The quiet work behind a good software

I’m writing from my experience as a design and frontend engineer who has built products. What interests me is how the decisions behind a product shape people’s experience of it.

Speed, quality, and AI

I think a lot about the relationship between speed and quality in the AI era.

Speed matters, especially at an early stage company. You need to test assumptions, learn from users, and discard things that don’t work. Being able to do that quickly is valuable.

But when someone says, “We built this feature in a day,” with pride I wonder who that message is for. Other builders might hear an impressive feat. But I wonder how that sentence sounds to the person using the product. If they trust you with their work, their privacy, or their data, does it reassure them? Or does it make them wonder what you had time to consider?

Shipping a feature is only part of the work. Moving faster and shipping more does not automatically mean the product is getting better. Quality takes enough time to care about how something works for the person using it.

Then there is trust, which is much harder to measure than shipping velocity. It takes a long time and a great deal of effort to earn. Maintaining it is a daily responsibility. Once fumbled, I’m not sure you can ever fully regain it.

The details people feel

There are three products that changed the way I look at software - Arc browser, Cron (now Notion Calendar), and Linear. I used all three daily, for different parts of my life.

Arc was one of the first products that made me consciously think software could have taste. Before it, I mostly judged software by whether it worked well. Arc made me pay attention to how it felt. It questioned assumptions browsers had carried for years, had a personality of its own, and included interactions that seemed to exist because somebody cared enough to make them delightful. Some experiments worked better than others. I loved the idea and execution.

Later, Linear became another product I developed enormous respect for. It's visible in the interactions, the speed, typography, keyboard shortcuts, transitions, copy, restraint, and the way things behave in small edge cases. Cron made an ordinary part of my day feel considered, too. These products showcase empathy, care, and quality in ways that are sometimes difficult to articulate individually but very easy to feel collectively. Together, they changed what I expect software to feel like.

Small details take time to build. People may not point them out, but they add up to the experience of using a product. Sometimes you notice them most when you try another product where they’re missing.

Taste needs attention, and attention needs time. It’s hard to develop either when every free hour has to be “productive.” Looking at things, reading, wandering, and making something without an end goal are part of how we learn to see.

The people behind the product

I believe building a company is hard, even with AI assistance. The people still make the difference, people who are resourceful and creative, who think for themselves, work hard, and act with integrity.

People skills matter here, too. You have to listen, understand what someone needs, and care about the outcome after the feature has shipped. That care shows up in the product. Over time, it’s what gives people a reason to trust you and come back.