags
**Update Jan 2022: I've decided to remove this exploration from the site, but still it's an interesting thought exercise.** I'm stuck on a train for a couple of hours, so I might as well code a bit on one of the things I wanted to explore in this new blog. Since I have differ...
A battle against perfectionism
## How we got here Last year, by late June, I dropped the ball on my Substack newsletter. It was a fun process to create a new email every week for seven months straight, but there were parts of the process I didn’t love so much. ### When friction becomes noticeable I felt lik...
What to do when you don't feel like doing
> At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under ...
The value of software is not what you think it is
## More features != better > "If failure is not an option, then neither is success." > – Seth Godin Most people would argue that the primary value of software is for it to do what the consumer expects. They think that the value of software is something like the sum of a...
When odds seem to go against you, remember this
> "My formula for greatness in a human being is “amor fati”: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it—all idealism is mendacity in the face of what is necessary—but love it."<...
Work like you are being watched
> _“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”_ > _Paulo Coelho_ Today ...
Self-discipline is overrated
> People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily. > – Zig Ziglar It’s 12.30 am on a Monday, and here I am, writing this newsletter to you. I’ve been doing it every Monday since early December: sometimes sendin...
If days are passing like a blur to you, do this
>_"Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days."_ > _― Zig Ziglar_ If you're anything like me, the past few weeks have felt like an endless loop, and the days are those abstract, blurry, and quick things that happen between your fi...
A simple plan for becoming six times better
> _"I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it"_ > _– Thomas Jefferson._ Imagine going to the gym and only performing biceps curls, over and over again, with the heaviest load you can bear. It's unlikely you'll see much progress wor...
The most important thing that will unlock your career
> _The most important talent may be the talent for practice itself._ > _– Atul Gawande._ There is something about looking at other disciplines and professions that inspires me. It clears my view of my work in a way that I couldn't without that external stimulus. And it mak...
You are not a programmer
I just came across this quote from Seth Godin today: > “The job is what you do when you are told what to do. The job is showing up at the factory, following instructions, meeting spec, and being managed. Someone can always do your job a little better or faster or cheaper than y...
Start on what you are holding yourself back
> If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. – Vincent Van Gogh Today I decided to take the leap on something I've been thinking (and overthinking, to be honest) for a while: I did a live-streaming sessi...
Why you need to apply the two-day rule
> We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle Staying home for the past few weeks has proven challenging for me for a few different reasons, but mainly because I've found it hard to keep some habits that are ingrained more easily on my r...
It's time to face uncertainty
> _"The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."_ _— Seneca_ I've been seeing so many people mentioning how they've been feeling unproductive these past few weeks due to the given COVID-19 situation. Interestingly, what I've noticed is that it comes with some ...
Do you have enough space?
> _"One can furnish a room very luxuriously by taking out furniture rather than putting it in." – Francis Jourdain_ I'm pretty much obsessed with the idea of _space_. It is something I always strive to: * On my wardrobe, few but selected, high-quality clothes. * On my des...
Punched in the mouth
> Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. – Mike Tyson Due to the COVID-19 situation, we are staying home for at least the next 15 days. And while it can be a minor nuisance for people like me, that either work remotely by default or can work remotely as l...
Fear is the enemy of your present moment
> _"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: **It goes on.**"_ _– Robert Frost_ We are living through interesting days. 2020 started with a bang, and the whole world is facing a virus outbreak, and of course, the economy starts showing signs of rec...
The door is unlocked
import Script from 'next/script' > _"Never confuse movement with action."_ _– Ernest Hemingway_ The following tweet from Sahil Lavingia, Gumroad's CEO, resonates deeply with me. So much so, that I saw a picture I took of a door in my photo gallery, immediately thought of...
Are you engaged with what you're doing right now?
import Script from 'next/script' > _"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by growth, but by washing away all that is not gold."_ _— Leo Tolstoy_ It's been a busy week. Getting the context for the new feature I'm architecting at Buffer, launching a few more features at...
Invest in clarity to multiply your results
> _"A key point to bear in mind: The value of attentiveness varies in proportion to its object. You're better off not giving the small things more time than they deserve."_ _— Marcus Aurelius_ This week's keyword for me is _clarity_. It is easy to be swept up by all the t...
Listen to everyone, follow no one
> _The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities._ _— Shunryu Suzuki_ We are social beings. Our values and opinions are created by exposing ourselves to others. That's why it's essential ...
The best strategy against overthinking
> _"We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap."_ _― Anthony Hopkins._ Do you consider yourself an overthinker? How often do you become blo...
How to break free from the curse of knowledge
> "Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in." ― Isaac Asimov Are we blinded by what we know? Is our knowledge limiting our growth and interactions with others? The _curse of knowledge_ is a cognitive...
Flexibility and self awareness are your best tools for doing your most important work
> _Either you run the day, or the day runs you._ _– Jim Rohn._ Today, I started the day with three goals. This is how I usually try to start any given day: one goal for myself, one goal for Otter, and another one for Buffer. If I wrap up the day with the three of them com...
Closing the intention-action gap
> _Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world._ _— Miyamoto Musashi_ Have you ever set up goals, or intentions, and started strong on your path trying to reach them, only to get lost along the way? How many times we've gotten started on things like: * A new exerci...
How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?
> _"It is never too late to be what you might have been."_ – George Eliot. First Monday of a new year. The unique occasion where two of the most significant moments for changing ourselves merge into a single point each year. How many times we've heard, or said ourselves, ...
Productive rest for a better 2020
> _"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man."_ ― Benjamin Franklin Like I was sharing in [last week's email](https://mikesanroman.substack.com/p/resetting-yourself), this week I'm off my regular work at Buffer,...
Resetting yourself
> _If we don't have visions of kindness and generosity in our minds, it's difficult to share these things with others._ _– Headspace._ This week is a special one. For a few years already, Buffer closes until January 2nd, which means I am officially on holiday for a bit mor...