Projects
Buckets
Personal Project
After being frustrated with personal finance tracking tools like Mint.com and Personal Capital, I rolled a personal finance tracking app of my own: Buckets. Users track spending by categorizing transactions into different "buckets" (or budgets). Buckets allows users to create their own budgets and choose whether or not the budget should be associated with a time period (weekly, monthy, etc.). Finally, a simple sorting interface allows users to quickly review and sort each transaction.
The project uses Vue.js as the frontend framework, Vuetify for most of the UI components, Firebase's Realtime Database as the datastore, and Firebase's Cloud Functions for connecting to Plaid, a fintech service that pulls transactions from banks.
ARC Bricks
Precision Engineering and Research Group, MIT
ARC bricks are accurate, reversible, and can be used to create curved structures. The brick shape and press were designed for my Master's thesis with the goal of lowering the cost of house construction in developing areas where auto-construction (the act of building one's own home) is common. In these settings, reducing the amount of cement consumed is important as it is expensive and logistically difficult to acquire in rural regions without personal transporation.
ARC bricks are shaped such that they can be compressed on the exposed faces and therefore, hold tight dimensional tolerances in the sensitive top face, bottom face, and side faces along the wall. The tight tolerances allow walls to be created without the need for mortar, reducing the cement needed for a single-room dwelling by half.
Oceanus Auto
MIT Dept. of Ocean Engineering
Oceanus Auto was a project to design a wind-powered autonomous boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Our team of 8 designed and then built an 8ft SWATH prototype to demonstrate the concept. The SWATH design reduces the craft's succeptibility to surface chop and is self-righting. Additionally, the vertical-axis wind turbine reduces the broad-side surface area of the boat, reducing the vulnerability to large waves in storm conditions. The craft features a controllable-pitch propeller which simplifies maneuvers, enables robust station-keeping, and is straightforward to build robustly.
In the prototype the main shaft bearing has been replaced with a much cheaper teflon bushing and the wind turbine is 1/2 scale in order to stay under our $10k budget. The prototype and design was enough to win $50k in additional funding for the project.
InfoCycle
Ford Motor Company
The InfoCycle is a fork-mounted bicycle sensor that collects information about cyclists, congestion, and road conditions which can then be used to inform other cyclists, drivers, and city planners about mobility within a city. A central goal of the project was to exclusively use off-the-shelf components and hobby-grade 3D printing in order to make the design accessible to individuals. Press release
Reading List / Media
Born to Run
Christopher McDougall
Born to Run may be my favorite book of all time. It's a thrilling story of adventure, self-discovery, and unbelievable anthropology. A great, light read for enjoying or dreaming of the outdoors.
Moonwalking with Einstein
Joshua Foer
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything is an exciting read about a surprisingly quirky, yet relateable, topic: your own memory. Foer takes a fascinating journey into the world of elite memory competition and introduces readers to some of the techniques used turn every day people into memory superheros.
Complications
Atul Gawande
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science is a non-fiction medical thriller and a great introduction to the realities of medicine. Gawande couples first-hand medical experiences with engaging storytelling to make this a must read. If you enjoy, also check out Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, but not The Checklist Manifesto.
The Code Book
Simon Singh
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography is a fabulous introduction to the world of encryption and is an enjoyable read. Cryptography is an ever present aspect of our modern lives and a curious mind will enjoy exposure to this topic.
Flash Boys
Michael Lewis
Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt is an easy read about high-frequency trading with an enjoyable storyline. It's not a financial book, rather, a story of an industry disrupted by technology. If you like it, I'd also recommend The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is a fascinating take on human history. Harari dissects our human identity by way of our history and introduces accessible tools and frameworks for piecing everything together. His pragmatic sense of humor and crisp language make Sapiens hard to put down.
The Lessons of History
Will and Ariel Durant
The Lessons of History is a 100 page distillation of the history and patterns of civilization. Famed for their 11 volume "The Story of Civilization", this book offers a much condensed overview of the major patterns and themes. History humbles and teaches and this short book is in many ways the minimum effective dose.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Jack Weatherford
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World tells the untold story of one of the greatest leaders and civilization builders of history. The book reads like a historical thriller and upsets many commonly held beliefs of the Mongol Empire. Highly recommended. (A weird but scenery-painting preface for the travel-adventure lover would be the Mongolia Special episode of the Grand Tour.)
Innocent Anthropologist
Nigel Barley
Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut is one of the most enjoyable books I've read as an adult. The Amazon summary accurately describes Barley's adventure with the Dowayo people as "[t]he wittiest introduction to the life of a social anthropologist ever written".
Peopleware
Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams is a must read for anyone working in the software industry or tech. DeMarco and Lister cut right to the core of the most prevalent managerial pitfalls and then offer sound advice for how to deal with these problems head on. I read the 1987 edition and it is quite humbling to see just how timeless this "technology" book is!obs
Highlights
- "The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature. Most managers are willing to conceded the idea that they've got more people worries than technical worries. But they seldom manage that way. They manage as though technology were their principle concern. They spend their time puzzling over the most convoluted and most interesting puzzles that their people will have to solve, almost as though they themselves were going to do the work rather than manage it."
- "Quality, far beyond that required by the end user, is a means to higher productivity." Japan is known both for quality and productivity. The secret lies in the worker's respect for their own craft.
- "There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back."
- "You probably don't feel that you have an uncontrollable tendency to hire attractive or 'normal' looking people... [but] you're hiring on behalf of the whole corporate ladder above you. The perceived norm of these upper managers is working on you each time you consider making a new offer."
- "The term 'unprofessional' is often used to characterize surprising and threatening behavior. Anything that upsets the weak manager is almost by definition unprofessional."
- "Believing that workers will automatically accept organizational goals is the sign of naive managerial optimism"
- "Getting the system built was an arbitrary goal, but the team had accepted it. It was what they had formed around. From the time of jelling, the team itself has been the real focus for their energies. They were in it for the joint success, the pleasure of achieving the goal, any goal, together. Refocusing their attention on the company's interest in the project didn't help. It just made success seem trivial and meaningless."
- "The purpose of a team is not goal attainment but goal alignment."
- "The difference between a team and a clique is like the difference between a breeze and a draft." "If you find that cool current of air delightful, you call it a breeze; if you find it annoying, you call it a draft."
- "The right to be right (in your manager's eyes or in your government's eyes) is irrelevant; it's only the right to be wrong that makes you free."
- "Good managers provide frequent easy opportunities for the team to succeed together. The opportunities may be tiny pilot sub-projects, or demonstrations, or simulations, anything that gets the team quickly into the habit of succeeding together."
Foresty Forest
Foresty Forest is a van-dwelling Youtuber with an understated but incredible knack for adventure. When wanderlust for the great outdoors strikes, I know that Foresty Forest has an adventure for me. In particular I like Fatbike Touring - Southwestern USA, Van Life - Land of the Prospector, and The Skookum Van Life. He's also got a nice van tour video.
How To Drink
How to Drink is a Youtube "show about making drinks and how to drink them"! Greg is entertaining and knowledgeable. I particularly like his overview videos on rum and whiskey and his painkiller recipe is sure to take you to paradise.
City Nerd
City Nerd offers the best built-environment related social commentary on the internet and dishes it out with a sharp wit. A highlight of every Wednesday.
Not Just Bikes
Not Just Bikes produces some of the best videos on the internet comparing the US/Canada to the Netherlands through the lens of urban design. The videos are informative and serve as a salient reminder of the importance of our built environment.
Dan Gelbart on Prototyping
Dan Gelbart's series on prototyping is probably worth 2 college courses in mechanical engineering. I would highly recommend to anyone making products.
Climate Town
Climate Town has some of the most well-researched climate-policy related content on the internet (peruse the linked sources for any video!). I'm always reminded how opaque our society can be and how little we remember of the past. Also, he's hilarous.
James Hoffmann
James Hoffmann's coffee knowledge and presentation skills are unmatched. Anyone enjoying the world's favorite drug should take a peek behind the curtain and treat your tastebuds.
Munro Live
Munro Live has some of the best product teardown content on the internet and some very knowledgeable people. That being said, Sandy seems like a real piece of work and I will often skip videos where he's mostly the one presenting.
The Elements of Style
William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
The Elements of Style is a must read and is available online. It is an incredibly short read (~30 min to read and digest) but had made a substantial and lasting impact on my writing.
On Writing Well
William Zinsser
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction is the extended version of The Elements of Style and deserves a place on every bookshelf. In an age of slack, email, and reports, effective written communication has never been more important.
Draft No. 4
John McPhee
Draft No. 4 is a quick read from a master in the art of writing. The book couples sage writing advice with entertaining personal stories from McPhee's wide-ranging career.
The Holy Bible
The Holy Bible is the most influential book of all time and is most certainly worth a read. I find the New Living Translation to be very approachable.
The Memory Book
Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas
The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play is a collection of thoughtfully crafted systems for remembering everything from lists and sequences of numbers to playing cards and appointments. The most valuable tricks are the Link and their phonetic alphabet for remembering numbers (noted in the highlights section). The Link is simply the focused strategy of using some memorable aspect of one item to remember another. As long as items are "linked", it is very easy to remember one item given the other. Creating long chains of links allows lists and sequences to be memorized easily. The trick for remembering sequences of numbers is to convert all numbers into different consonant sounds which can then be interspersed in with vowels of your choosing to create sentences that are easy to remember. While both of these strategies can simultaneously seem so simple and also so useless, some experimentation will show that lots of creativity is required and more creativity makes them even more powerful! Enjoy seeing the world in a new whimsical light!
Highlights
- 1 = t or d. A small t has one downstroke.
- 2 = n. A small n has two downstrokes.
- 3 = m. A small m has three downstrokes.
- 4 = r. The word four ends with an r.
- 5 = l. The five outstretched fingers create an l.
- 6 = j, sh, ch, soft g. A 6 and capital j are mirror images.
- 7 = k, hard c, hard g. You can make a k with two 7s.
- 8 = f, v, ph. An 8 and cursive f look similar.
- 9 = p, b. A 9 and p are mirror images.
- 0 = z, s, soft c. The first sound in the word zero is z.
The Inner Game of Tennis
W. Timothy Gallwey
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance is an unexpectedly deep book about the inner conflicts within ourselves that cause our best intentions to work against us. While specifically about understanding oneself in relation to tennis, Gallwey frequently reminds readers of the far ranging benefits of improving the relationships between Self 1, the analytical conscious self, and Self 2, the intuitive "do-er".
Highlights
- "To test this theory is simple... The next time your opponent is having a hot streak, simply ask him as you switch court, 'Say, George, what are you doing so differently that's making your forehand so good today?' If he takes the bait - and 95 percent will - and begins to think about how he's swinging, telling you how he''s really meeting the ball out in front, keeping his wrist firm and following through better, his streak invariably will end. He will lose his timing and fluidity as he tries to repeat what he has just told you he was doing so well."
- "[T]he first major postulate of the Inner Game: within each player the kind of relationship that exists between Self 1 and Self 2 is the prime factor in determining one's ability to translate his knowledge of technique into effective action. In other words, the key to better tennis - or better anything - lies in improving the relationship between the conscious teller, Self1, and the natural capabilities of Self 2."
- "As a result, what usually happens is that these self-judgments become self-fulfilling prophecies. That is, they are communications from Self 1 about Self 2 which , after being repeated often enough, become rigidified into expectations or even convictions about Self 2... In short, you start to become what you think."
- "The first step is to see your strokes as they are."
- "It is impossible to judge one event as positive without seeing other events as not positive or as negative. There is no way to stop just the negative side of the judgmental process. To see your strokes as they are, there is no need to attribute goodness or badness to them. The same goes for the results of your strokes."
- "The first inner skill to be developed in the Inner Game is that of nonjudgmental awareness. When we 'unlearn' judgment we discover, usually with some surprise, that we don't need the motivation of a reformer to change our 'bad' habits. We may simple need to be more aware."
- "[T]he native tongue of Self 2 is imagery: sensory images. Movements are learned through visual and feeling images. So the three methods of communicating I will discuss all involve sending goal-oriented messages to Self 2 by images and 'feelmages'."
- "[T]he less fear and doubt are embedded in the instructional process, the easier it will be to take the natural steps of learning."
- "It is much more difficult o break a habit when there is no adequate replacement for it."
- "It is perplexing to wonder why we ever leave the here and now. Here and now are the only place and time when one ever enjoys himself or accomplishes anything. Most of our suffering takes place when we allow our minds to image the future or mull over the past."
- "In tennis who is it that provides a person with the obstacles he needs in order to experience his highest limits? His opponent, of course! Then is your opponent a friend or an enemy? He is a friend to the extent that he does his best to make things difficult for you."
- "A very wise person once told me, 'When it comes to overcoming obstacles, there are three kinds of people. The first kind sees most obstacles as insurmountable and walks away. The second kind sees an obstacle and says I can overcome it, and starts to dig under, climb over, or blast through it. The third type of person, before deciding to overcome the obstacle, tries to find a viewpoint where what is on the other side of the obstacle can be seen. Then, only if the reward is worth the effort, does he attempt to overcome the obstacle.'"
- "It is helpful to realize that whereas our external goals are many and various and require the learning of many skills to achieve them, the inner obstacles come from only one source and the skills needed to overcome them remain constant. Until subdued, Self 1 is capable of producing fears, doubts and delusions wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Focus in tennis is fundamentally no different from the focus needed to perform any task or even to enjoy a symphony; learning to let go of the habit of judging yourself on the basis of your backhand is no different from forgetting the habit of judging your child or boss and learning to welcome obstacles in competition automatically increases one's ability to find advantage in all the difficulties one meets in the course of one's life. Hence, every inner gain applies immediately and automatically to the full range of ones activities. This is why it is worthwhile to pay some attention to the inner game."
40 Favorite Interview Questions from Some of the Sharpest Folks We Know
First Round Review
Good interview questions are the start to building a great team and 40 Favorite Interview Questions from Some of the Sharpest Folks We Know was a great compilation of thoughtful questions spanning all different areas.
Highlights
- What do you want to do differently in your next role?
- Imagine yourself in three years. What do you hope will be different about you then compared to now?
- For the last few companies you've been at, take me through: (i) When you left, why did you leave? (ii) When you joined the next one, why did you choose it?
- Among the people you've worked with, who do you admire and why?
- Tell me about a time you took unexpected initiative. Follow-up: Can you tell me about another?
- What’s something great about your current or previous job? Why?
- What motivates you to work?
- Looking back on the last five years of your career, what’s the highlight?
- What are you really good at, but never want to do anymore?
- What’s the difference between someone who’s great in your role versus someone who’s outstanding?
- How did you prepare for this interview?
- What do you believe you can achieve with us personally or professionally that you can't anywhere else in the world?
- What are the three most important characteristics of this function? How would you stack rank yourself from strongest to least developed among these traits?
- Tell me about your ideal next role. What characteristics does it have from a responsibility, team, and company culture perspective? What characteristics does it not have?
- It's September 5, 2020. What impact on the business have you made in the year since you’ve joined?
- Tell me about a time you strongly disagreed with your manager. What did you do to convince him or her that you were right? What ultimately happened?
- Tell me about the best and worst bosses you’ve ever had, specifically, in your career. What was the difference?
- What's one part of your previous company's culture that you hope to bring to your next one? What one part do you hope to not find?
- When was the last time you changed your mind about something important?
- What's the most important thing you've learned from a peer and how have you used that lesson in your day-to-day life?
- Tell me about a time you really screwed something up. How did you handle it and how did you address the mistake?
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake or failed at something. What did you learn from this experience? Can you give me two other examples?
- When have you felt the lowest in your career? Did you realize how you felt in the moment? How did you respond?
- What’s one misconception your coworkers have about you?
- What are you better at than most anyone else? What’s your superpower and how will you leverage that to make an impact at this company?
- If I were to go and speak to people who don't think very highly of you, what would they say?
- What’s one critical piece of feedback you’ve received that was really difficult to hear? Why was it difficult and what did you do with that information? What did you learn about yourself?
- Find a way to give the candidate feedback in the interview.
- What was the last thing you nerded out on?
- What are some things outside of work that you’re irrationally passionate about?
- What’s the first job you had, that's not on your resume, and what did you learn from that experience?
- Why shouldn't we hire you?
- What should our team be doing differently that could yield 10x improvement?
- Teach me something.
- If you were to take over as CEO of your current company tomorrow, and had to increase your company's current rate of growth, what three areas you would invest in?
- How would you build a product for people who are looking for an apartment?
- What are 10 ways to speed up Domino’s pizza delivery?
- What can I tell you about working here?
- If you were in my shoes, what attributes would you look for in hiring for this role?
- What have I not asked you that I should have?
The Master Plan of Evangelism
Dr. Robert E. Coleman
Well worth the read given the short length; especially for Christians. Coleman identifies a number of patterns used in Jesus's ministry that (it seems) would be beneficial to adopt today when trying to create a social movement. Though initially I was skeptical of its utility given the initial publishing date of 1963, but I'm again reminded that people are people.
Highlights
- Jesus focused on a small group of people. Over time, he focused on fewer rather than more.
- Rather than having a defined curriculum, Jesus spent all of his time with his disciples. It's likely that they learned by association before they could verbalize.
- Jesus demanded self-denial and obiedience rather than a do-as-you-please complacency.
- We must be prepared to teach with our actions in addition to words as Jesus did.
- Jesus gave concrete assignments to his disciples to help them in their evangelism.
Good to Great
Jim Collins
In Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't, Jim Collins takes a very data-driven approach to understanding why some companies transition from "good" to "great". In some ways, the major points of this book are self-evident, but it's certainly nice to have some stronger evidence from a field as dynamic as business. The real value of this book lies in the anecdotes that bring these somewhat self-evident truths to life in sometimes unexpected ways. Well written and easy to digest.
Highlights
- Every Good to Great company had level 5 leadership during the pivotal transition years. Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.
- The team is a key factor in a successful venture. One should not overlook the importance of getting rid of the wrong people! The comparison companies frequently used a "genius with a thousand helpers" model. Three practical words of advice: when in doubt, keep looking; when you know you need to make a change, act; and put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.
- Confronting the brutal facts is an important part of going from Good to Great. Lead with questions, engage in dialogue and debate, conduct autopsies, and build mechanisms for turning information into insight.
- The Good to Great companies found their "Hedgehog Concept", the intersection of what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, and what drives your economic engine.
- The Good to Great companies built a culture of discipline. This required balancing a consistent system with the ability to give people freedom and responsibility within that system.
- The Good to Great companies had technological accelerators that accelerated, but did not create, their momentum.
Impro - Improvisation and the Theatre
Keith Johnstone
In Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, Keith Johnstone offers a thought provoking introduction to his approach to improvisation. I'm very new to this subject, and so cannot speak to the direct quality of the material, but I will say that Johnstone has forever changed how I percieve myself and the world around me. The book itself is quite short, so I'd strongly recommend a read.
Highlights
- "As I grew up, everything started getting grey and dull. I could still remember the amazing intensity of the world I lived in as a child, but I thought the dulling of perception was an inevitable consequence of age – just as the lens of the eye is bound gradually dim. I didn’t understand that clarity is in the mind... I have since found tricks they can make the world blaze up again in about 15 seconds, and the effects last for hours."
- A fun way to analyze all types of interactions is through the lens of status. Try to see how all actions, remarks, and reactions relate to the status "see-saw" among the participants. There is a great deal of humor, it turns out, that is merely a play on status dynamics.
- "Many teachers think of children as immature adults. It might lead to better and more 'respectful' teaching if we thought of adults as atrophied children. Many 'well adjusted' adults are bitter, uncreative, frightened, unimaginative, and rather hostile people. Instead of assuming they were born that way, or that that's what being an adult entails, we might consider them as people damaged by their education and upbringing."
- "Many teachers express surprise at the switch-off that occurs at puberty, but I don't, because first of all the child has to hide the sexual turmoil he's in, and secondly the grown-ups' attitude to him completely changes. Suppose an eight-year-old writes a story about being chased down a mouse-hole by a monstrous spider. It'll be perceived as 'childish' and no one will worry. If he writes the same story when he's fourteen it may be taken as a sign of mental abnormality." It's this "pre-processing" that hides our creativity. Rather than being able to imagine freely, we have trained ourselves to question and filter before sharing. This happens even subconsciously where many people today aren't even aware of their initial thoughts, rather, they are only privy to those that pass the initial filter.
- If someone is having difficult creating a story, you can help them by providing a prompt such as the following example from the book:
"Imagine a man walking along the street. Suddenly he hears a sound and turns to see something moving in a doorway. What is the man wearing?"
"A suit."
"What sort of suit?"
"Striped."
"Any other people in the street?"
"A white dog."
"What was the street like"?"
"It was a London street. Working-class. Some of the buildings have been demolished."
And so on the conversation goes.
- "Blocking" and "Accepting" are better descriptions for the common practice of "yes-ing" someone to continue a scene. Note that there are many way to block and accept beyond just "yes" and "no".
- "An inexperienced improviser gets annoyed because his partners misunderstand him. He holds out his hand to see if it's raining, and his partner shakes it an says 'Pleased to meet you'."
- When improvising a narrative, one must only worry about the past. Events that do not self-relate do not constitute a story, so really all one must do is to examine the past of the scene and provide space for the future.
- To create a narrative follow these rules: interrupt a routine; keep the action onstage; don't get diverted on to an action that has happened elsewhere, or at some other time; don't cancel the story.
Stuff I Like
Checklists
We humans aren't good at remembering complete lists of things. Accept your humanity, use checklists.
I make a new checklist any time I've realized that I've forgotten something. I just note all of the things I needed to remember and then add the list to my collection of checklists, a plain text file I keep in Dropbox. Digital is best as it is accessible everywhere and cannot be ruined by a slosh of tea.
Opinel No. 7 Carbon Pocket Knife
The Opinel No. 7 Carbon is my favorite pocket knife. It's a beautiful, functional, and affortable item that brings me joy every time I pull it out. The carbon-steel version is my favorite and holds an incredible edge, but the stainless steel version is likely a better pick for most.
Video Speed Controller Extension
The Video Speed Controller extension for Google Chrome is an awesome productivity tool and allows fine-grained control over the playback speed of videos online. I particularly love the ability to use a single keypress to toggle between the default speed (1x) and a custom speed (3x in my case). As more and more information is only available online in video format, this is becoming more and more useful.
Electric Toothbrushes
Everyone should use an electric toothbrush. In 2017 I bought an Oral-B 1000 electric toothbrush for ~$40 and was blown away by the difference it made. You use it every day; it's worth the investment. After the intitial purchase, I've bought the knockoff replacement heads without noticing a difference.
Dyson Cordless Vacuum
The Dyson Cordless Vacuum isn't a vacuum, it's a totally new type of cleaning product. A vacuum cleaner is a cumbersome appliance useful only when attempts to keep things "clean enough" have failed. The Dyson Cordless Vacuum is a satisfying eraser for household entropy.