Hathaway Field NotesA systems-level look at technology and the world.https://hathaway.engineer/The engagement trap: why social platforms can't self-correcthttps://hathaway.engineer/notes/feedback-loops-in-social-media/https://hathaway.engineer/notes/feedback-loops-in-social-media/Social media platforms are locked in a structural feedback loop that makes meaningful reform nearly impossible without external forcing functions.Sun, 01 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTfeedback loopsreinforcing loopslocal vs global optimizationincentive alignmentAnatomy of a cancellation flow: how friction becomes revenuehttps://hathaway.engineer/notes/dark-pattern-anatomy/https://hathaway.engineer/notes/dark-pattern-anatomy/Breaking down the 7-step cancellation flow that turns user intent into retained subscriptions.Sat, 10 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTfriction as revenuelocal vs global optimizationdark patternsStripe's pricing page is a masterclass in reducing decision frictionhttps://hathaway.engineer/notes/stripe-pricing-table/https://hathaway.engineer/notes/stripe-pricing-table/How Stripe collapses a complex product matrix into a page that makes the 'right' choice feel obvious.Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTfriction reductionprogressive disclosureland and expandOpenAI's real moat is enterprise inertia, not model qualityhttps://hathaway.engineer/notes/openai-enterprise-moat/https://hathaway.engineer/notes/openai-enterprise-moat/The race isn't about who has the best model. It's about who gets embedded in the most workflows first.Tue, 02 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTswitching costsland and expandfirst-mover advantageThe Vision Pro's real problem isn't price — it's social frictionhttps://hathaway.engineer/notes/apple-vision-pro-friction/https://hathaway.engineer/notes/apple-vision-pro-friction/Wearing a face computer in public creates a social cost that no amount of engineering can optimize away.Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMTsocial frictionlocal vs global optimizationReview: Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadowshttps://hathaway.engineer/notes/thinking-in-systems-review/https://hathaway.engineer/notes/thinking-in-systems-review/Still the best primer on systems thinking 16 years after publication. Required reading for anyone building products that interact with human behavior.Mon, 20 May 2024 00:00:00 GMTfeedback loopsleverage pointsstocks and flows