Thread by @astralwave

There seems to be 3 primary trends in this new breed of productivity tools:

💎Luxury: @Superhuman, @linear_app. Your time is precious!

⚖️Egalitarian: @NotionHQ, @figmadesign, @MiroHQ. Work is better, together.

🔪Brutalist: @RoamResearch, @coda_hq. No pain, no gain.

(Thread)

💎Luxury apps are the favorite of the time-poor, cash-rich, attention-deficit multitaskers who need to get to Inbox Zero or they will drown in info overload and can’t “get shit done” anymore.

⚖️Egalitarian apps are like the libraries and parks of the Web, they are everywhere and you feel welcome. Inspired by “multiplayer” games, but they are deeply collaborative instead of competitive.

Anyone can benefit from using them. But because of that, there is no “edge”.

Which brings us to 🔪 Brutalist apps.

They appeal to those who are time-rich, and are willing to jump through various hoops in order to squeeze out every ounce of power from what’s possible.

This gives them an “edge”, not unlike enduring terrible music festivals to look cool.

The audience for each overlap and might use all 3 depending on situation.

For example, if you are time-poor, it might make sense to pay (with cash) for 💎 luxury and also pay (with pain & suffering) to learn the esoteric ways of a 🔪 brutalist interface.

Of the 3, ⚖️ egalitarian software seems to be the most interesting.

Take @figmadesign and @NotionHQ for instance. Like 🔪 brutalist software, you can learn its ways and become extremely powerful.

But the barrier to entry for any collaborator remains extremely low.

Also, like 💎 luxury software, ⚖️ egalitarian software saves time due to smart defaults.

If every team you work with uses it, eventually everyone builds natural mastery, and time is saved overall.

Win by cooperating, not by paying 💰 to win.

Working in tech can also skew your perception on the 💎Luxury & 🔪Brutalist categories.

⚖️Egalitarian software seems to be the winning strategy for now, if you want to play for keeps.

Why does this matter if you aren’t in the productivity tools space?

Every worker and entrepreneur is in the business of buying productivity tools.

It pays to know which ones will stick around.

The danger of picking a productivity tool you assume might give you an “edge” (going with the competitive 💎Luxury and 🔪Brutalist varieties) instead of those that tune into the zeitgeist, is that you work yourself into a corner with an app which will eventually be sunset.

If you’ve ever used Adobe Fireworks, Google Inbox, Mailbox, Nylas, Google Reader, Final Cut Pro 7, or an esoteric programming language, then you know how that feels.

Pick the wrong one, though, and in spheres like product management, entrepreneurship, and venture capital, you lose your competitive edge.

So perhaps a useful strategy is “strong tools, loosely held”.

Have an exit strategy.

Be ready to ditch any tool at the drop of a hat.

Have strong mental models for how to think and how to work. Don’t rely on tools as a crutch.

Always pick appropriate methods.

Tools are like guns, nukes, and troops. More doesn’t mean you’ll win a war.