Two lessons from this week at CMMN WLTH Studio:

1. You can just do things.

2. Increasing your surface area is unbeatable.

More below,

— Andy

Want to up your AI game? Try CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack.

A crafted selection of prompts for ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini that will elevate your creativity and save you time ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Unlock intuition for problem solving (2)People: Read this is even if you’re an early stage founder, or not. (3)Process: The dream sheet.

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and in your team meetings ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Unlock Your Intuition for Problem Solving

• Intuition vs. Insight: Intuition is your brain acting like a powerful computer matching an input to the best file in its huge database of experience. Insight is your brain acting like a lightbulb, connecting disparate knowledge points to illuminate a path that didn’t exist before.

• Applying intuition: Intuition is only the start of a deeper thinking process. Be aware of errors and ensure you back up ideas with further justification.

• Improving intuition: Cultivate quiet and stillness. Intuition often gets drowned out by noise and constant distraction.

Watch More

*People

If You’re An Early Stage Founder Read This

I featured, friend of CMMN WLTH, Dan Buteel’s AI startup a few months ago and continue to find his founder updates insightful, whether you are an early stage founder or not give them a read.

Chief Ting’s Signals

If You’re an Early-Stage Founder Read This

Hey everyone…

Read more

6 months ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Chief Ting

• You are the product: VCs aren’t doing you a favour - you’re offering them a chance to invest in something valuable: you and the business you’re building.

• Rejection is part of the game: At first it can feel crippling. BUT, in the no’s there’s as much value as the yes’s. Hear me out... They will make your strategy and communications much better.

• Transparency as a differentiator: Dan writes these updates to help other founders first but they also create a virtuous cycle of support and advocacy from the founder community. Increasing your surface area compounds.

Read More

*Process

The Harada Method

• The Harada Method of self improvement: Created by Takashi Harada, a former Japanese high school track and field coach. It is a structured system for self-development and goal achievement that emphasizes self-reliance, discipline, and aligning personal goals with a larger purpose.

• The Four Aspects of Life: It aims to harmonize and improve four areas of an individual’s life:

  • Spirit (Motivation, enthusiasm, belief)

  • Skills (Abilities, mastery)

  • Physical Condition (Health, energy)

  • Daily Life/Routines (Habits, consistency)

• Routine and Reflection: The method heavily relies on establishing new, positive daily routines and using a Daily Diary to track performance, reflect on actions, and foster continuous improvement.

See it in action

*Out of Office

Just increasing shareholder value over here.

Weekly Subscribers: 654 (+4) ⬆️

Open Rate: 55% ⬆️

As the temperature dips in the northern hemisphere there is no better time to get your head down and expand your thinking or learn a new skill.

More below,

— Andy

Want to up your AI game? Try CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack.

A crafted selection of prompts for ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini that will elevate your creativity and save you time ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Infinite possibilities in manufacturing (2)People: Be a captain (3)Process: How to remember everything you read

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and in your team meetings ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Polymorphic Moulding by Fyous

• Disrupting an old industry: Manufacturing is constrained by the time and cost of mould making. British innovator, Fyous (great name) is changing that with their “PolyMorphic” moulding technology.

• How it works: The shapeshifting mould is comprised of a plate with 50,000 densely packed, individually controlled pins. The result is a zero-waste process that takes minutes vs. days (3D printing) or weeks (CNC machining).

• Future potential: Going beyond custom footwear and orthotics and into production mould making for footwear, toys and complex, high turnover consumer goods.

Learn More

*People

Captaincy by Seth Godin

• “Captaincy”: A specific, high value type of leadership that transcends titles, management and entrepreneurship.

• Characteristics of the Captain: Takes responsibility, changes the outcome (of meetings), creates unexpected improvements, sets the tempo and leans into friction.

• Agnostic of organizational level: Captaincy is a skill and a choice, not an inherent talent or a job title.

Read More

*Process

How to Remember Everything You Read

• Active processing is essential for encoding new information: Effective recall requires you to actively engage with the material to create strong memory traces. Treat reading like a conversation, forcing your brain to process and rephrase ideas.

• Long-term memory relies on spacing and retrieval: To move knowledge into long-term memory, you must employ two scientifically proven techniques that capitalize on how your brain consolidates information 1. Spaced Repetition - repeated review of the material over increasing intervals. 2. Active Recall -

• True understanding is proving you can teach it: The highest-level of learning is synthesis which involves connecting and simplifying new ideas to make them practical. You haven’t truly mastered a concept until you can clearly explain it to someone else.

Read More

*Out of Office

Weekly Subscribers: 650 (+3) ⬆️

Open Rate: 55% ⬆️

An AI proof concept ↓

“Innovation comes ultimately from a diversity of perspectives. So when you combine ideas from different industries or different cultures, that’s when you have the best sense of developing groundbreaking ideas.”

- Frans Johansson

More below,

— Andy

Want to up your AI game? Try CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack.

A crafted selection of prompts for ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini that will elevate your creativity and save you time ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Happy Little Products (2)People: The edges of creativity (3)Process: Breaking the brain clock

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and in your team meetings ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Happy Little Products by Norbert Teston

• The author: I met Norbert early in my career at adidas and we worked together on some highly complex projects, including many industry “firsts”. Firsts that would never have been possible without his innovative approach to quality and compliance.

• Make it fun: Happy Little Products takes a topic that is traditionally not exciting, and often avoided, and makes it engaging and stimulating.

• Who is the book for?: Although it uses examples from the sports industry the concepts are applicable to any role that touches product. If you are a startup founder it is the easiest way to learn about the most critical failure point of your business.

Learn More

*People

Joshua Kushner - The New World by Jeremy Stern

• Creativity as an edge: Kushner’s taste and intuition give him an edge in an industry obsessed with spreadsheets and data.

• Avoid trying to appease others: People love you, then they hate you, then they love you again. Form your own beliefs and values and you will attract the people you want to surround yourself with.

• Maniacal conviction: Most VCs spread their bets widely. Willingness to go all-in on a few high-conviction ideas is a significant differentiator.

Read More

*Process

Creative Experiences and Brain Clocks

• Creative experiences may delay brain aging: Across all creative domains studied (tango dancers, musicians, visual artists, and video gamers) participants showed a delay in brain aging.

• Expertise vs. Learning: The higher the level of expertise and performance the greater the delay in brain age.

• Modifying the brain structure: Domain-free creativity is linked to reduced accelerated aging through underlying brain plasticity mechanisms that lead to a more efficient and better-coupled brain network organization, particularly strengthening connections in regions vulnerable to age.

Learn More

*Out of Office

French Illustrator Guy Billout’s reality.

Weekly Subscribers: 647 (+5) ⬆️

Open Rate: 55% ⬆️

In her 2010 TED talk, Jane McGonigal showed the audience a photo of a teenage gamer.

Eyes wide.

Nostrils flared.

Caught between apprehension and elation.

“This is a gamer who is on the verge of something called an EPIC WIN.”

Jane explains:

“An epic win is the moment someone discovers they're capable of, something they never imagined possible.”

McGonigal explains the principle in the context of computer games, but the same is true for physical products.

I've seen a beginner runner's face light-up when they discover they can maintain a pace that previously felt impossible.

Or a professional athlete push another rep because an innovative garment made them feel more powerful.

The moment of "I didn't think I could do that" transforms everything.

People buy products for the better version of themselves they reveal:

Run faster.

Jump higher.

Go further.

Innate human desires.

Most products deliver what people expect.

Few enable them to do what they didn't know they could.

If you’re stuck, or facing an important product decision, ignore the features.

Focus simply on what will make the consumer say:

“I didn’t think I could do that.”

Updating a few things and trying to get back on a regular schedule.

It’s never easy, but always worth it.

— Andy

Have you tried the CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack yet?

A crafted selection of prompts for ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini that will elevate your creativity and save you time ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Human centered design for breast cancer survivors (2)People: You are your job, choose wisely (3)Process: A worrying decline in reading.

If you learn something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and in your team meetings ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Ford SupportBelt - Reducing Discomfort for Mastectomy Patients

• Human Centered Design: More than 100k breast cancer patients have mastectomies every year. Post surgery, many can’t wear seatbelts properly due to pain or discomfort.

• Going beyond philanthropy: Ford has actively supported breast cancer charities for over 30 years. The SupportBelt is the first seat belt accessory designed by a U.S. automaker to help mastectomy patients travel comfortably on their road to recovery.

• Open Source: The accessory is offered free to mastectomy patients and open to license for other automakers to use.

Learn More

*People

Career Advice - Moxie Marlinspike (Founder of Signal)

• The concept of “Treyf”: Desire for a certain comfort is usually accompanied by a certain lifestyle. Example - First Class airline seats offer better legroom and champagne but most of the people in those seats are middle aged, tired and overweight. Lesson in there.

• Your job is not just something you do: It fundamentally changes who you are and shapes your values, worldview and how you interact with others. Choose wisely.

• Be a creator, not just a worker: Build something in a self-motivated and self-directed way. Start a side-hustle. It might turn into your main thing or, at a minimum, teach you new skills for your day job.

Read More

*Process

The Lamentable Decline of Reading

• Read 500 pages a day: I believe that reading is an investment that provides unlimited upside. When you meet someone who is well read you can immediately tell, they talk intelligently about a wide range of topics, they’re able to articulate complex topics and are usually excellent writers.

• Widening Gap: The proportion of people who never read books is growing fast but those who read regularly are spending more time doing so than 20 years ago.

• Make reading accessible: Don’t worry about how and where you read, just read something whether it’s a book, newspaper, kindle, on your phone. Reading is a skill that needs to be cultivated.

• Here’s a great book list to get you started.

Read More

*Out of Office

"Youth is not a time of life, it's a state of mind.

It is not rosy cheeks, it is not red lips

It is a matter of will."

Weekly Subscribers: 642 (-5) ⬆️

Open Rate: 50% ⬆️

Great week to be an optimist.

More industry defining innovation below,

— Andy

Have you tried the CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack yet?

A crafted selection of prompts for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that will increase your creativity and save you hours ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Solving the sonic boom (2)People: A wandering mind is an unhappy one (3)Process: Leverage history for high performance.

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and in your team meetings ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Boom Aero - Democratizing Supersonic Flight

• Boom Aero’s mission is to make the world more accessible through supersonic flight: Picking up where Concorde left off, Boom Aero’s vision is to reduce global flight time by creating an efficient supersonic aircraft that can be operated by existing airlines.

• Solving the sonic boom: Instead of focusing on sonic boom reduction Boom Aero took a pragmatic, operational approach starting with the physics. Leveraging a phenomenon called mach cutoff the loud boom associated with supersonic speeds is refracted in the atmosphere.

• Sustainable innovation: Not Concorde 2.0. Their commercial passenger plan is being developed with a strong emphasis on efficiency and sustainability, designed to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuels.

Learn More

*People

A Wandering Mind Is An Unhappy Mind

• What you're thinking is a better predictor of happiness than what you're doing: Instead of focusing on quickly getting through a boring task to get to more "interesting" work, try to bring your full attention to the task at hand.

• Pleasant daydreams don't make you happier than being focused: Contrary to popular belief daydreaming about something pleasant like an upcoming vacation is not actually a good way to boost your mood.

• A wandering mind is more likely the cause, not the result, of unhappiness: A time-lag analysis showed that mind-wandering at one moment predicted unhappiness in the next, but unhappiness in one moment did not predict mind-wandering in the next.

Read More

*Process

David Senra (Founders Podcast) on What Makes High Performers

• Learn from both the upside and downfalls: Try to capture the upside and avoid the deep intellectual and moral failings of high performers who are often tortured geniuses.

• Use history as leverage: Human nature is remarkably constant. By reading biographies recurring themes will emerge which you can learn from and apply in your own life and work.

• How to filter podcasts worth listening to: Spotify made the mistake of signing celebrities to host podcasts about subject matter they don’t deeply care about. People want to listen to authentic interest and passion.

Read More

*Out of Office

True.

Weekly Subscribers: 647 (+10) ⬆️

Open Rate: 49% ⬇️

Last week I opened access to V1 of the CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack. A crafted selection of prompts for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that will increase your creativity and save you hours.

Thanks to everyone who sent me feedback and shared it on social, internal slack channels or forwarded it to your closest collaborators.

I will be adding a few additional prompts this week.

If you haven’t tried it yet, link below ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Listening to your inner signals and taking a leap of faith (2)People: John Cleese on Creativity (3)Process: AI Prompts to make you better at what you do.

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and in your team meetings ↓

– Andy

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Meet - Ting - Founder Dan Bulteel

• Dan Bulteel, friend of CMMN WLTH, has taken the leap into entrepreneurship; launching an AI assistant that can book meetings by cc’ing it on your e-mails. No links, no apps, zero friction. Dan’s inspirational story here.

• Make your mission a rallying cry: Ting’s mission - “Take down Calendly” is antagonistic but relatable to consumer’s who are tired of the incumbent.

• Sign up for the waitlist here.

Learn More

*People

Creativity in Management - John Cleese

• Creativity is not an ability that you either have or don’t have: Higher IQ doesn’t mean higher creativity. Donald Mackinnon, a researcher at The Institute of Personality Assessment & Research found that those who were most creative had acquired a facility for getting themselves into a particular “mood”.

• An ability to play: The most creative people find a mood that is “childlike”.

• The 5 conditions that enable creativity: Space, Time, Confidence, and Humor. Cultivate a space that is quiet, undisturbed and away from daily pressures. Use humor to transition from the closed to an open model; encourage playfulness.

Watch More

*Process

CMMN WLTH AI Prompt Pack

• “AI Fluency” is becoming a meta-competency: Zapier’s CEO outlined a definition of AI Fluency which (I believe) is coming to all industries and roles within the next 12 months.

• Working theory: AI isn’t coming for jobs, it’s enabling individuals to do more jobs. Individuals with AI Fluency will thrive. True for both consultants and corporate employees.

• CMMN WLTH AI Prompt Pack: A tried and tested selection of high powered prompts for Marketers, Designers and Managers.

  Access below ↓

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

*Out of Office

Artist’s impression of writing a newsletter.

Weekly Subscribers: 637 (+6) ⬆️

Open Rate: 57% ⬆️

I’ve been quietly building something a lot of you have been asking for.

An AI prompt library designed specifically for enhancing creativity and getting more work done.

The CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack isn’t another collection of generic ChatGPT templates.

It’s a carefully crafted and tested library of prompts to help marketers, designers, PMs and developers elevate your product creation & creative direction and help you with strategic thinking & team development.

Over the next 12 months I expect “AI Fluency” to become a prerequisite in almost all industries and roles.

While most people are still using Chat GPT like Google Search, leveraging the power of AI in your day-to-day work will put you ahead of 99% of your peers.

Barely a week goes by without a new AI-powered application or feature emerging, which can be intimidating.

My goal here is to offer some basic prompts that you can immediately integrate into your day to day workflow and more advanced, deep-thinking prompts that will take your creativity, research and ideation to the next level.

The first 10 prompts focus on:

🎮 Product & Marketing

• Product strategy and roadmapping

• Creative strategy and concept development

• Analyze consumer feedback and identify insights

💭 Process

• Competitive research and analysis

• Role play a disruptive brand strategist

• Take the guesswork out of product naming

🕴🏻People

• Team alignment and decision making.

• Brainstorming and ideation.

• Know the best thing on the menu at the team dinner (most important!)

CMMN WLTH Prompt Pack

The Art & Science of Prompting

I’ve spent countless hours testing prompts with the major Large Language Models (LLMs); Chat GPT, Claude and Gemini and can guarantee you’ll be surprised by the exponential increase in creativity, thinking and time savings.

Let me know how you get on and any other uses cases you need help with.

I’d appreciate if you would share this post with your closest collaborators by dropping it in your socials, slack channels or by simply forwarding this e-mail.

I’ve been busy working on something many of you have been asking for.

Will send on Sunday.

In the meantime:

(1)Product: Digital native to product IRL, (2)People: flipping the definition of success on its head (3)Process: confidence is developed in the gaps.

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your socials, slack feeds and team meetings ↓

– Andy

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Moumoujus - Fabio Basile

• Necessity, the mother of invention: born out of the desire to help his mum manage psoriasis, Fabio explored numerous formulations, avoiding harsh chemicals, fragrances and preservatives that can increase flare ups on sensitive skin.

• Benefit driven unique selling point: a proprietary formulation replaces 5-7 steps in a regular skincare routine. Reduces time, cost and ultimately waste.

• Positioning: Premium brand and ingredients without the premium price tag. Fabio focused on making the product accessible to a wide range of consumers.

Learn More

*People

Flouder Mode - Kevin Kelly

• Greatness is overrated: many of the traditional heroes were “jerks”. When greatness is taken to the extreme it’s difficult to stay level headed.

• Finding joy: making an impact doesn’t have to be devoid of pleasure, ego driven or pain and suffering.

• Pursue interests: working in line with your interests doesn’t feel like work. Waking up in the middle of the night because you care about something is better than insomnia induced by anxiety.

Read More

*Process

Confidence Isn’t Built in the Game, It’s Built in the Gaps - Alex Auerbach

• The importance of recovery: recovery is as much mental as it is physical. Athletes use “confidence resumes”, lists of past successes, which act as tangible reminders of their capabilities.

• Focus on process, not destination: confidence is built over time through consistent effort, reflection and adaptability.

• Routine: develop a repeatable routine that you can fall back on when the pressure of competition is on.

Read More

*Out of Office

Incredible week for the optimists.

Weekly Subscribers: 632 (+13) ⬆️

Open Rate: 56% ⬆️

“The Fontainebleau forest in spring” - a crisp, energizing, full of possibility environment.

The full talk and my observations from it in action below ↓

Much has been written about the stagnation of product innovation and newness since the pandemic.

Uncertainty let “Professional Leadership” infiltrate creative teams, bringing with it the four c’s:

Constraint, Compliance, Control, Contract.

Strategy became a box of limitations rather than an enabler of possibilities.

Systems were created to monitor instead of accelerate.

Every decision (large and small) required approval.

Innovation died in committee.

Exceptional creative cultures operate from the antitheses of the four c’s:

Stretch, Discipline, Support, Trust.

Stretch means setting ambitious goals that push people forward rather than constraints that hold them back. Not "stay within these boundaries" but "here's the mountain we're climbing together."

Discipline over compliance. Teams develop internal standards that exceed external requirements. Self-governance becomes stronger than oversight.

Support transforms the leadership role entirely. A managers’ role is to remove obstacles, provide resources, and enable success. Not to control outcomes but to amplify capability.

Trust operates beyond contracts. When people know their peers will deliver, they take bigger creative risks. Safety comes from competence, not documentation.

Leadership isn't there to motivate creativity.

Its goal is to remove everything that kills it, creating conditions where creativity naturally emerges.

In this context people feel empowered, move faster, think bigger, care more deeply about their work.

Excellence feels inevitable.

The “smell of your place” determines whether your organization breathes or suffocates.

Over the last few years CMMN WLTH has gone from weekly to monthly and more recently “semi-regular”; or in other words: “whenever I feel like it”.

Which is ironic for a newsletter that provides advice on focus, consistency, deep work, creativity and so on.

These past few months however I have a new found optimism discovered in the research, practice and dialog that accompanies writing.

Thank you for reading, replying and sharing.

Your time and attention means a lot.

– Andy

Join the CMMN WLTH subscriber chat here.

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Product: Learning by doing, (2)People: IQ and EQ + AQ & (3)Process: Everything that is bad about art.

If you learned something useful, I’d appreciate if you shared CMMN WLTH on your feeds ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

*Product

Hanna Golf

• Risk taking: Founder Jared Doerfler worked as a sales executive and turned his side hustle, writing a golf focused newsletter, into a profession by bootstrapping a putter brand, Hanna Golf.

• Learning by doing: Jared had no manufacturing experience prior to buying and running the CNC machines he use to produce his putters. He not only invested in the machines but in learning how to operate and maintain them.

• The power of storytelling: By starting a newsletter Jared built a dedicated following on X. He now provides his audience an unfiltered view into the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship turning followers into supporters and customers.

See More

*People

Liz Tran - The ABCDs of Agility

• Exponential change: The difference between 1960 and 1980 was linear, between 2000 and 2020 advancements have been exponential. Capacity to adapt to change is more important than ever.

• The framework: ABCD - Anchors (people, places and routines that ground you in uneasy times), Bets (an action you take without knowing the outcome), Classroom (everything in life is a teachable moment) and Discomfort (a sign you’re growing, changing, pushing yourself).

• IQ, EQ + AQ: In addition to intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ), agility quotient (AQ) is a measure of a creatives ability to master change, uncertainty and the unknown.

Watch More

*Process

Everything That is Bad About Art by David Shrigley

• Pure pursuit of passion: When David graduated art school being a young artist in contemporary art wasn’t really a thing. His parents didn’t understand what he did or take his path particularly seriously.

• Focus on the work: 1. Don’t think about anything else, just think about the work. 2. Focus on the project (process) rather than the finished artwork.

• Find enjoyment: You’re on the right track if you’re excited about what you are doing.

Watch More

*Out of Office

Manifesting via Midjourney Video.

Weekly Subscribers: 618 (+7) ⬆️

Open Rate: 55% ⬇️

It can’t be taught in a classroom.

It’s not a framework or methodology.

You won’t find it in a Harvard Business School syllabus.

But, it’s the intangible quality that separates great product people from the good ones.

Consumers rarely articulate what they truly need.

Product Sense is the ability to know what will resonate before the data proves it.

It emerges from an obsession with human behavior.

It’s watching people struggle with everyday objects and understanding the problems they put up with, that they shouldn’t have to.

Product sense enables you to see beyond what they say they want to what they actually need.

The subtle indication that something doesn’t fit right. The micro-annoyance of a button that doesn’t click with clarity.

Signals that don’t show up on the analytics dashboards.

Product sense is having the agency to ignore the numbers when your gut tells you otherwise.

People who have it have a rare ability to synthesize incomplete information and make leaps others can’t. They make the call that seems wrong to everyone else but is inevitably right for the consumer.

In the space between what you think and what you know is where product sense is developed and where breakthroughs happen.

The mindset that creates transformative products relies on maintaining space for tension, not eliminating it.

Truly great product teams are comprised of exceptional individual contributors who thrive in a team environment.

A common trait in these individuals is their relationship with discomfort.

They don’t rush to consensus.

They deliberately embrace opposing viewpoints.

They understand that team conformity throttles advancement.

We’ve become obsessed with “alignment” and “getting along”. Feigning harmony for progress.

The most innovative teams understand the difference between psychological safety and intellectual fragility.

(The former enables advancement. The latter guarantees mediocrity)

Those building tomorrow's defining products aren't avoiding tension.

They're embracing it.

Breakthrough products emerge from the ruthless pursuit of results, not ideological adherence to process.

As a leader your job is to forgo obedience and allow your team to reshape and reimagine the creative direction you gave them.

What’s needed isn't more collaboration tools, but the courage to welcome the uncomfortable collisions where disruptive thinking happens.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Nothing truly game changing is created in a straight line.

Create an environment where ideas must survive contact with reality and a willingness to adapt to the world as it is.

Friction isn't a barrier to creativity, it’s the spark that ignites it.

Read more

The thing I love the most about creating products is the incessant tension between art and science.

The science deals in absolutes.

But historical data can’t predict the future.

The art is what separates good from great.

It’s the invisible decisions that deliver a feeling the consumer loves, but can’t describe.

That feeling is the product.

The science is safe, comfortable.

The art makes non-creative types uneasy.

And it’s your obligation to fight for it.

When you’re inevitably right don’t expect anyone to recognize why.

The dots only connect in hindsight.

Thank you for the feedback on Friday’s 🔮 Opinions Are Not Ideas.

It sounds like it struck a chord with many of you.

Building on the momentum, I thought now is as good a time as ever to launch CMMN WLTH subscriber chat.

It will serve as a central point for further discussion and hopefully create some likeminded connections for you.

My goal has always been to turn this into an infinite discussion on product, process and people (+how ai is changing it all).

Please drop some thoughts in there and let me know if you find it valuable.

In this week’s newsletter:

(1)Passions combine into a unique product proposition, (2)fighting bureaucracy with meritocracy and the (3)mundanity of excellence.

If you find CMMN WLTH useful, I’d appreciate if you shared it on your social media↓

Share CMMN WLTH

– Andy

*Product

District Vision - Where Passion & Product Intersect

• District Vision started as a creative agency (District Projects) which founders Tom Daly and Max Vallot parlayed into a successful eyewear and sportswear brand.

• Both founders were creatively frustrated while working in the fashion industry and were looking for an escape. Combining their passion for running and meditation resulted in a unique value proposition for the consumer.

• On distribution strategy - One of the first running brands to be stocked at high-end fashion retailers such as Mr Porter and SSENSE.

More

*People

Frank Slootman - Behavior is a Choice Not a Skill

• Not every business is the same. Be careful not to think that a proven formula or “playbook” will work elsewhere.

• Fight bureaucracy with meritocracy - judge ideas on their quality not on where or who they came from.

• Legacy is: helping people advance beyond their station and the way they feel in his organizations - “10 years from now they should feel like it’s the best thing they ever did”

Watch More

*Process

The Mundanity of Excellence - An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers

• Excellence requires qualitative not quantative differentiation. Increased training time, per se, does not make an athlete swim faster. Focus on quality vs. doing more of the same thing.

• Talent is indistinguishable from its effects. In reality, the amount of talent required for Olympic success is surprisingly low.

• Bigger, more dramatic motivations like winning an Olympic medal are only effective when broken down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Seeing friends, having fun, practice being rewarding are more effective in achieving longer term goals.

Read More

*Out of Office

A playlist I’m enjoying in the sun↓

*Editors note: Last week’s Out of Office highlighted the Make America Healthy Again report. The White House has subsequently noted that 7 of the 500 citations were inaccurate (The problematic citations were on topics around children’s screen time, medication use and anxiety.)

Weekly Subscribers: 610 (+13) ⬆️

Open Rate: 55% ⬇️

I've sat in countless design review meetings all over the world and the pattern is always the same.

Thirty experts around the table, dissecting someone else's work.

One particularly memorable occasion, I was participating in an early sketch review for what would become an iconic product, generating hundreds of millions of dollars.

Just as the designer concluded, without a breath, someone jumped in to point out three reasons it wouldn’t work.

We’re wired to see what is wrong before acknowledging what was right.

There are entire industries built around critique. Review sites, social media comments, star ratings, “would you like to stay on the line to take a brief survey?”

You’ve been trained to judge first, appreciate second.

I'm not suggesting we eliminate the feedback loop. Constructive input shapes good ideas into great ones.

But it has to respect the idea, not reduce it.

The creatives I admire most continually put themselves on the line.

They show work knowing it's imperfect. Instigating feedback.

Next time you're reviewing a prototype or a proposal, lead with curiosity instead of judgement.

Ask why certain choices were made - before suggesting alternatives.

We need more willingness to be vulnerable, to build things despite knowing that everyone, absolutely everyone, will have an opinion on it.

Creativity is fragile.

Criticism comes easy.

Focus is the secret equalizer.

Not talent.

Not 10,000 hours

Pure surrender to one thing.

In this week’s newsletter:

The art, science (and love) of design, a culture of maniacal focus and the most successful people find one thing they love and do it for an incredibly long time.

If you find CMMN WLTH useful, I’d appreciate if you shared it with your brightest friends and colleagues ↓

Share CMMN WLTH

– Andy

*Product

A Conversation with Jony Ive

• Jony describes the attention to detail he practiced designing elements as mundane as the headphone cable wrap. Why did he care? Because millions of people would experience it.

• Building an excellent team culture means inviting each other in. Once a month the apple design team would host dinners at their homes for the whole team.

• We shouldn’t be afraid of expert opinion. “That’s your opinion” is a cop out. You wouldn’t say the same thing to a surgeon.

Watch More

*People

PayPal Mafia Culture by Keith Rabois

• Contrary to most organizations, people were promoted based on their technical expertise. The best product person would run product, the best engineer, engineering.

• PayPal culture encouraged employees to challenge the top management. Not speaking up was considered worse than expressing your opinion. The ethos was - “come to work everyday willing to be fired”.

• David (Sacks) implemented an anti-meeting culture where any meeting that included more than 3-4 people was deemed highly suspect. Annual review forms included a direction to rate employees on not scheduling unnecessary meetings.

Read More

*Process

David Senra - The Focused Few on Invest Like the Best

• The people who are the best at what they do are completely focused, are not in a huge rush and they don’t set performative goals. They find something they love to do and do it for an incredibly long time.

• Charlie Munger quote: “I didn’t succeed in life because of intelligence, I succeeded because I have a long attention span”.

• Companies optimize for growth vs. durability because growth is easily measurable but durability is what really matters.

Listen More

*Out of Office

Put aside your political biases for a minute and read this:

• 1 in 5 American children are obese.

• Childhood cancer has risen by 40%.

• 85% of teens are considered inactive.

• The U.S. spends 2x on health vs. the next country.

• Over 40% of American children suffer from chronic disease.

The Make Our Children Healthy Again report is the first time the government has admitted and documented that there is a problem with chronic disease in the U.S. ↓

Read Report

Weekly Subscribers: 597 (+4) ⬆️

Open Rate: 61% ⬆️

I've experienced firsthand how the right name can catapult a product to success, while the wrong one can doom it before launch.

Product naming is psychology distilled into syllables.

Research shows that consumers form judgment on a product in 0.05 seconds; before they even understand features, benefits, or pricing.

This split-second impression creates a cognitive reaction that influences every subsequent interaction.

The most powerful names aren't just memorable, they serve as a compressor for the product’s value proposition.

Hard consonants (Casio, Kleenex) convey reliability, while softer sounds (Dove, Luna) trigger associations with gentleness and luxury.

Dyson

Thermos

Chapstick

The greatest names become shorthand for their category.

Choose wisely.

Instead of wasting hours and spending dollars, leverage ai to generate unique and compelling names by using the prompt below ↓

Read more

Ignore the headlines.

If you’re in a creative role, you’re not going to lose your job to an ai agent anytime soon.

But the game is changing fast.

The ai wave is here and those who know how to leverage it will thrive.

In CMMN WLTH 124 I shared my thoughts on why I believe millennials have a head start on Gen Z in the ai economy.

It struck a chord with many of you.

“Any ai masterclass you would recommend?”

My inbox was inundated with questions and requests for resources on the topic.

So I thought I would create one.

CMMN WLTH ai Field Guide

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype, but the real life applications are impossible to ignore.

You don’t need a degree in computer science, expensive software or a powerful computer to access some absolutely mind blowing technology.

Learning to leverage ai is one of, if not the, highest agency skills you can acquire right now.

From creating unique imagery for mood boards, building a personal workout plan to reviewing consumer insight data, used effectively ai applications will not only save you time but expand your thinking.

The techniques and tactics I describe below are based on extensive reading, research and many hours of trial and error.

I am by no means an expert, but I wanted to share what I’ve learned in the hope that it will help your process and workflow.

Contents

1. Definitions

2. Recommended ai Applications

3. Think Smarter Not Harder

4. Prompt Type Definitions

5. How To Write Effective Prompts

6. Prompt Examples

7. Conclusion

🪢 Definitions

Artificial Intelligence (ai) - The broad field of computer systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence. This includes recognizing images, creating images from text, understanding speech, making decisions and solving problems. Examples: Chat GPT, Midjourney, Claude, Kling.

Large Language Model (LLM) - A specific type of ai that focuses on understanding and generating human language. They are trained on vast amounts of text data and can write essays, answer questions, translate and have conversations. Examples: Chat GPT, Claude and Gemini.

This guide will focus on LLMs and the example prompts below will work with any LLM model. You will however see variances in output depending on which model you choose (e.g. Claude vs. Chat GPT).

📲 Recommended ai Applications

Claude (Free, $17/month)

My current preference.

Best for: Writing, editing and project work.

Chat GPT (Free, $20/month)

The best known and most popular LLM.

Best for: Writing, editing and project work

Notebook LM (Free)

Google AI research assistant that functions as a notebook.

Best for: Analyzing and summarizing large text files (essays, research papers, etc).

Gemini (Free, $19/month)

Google LLM that can integrate with Gmail, Workspace and Search.

Best for: Scientific and mathematical reasoning.

Midjourney ($10/month upwards)

ai image generator that generates high quality images from text.

Best for: Generating high quality and creative images using text prompts.

💭 Think Smarter Not Harder

Let’s start with a mental model that completely changed how I interact with ai:

What separates LLMs from search engines is the ability to use them as thought partners.

Once you start treating the LLM as a smart co-founder or colleague output value runs 100x.

How do you leverage this ability?

By learning how to structure the right questions and setting the right context ↓

🧂 Prompt Types

Prompts are the text inputs that you enter into dialogue box of the LLM.

Creating effective prompts is like baking a cake.

Develop a recipe by combining the right ingredients and modifiers (inputs) to get the result (output) you are looking for.

There are roughly 12 methods of prompting.

Below are the four that I use most frequently:

1. Zero Shot - Asking the ai to do something without showing it how first. Like asking someone to bake a cake without giving them a recipe.

2. One Shot / Few Shot - Give the ai examples before asking it to do a similar task. Like showing someone how you solved two math problems before asking them to solve a third one.

3. Role Based - Asking the ai to pretend it's someone specific (like a product manager or manufacturing VP) to get more specialized responses. Similar to asking a friend to "put on their lawyer hat" when giving advice.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

4. Chain-of-Thought - Asking the ai to think out loud and show its work. Like asking someone to explain each step while they're fixing your computer.

These can be used independently of each other or interchangeably throughout a dialogue with the LLM.

I provide some prompt examples below, but first lets learn how to write them in the most coherent and efficient way ↓

✍️ How to Write Effective Prompts

1. K.I.S.S. - “Keep It Simple Stupid”

Great prompting requires concise, clear and easy to understand writing. Focus on simple language, remove jargon and unnecessary information. Explain the task like you would to a new hire on your team.

This:

"Write a 300-word summary of climate change solutions that are being implemented today. Include examples of renewable energy, policy changes, and community initiatives. Use simple language that a high school student would understand."

Not:

"Analyze the current state of global warming and provide an extensive review of all possible solutions with exhaustive citations, references, and technical specifications, while ensuring comprehensive coverage of international policy frameworks dating back to 1992, and simultaneously addressing economic impacts across developed and developing nations without omitting any relevant statistical data points or scientific perspectives."

2. Be Specific

Ask for the exact output you are looking for and be as descriptive as possible. Vague requests will likely not produce the result you want.

Use instruction or constraints as the blueprint to your prompt. Clear blueprints produce better results.

• Instructions: Guides the model on what it should do. Use explicit details on the desired format, style, or content of the response.

• Constraints: Guides the model on what it should not do. A set of boundaries that make the output sharper.

Generally, instructions work better than constraints so focus on providing clear instructions vs. telling the LLM what not to do.

With that said, a constraint I use often is specifying a max. length. I use an exact word count or tailor it to tweet length or instagram caption.

This:

"Create a 5-day workout plan for building upper body strength. Format it as a table with columns for Day, Exercises (4 per day), Sets, and Reps. Include a mix of push and pull exercises, and add a brief note about proper form for each exercise."

Not that:

"I want to get stronger. Can you help me with some workout ideas? I'm thinking maybe focusing on my arms and chest area but I'm not really sure what I should be doing or how often."

3. Switch Roles

See yourself as the director and editor rather than the doer.

Don’t write an executive summary and ask ai to review it, ask it to draft one based on a strategy document, and use your time to tighten it up.

4. Don’t tell it what to do, ask how to do it

When you work with a co-founder or colleague the conversation flows between asking and answering questions. There is a creative friction where the best ideas emerge. See the LLM as a live partner. If you find yourself stuck on a problem spar and reason with it to get to a solution.

🎮 Example prompts

Below are some examples of prompts that I use in my daily workflow.

To use these yourself copy and paste the text into your LLM of choice.

Replace the text in < > and attach the documents you would like analyzed using the applications attach button or by copying and pasting the data manually.

Zero Shot:

Analyze the following consumer feedback data for <insert product or service>. Identify the top 3 concerns, categorize overall sentiment (positive, negative, neutral), and suggest two actionable improvements we could implement in the next iteration. Format your response as a concise executive summary followed by detailed findings that I can share with the design and manufacturing teams.

<Insert your actual customer feedback data here>

One Shot / Few Shot:

Analyze the following consumer feedback data for <insert product or service>. Identify the top 3 concerns, categorize overall sentiment (positive, negative, neutral), and suggest two actionable improvements we could implement in the next iteration. Format your response as a concise executive summary followed by detailed findings that I can share with the design and manufacturing teams.

Example analysis:

[Customer feedback data for another product e.g. water bottle]

"Love the concept but the lid leaks constantly."

"Too expensive for what you get."

"Beautiful design and I feel good using it."

Executive Summary:

Analysis of consumer feedback for our water bottle reveals mixed reception. While the sustainable design concept is appreciated, functional issues (leakage) and pricing concerns are hampering customer satisfaction. Two key improvement areas: redesign the lid seal mechanism and evaluate cost reduction opportunities.

Detailed Findings:

Top 3 Concerns:

1. Product functionality - Leak-prone lid (Negative)

2. Price point - Perceived as too expensive (Negative)

3. Design aesthetics - Appealing visual design (Positive)

Sentiment Analysis:

- Positive: 33% (appreciation for design and sustainability concept)

- Negative: 67% (functionality and price concerns)

- Neutral: 0%

Recommended Improvements:

1. Technical: Redesign lid seal mechanism with improved gasket material and conduct additional leak testing before release.

2. Business: Evaluate material or production costs to identify potential savings that could be passed to consumers, or better communicate value proposition to justify price point.

Now analyze the following feedback for <insert product or service>:

<Insert your actual customer feedback data here>

Role Based:

You are an experienced product development specialist with 15+ years in the consumer goods industry, specializing in <insert product or service>. Your background includes <specific expertise> and <specific expertise>.

Task: Review our consumer feedback data for <insert product or service>. Based on your expertise, identify the top 3 concerns, categorize sentiment (positive, negative, neutral), and suggest 2 actionable improvements we could implement in the next product iteration. Format your response as a concise executive summary followed by detailed findings that I can share with the design and manufacturing teams.

<Insert consumer feedback data for product or service>

Chain-of-Thought:

Analyze the following consumer feedback data for <insert product or service>.

Think through your analysis step by step:

1. First, read through all the feedback carefully and list each distinct concern or praise mentioned

2. Next, categorize each piece of feedback as positive, negative, or neutral

3. Then, identify patterns to determine the top 3 most frequently mentioned concerns

4. Calculate the overall sentiment distribution based on your categorization

5. Considering the concerns and sentiment, brainstorm potential improvements

6. Finally, select the 2 most impactful and feasible improvements to recommend

After working through these steps, identify the top 3 concerns, categorize sentiment (positive, negative, neutral), and suggest 2 actionable improvements we could implement in the next product iteration. Format your response as a concise executive summary followed by detailed findings that I can share with the design and manufacturing teams.

<Insert consumer feedback data here>

🔮 Conclusion

Search engines have us conditioned to fire questions at them and haphazardly unravel the results to reach a solution.

LLMs, on the other hand, have contextual understanding and conversational ability enabling you to work together to find solutions.

If you have a half baked idea → Discuss it

Stuck between options → Simulate it

Need another perspective → Challenge it

A few final thoughts:

• Validate: Outputs are not always accurate and LLMs are notably bad at math. Mistakes, called “hallucinations”, are currently one of the major challenges for all models. Always double check results.

• Experiment: Using the same prompts with different models (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT) will result in drastically different outputs. Test and experiment with different models and note the results.

• Share: Send your best prompts to your friends and colleagues (and me) and ask them for theirs.

If you learned something I’d appreciate if you’d share CMMN WLTH with your closest collaborators and hit the like button at the top.

Share CMMN WLTH

My inbox is always open for feedback, just reply directly to this email.

Thanks, as always, for your time and attention,

— Andy

Further Reading You Might Enjoy

⫹⫺ 8 Razors For Creatives

⫹⫺ The Smell Of The Place

⫹⫺ 100 Lessons From 100 Weeks of Writing