Engineered Eloquence

Choosing Technological Simplicity

My friend Nash has been killing it lately over on his site. He has brand new twin boys, so he has taken to what he is referring to as "microblogging":

I don’t have the time to think through longer blog posts anymore, so a quick paragraph is all I can show up with most days. I think of it like texting a friend — simple, about whatever’s on my mind. If you’ve wondered about the length, that’s why. Just a quick thought each day, then back to reality. Microblogging.

I have been using the service Micro.blog as a place for my posts to be shared since that service spun up,1 so the idea of microblogging isn't new and it isn't something that Nash is claiming credit for, but he and I also approach our sites differently, so I rarely microblog in the sense that he is using the term above.

Then, Nash hit me with this one:

It happens a lot — we overcomplicate things. I had lists and buckets spread across multiple apps. There are so many great apps that specialize in different ways to make lists, and I get excited about each of them. But now’s not the season for that.

I read that (and the rest of the post) and it hit me between the two: taking the time to think through, plan, and execute my longer-form posts is, in a word, complicated. The process is the journey for me and it is worth it, but it takes time and energy that I don't always have.

The crux of the posts were not actually about note-taking at all, but it struck a chord for me about choosing technologies for note-taking in today's hyper-technical landscape. Every platform has so many options that a person couldn't be blamed for constantly seeking out the best option(s), doing the structural meta-work and never getting to doing the actual work.

I originally conceptualized this post as a dive into the technologies around note-taking, but at this point, it feels like that would diminish the message of simplicity that Nash is espousing. That post will come soon enough, but for now, here's my message for the weekend:

Use the tools you already have and enjoy the journey.

  1. I would be remiss if I didn't note again that Micro.blog is a great service. It is independent Internet hosting at its finest: great features, great support, and as much (or as little) noise as you want. There are great people there, too, and as I noted last week, that is what makes social networks worth it. ↩