Two Engines
A world-class team that builds and a world-class team that sells. Most leaders never honestly ask which they have, and having one without the other is more frustrating than having neither.
Not So Common Thoughts
Not So Common Thoughts is a personal blog exploring the intersection of design, technology, and human creativity. Through thoughtful analysis and personal experiences, it examines how modern tools and AI are reshaping our approach to design, coding, and creative work, while maintaining a focus on the human elements of judgment, intuition, and meaningful decision-making. The blog combines design insights with reflections on work, creativity, and the evolving relationship between humans and…
Latest posts
Taking Stock
A renewal notice marked a year of writing here and on LinkedIn. A moment to look back, not a verdict.
Vinyl Floors and AI
Modern houses use materials that pretend to be something they're not. The result looks right but feels wrong. AI output has the same problem.
Drawing Trees
My daughter started drawing trees at a coffee shop. On the walk home, we both saw them differently.
Find the Quiet Ones
Skip the best-practice posts. Find people doing remarkable work and figure out how they do it.
Markdown Library ML-42: A Native Home for Markdown
Markdown files have quietly become the connective tissue of AI-assisted work. I built Markdown Library ML-42, a native macOS app to browse, read, and edit them where they live.
GTD in the Age of Judgment
GTD is a judgment practice disguised as a productivity system. In the age of AI, that makes it more relevant than ever.
Journaling Without Writing
I've kept a bullet journal for years. Then voice capture and AI synthesis introduced a different kind of journaling. For now, I'm keeping both.
Collaborate or Delegate
AI's rapid feedback loop is either energizing or exhausting. The difference is whether you're collaborating on one problem or being pulled apart by many.
Capture at Human Speed
AI makes everything possible and nothing restful. Staying intentional means acting on your terms — not reacting to every opportunity the moment it appears.
Don't Watch the Words
Real-time transcription makes you edit while you think. Turning it off is freeing.
Sculpting with Code
Working with AI has shifted my design process from building up to carving away, revealing the essential shape hidden within.
Building a Context Repository
A practical approach to making AI actually useful: translate your company knowledge into a structured, version-controlled repository that AI can reason from.
Chaos Studies: Where Math Meets Music Meets Touch
Turning a fascination with strange attractors into an immersive audiovisual experience, from Playdate to iOS and macOS.
Converging on Reality
Machine learning models across languages, molecules, and proteins are converging toward similar representations—a hint at underlying structure.
A Map of Gaps
Why knowing what you're bad at matters more than knowing what you're good at—for learning, for work, and for building teams that actually complement each other.
The One Thing Constraint
Good science fiction changes one thing and builds a world around it. Can the same work in product design?
From Sketch to Site in Hours
Building Field Bureau + Werkstatt, a minimal site born from a journal sketch and iterated into existence.
In Appearance Only
Unintentional imposters optimizing for output over outcome. AI just does it even better.
Embracing Interface Asymmetry
Visual UIs and chat interfaces have opposite strengths. The asymmetry isn't a problem to fix; it's a pattern to embrace.
Turning the Ship
Why organizational change takes time, why resistance is normal, and why momentum eventually works in your favor.
Direction Before Speed
Why organizational momentum is a vector, and why moving fast in the wrong direction is worse than moving slowly in the right one.
Praise Effort, Not Talent
How cultural differences in praising children shape mindset and what it means for how we raise our own kids.
Apple's Quiet AI Advantage
Why the M-series neural engine may prove that Apple's so-called lag in AI is actually a head start in on-device intelligence.
Let's Talk About Your Next Role
Why I ask teammates to think about their CV and what they want it to look like five years from now.
Ephemeral Software
In the age of AI, it's not the UI that becomes ephemeral—it's the software itself. Code manifests when needed and dissolves when purpose is served.
Hiring Designers Who Know Which Lever to Pull
The three non-negotiables I expect from senior designers: relentless feedback, selling the work, and knowing when each skill should lead.
Menu Volume – Feedback First, Features Second
How shipping MIDI Volume Control proved that no project is too small to pivot when immediate user feedback points to the real product.
MIDI Volume Control: When the Solution Doesn't Exist, Build It
How a simple need—controlling my Mac's volume with a MIDI controller—led to building my first desktop app, now available on the App Store.
How I Built a Serverless Chess Analytics Platform with Game Data in the URL
Building a free chess game analysis tool that stores everything in the URL—no servers, no databases, just instant analytics you can share with a link.
AI Unblocked My Learning
How AI has restored my ability to learn by doing, bringing back the joy of experimentation that growing responsibilities had made increasingly rare.
Meet my books
How I built a personal book collection website to solve the frustrating problem of tracking what I've already read.
Your AI slop is served
A reflection on the 'AI slop' debate, content overload, and why engaging with long-form writing matters more than ever.
Fundamental Chess Strategy & Evaluation
A compact cheat sheet for intermediate players (1200+), especially after a break from play.
Art, Design, and the Question of Purpose
On the fundamental difference between art and design: one serves itself, the other must serve others.
RockOrPop.com: Turn Any YouTube Playlist into a Virtual Cassette
Turn any playlist into a customizable mixtape—no log-ins, no algorithms, just intentional listening.
Are We Intelligent?
While others were affirming that AIs could not truly think or even understand, I found myself wondering if I was any different.
Revisiting the world of Weewar
How building a hex map generator brought back memories of creating one of the web's first strategy games.
Finding Balance in Leadership
The art of setting guardrails that empower rather than constrain.
The Unreality of Work
On the growing disconnect between our daily routines and a world in crisis.
AI Expectations and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
How our cultural narratives about AI might be shaping its development more than we realize
MapsAll.com: Mindmapping with AI
The journey of creating a mind mapping tool that evolved from experimental prototypes to a full-featured product.
About this Site
I asked AI to tell me what Not So Common Thoughts is all about.
Implementing LLMs.txt: Making Your Blog AI-Friendly
How and why I implemented the LLMs.txt standard to make this blog more accessible to AI tools.
Don't just do more, think more
A personal reflection on how AI-driven productivity gains should be reinvested in thinking, not just doing.
AI and the Rise of Judgement Over Technical Skill
As AI removes technical barriers, judgement becomes the key differentiator.
Interior Design Fundamentals
Exploring the core principles of interior design through Noah Daniel's insightful video series, covering ground rules, material palettes, and lighting.
Permission to Enjoy
A reflection on seniority, freedom, responsibility, and the power of a mentor's simple advice.
Building a Music Player: YouTube as a Backend
How I built a music player for kohlhofer.com that pulls from a YouTube playlist, fetches video backgrounds, and focuses on an integrated audio/visual listening experience.
Let Go and Trust
A reminder that excellence comes from trust, not control.