There are books I forget after a few weeks.
Articles I save and never read again.
Technologies I use every day that disappear a few years later.
And then there are ideas.
They aren’t always the most important.
They aren’t always the most famous.
They’re simply the ones that keep coming back.
This page collects a few of them.
It doesn’t aim to be complete.
It probably never will.
The Disicio Worm
A short story by Stefano Benni, from Il bar sotto il mare.
I keep coming back to it because it reminds me that changing the meaning of something doesn’t always require changing everything.
Sometimes it’s enough to move a few words. Change a relationship.
Rearrange the order. Suddenly, a sentence, a story, or even a system begins to say something completely different.
Whenever I’m trying to understand a system, I think about that.
Before adding something new, I first look at how the existing pieces are arranged.
Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point and Outliers.
Not so much for their conclusions. For the way they show that complex phenomena can emerge from the interaction of seemingly insignificant details. They remind me that relationships are often more interesting than the elements they connect.
Orchestras
I still use them as a metaphor.
IEvery instrument has its own voice.
None is enough on its own.
Music begins when they start listening to one another.
It’s still the simplest way I know to describe a good system.
CSV
Probably the file format that has saved me the most time.
It’s simple.
Almost ordinary.
Maybe that’s exactly why it has lasted so long.
It reminds me that elegance rarely comes from complexity.
Word Is a ZIP File
A small discovery.
But enough to change the way I look at many tools.
Whenever something seems closed, it reminds me to ask whether I’m only looking at the surface.
Swimming
One of the few moments when I genuinely stop working.
And often the moment when the best ideas arrive.
Perhaps because I’ve stopped chasing them.
Reuse
I first learned about it through ecology.
I still apply it when designing systems.
Before building something new, I like to understand whether what I need already exists.
More often than not, the problem isn’t the tool.
It’s the way the tools relate to one another.
Simplicity
I don’t think of it as an aesthetic choice.
I think of it as a form of respect.
For people’s time.
For whoever will maintain the system.
For whoever comes next.
Good Questions
I still believe that a good question is often more valuable than a quick answer.
Almost every project I remember with real affection began the same way.
With a question that stayed with me long enough to make me look for an answer.
This page will never be finished.
Ideas have a curious habit.
They keep coming back.
And, every now and then, they still manage to change the way I see things.