Hello there! You're reading Simpler Machines, a newsletter about making software, that right now goes out whenever I can't stop myself from writing.

If you wish I was writing here more, there are two things you should check out, from my partner, Jesse Alford. If you like this newsletter you'll likely also find his work valuable – we have very different styles, but a lot of overlap in the topics we work on.

He's just started a newsletter, nonlinear.garden. He's writing about making software, and especially about the "deciding what to work on next" parts of making software. Planning, iterating, writing stories, managing distractions – project management, but also in-the-moment personal attention management. He and I share a belief that doing this effectively is one of the main differences between "teams that ship software" and "teams that don't ship."

His other big project is a podcast, called Radio Free XP. He and Tony Hansmann interview Pivots (defined broadly) and people who are interesting to Pivots. For instance, a few months ago they interviewed David Marquet, the author of Turn the Ship Around. Mainly though they're talking to people who pair about collaboration, leadership, and what made Pivotal special.

Oh, and if you're in the mood for even more to read, I've got an official recommendations page up now, using the fancy new(ish) Ghost feature.