# Jon C. Phillips Articles about building products, growing audiences, and crafting experiences This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## How AI Tools Accelerate the Reward Loop of Building DevFeed: [How AI Tools Accelerate the Reward Loop of Building]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-09-07T02:54:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [Artificial Intelligence]() Tags: [ai](), [articles](), [audience-building](), [code](), [design](), [digital-products](), [music](), [no-natural-limit](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [side-projects](), [tokens](), [web-development]() ### AI overview The author argues that building has long been driven by an unpredictable reward loop, but AI tools have shortened the time from idea to working product, making that loop run faster and potentially changing the nature of the hobby. ### Source excerpt A friend and I were comparing. They'd done about 10 billion tokens in the same period and neither of us found that alarming, really. Which is probably the first thing worth noticing. And we probably all know people running way higher. ## Why Developer Feedback Failed to Validate a Photography Tool DevFeed: [Why Developer Feedback Failed to Validate a Photography Tool]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-08-31T02:08:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [App](), [test]() Tags: [app](), [articles](), [audience-building](), [code](), [design](), [developer](), [digital-products](), [evaluation](), [indie-hackers](), [launch](), [music](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [side-projects](), [the-wrong-room](), [web-development]() ### AI overview The author reflects on building a photography tool that received warm feedback from developers and technically inclined beta testers but underperformed with the broader photographer audience. The article argues that feedback from people in the builder's existing community can create a biased sample and obscure whether the product solves a problem for typical users. ### Source excerpt They told me it was clever and asked about the stack, and a few of them shared it around. The reception from other builders was warm in a way that felt like some sort of signal. ## Type The Repo Name DevFeed: [Type The Repo Name]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-08-24T01:11:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [GitHub](), [data]() Tags: [articles](), [audience-building](), [case-study](), [code](), [conversion](), [design](), [digital-products](), [github](), [music](), [photography](), [product](), [product-engineering](), [safety](), [side-projects](), [type-the-repo-name](), [web-development]() ### AI overview The article argues that reducing friction is beneficial for routine tasks but harmful when it removes protection, learning, or meaningful engagement. It recommends deliberately adding safeguards for irreversible actions, preserving effort in learning experiences, and making users care about outcomes. ### Source excerpt No click-to-confirm, no checkbox. You type the whole thing out character by character while a red button waits, and it's the most annoying interaction in the entire product. ## Nothing To See Here Yet DevFeed: [Nothing To See Here Yet]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-08-09T13:48:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [Software](), [dashboards](), [data](), [ibm]() Tags: [articles](), [audience-building](), [code](), [data](), [design](), [digital-products](), [ibm](), [music](), [nothing-to-see-here-yet](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [side-projects](), [software](), [web-development]() ### AI overview An experienced developer reflects on why products repeatedly ship poor empty states. The article argues that blank screens reduce confidence, hurt discoverability, and appear in many situations beyond a first login, including empty searches, filters, cleared task lists, and unused accounts. It calls for designing these states deliberately instead of focusing only on populated interfaces. ### Source excerpt Every product has a moment before it has any data in it, and almost nobody designs for that moment on purpose. This is about why that screen keeps shipping broken, and what a good one should actually look like. ## Learning to Wait Again DevFeed: [Learning to Wait Again]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-08-02T20:47:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [Code](), [Slack]() Tags: [articles](), [audience-building](), [code](), [design](), [digital-products](), [learning](), [learning-to-wait-again](), [music](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [productivity](), [research](), [side-projects](), [web-development]() ### AI overview A reflection on relearning patience in software development, where faster tools have removed the natural delays that once gave ideas time to evolve. The article argues that deliberate waiting supports better thinking when it follows focused work and involves mildly engaging activities such as walking. ### Source excerpt I'm not optimizing my rest so I can output more on the other side. I just noticed at some point this year that I'd stopped leaving any space between having an idea and doing something about it. ## Six Out of Ten DevFeed: [Six Out of Ten]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-07-27T00:58:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [dashboards](), [Server](), [Benchmark](), [Statistics](), [Artificial Intelligence]() Tags: [articles](), [audience-building](), [benchmarks](), [code](), [dashboards](), [design](), [digital-products](), [enterprise](), [marketing](), [music](), [newsletter](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [server](), [side-projects](), [six-out-of-ten](), [statistics](), [web-development]() ### AI overview The article explains why email delivery and deliverability are different metrics. It compares benchmark results, showing that messages accepted by receiving servers may still reach spam or disappear, and that outcomes vary by sender type, engagement, and measurement window. ### Source excerpt I've been sending email for over a decade. Across the newsletters I run we push roughly three million emails a quarter, every day, to lists in the tens of thousands. ## The Code You Didn't Write DevFeed: [The Code You Didn't Write]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-07-12T16:51:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [Code](), [JavaScript](), [payload](), [Back end](), [Blockchain](), [Resilience]() Tags: [analysis](), [articles](), [audience-building](), [backend](), [code](), [design](), [developers](), [digital-products](), [javascript](), [music](), [payload](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [resilience](), [side-projects](), [the-code-you-didn-t-write](), [web-development]() ### AI overview A developer discovers obfuscated JavaScript embedded in a backend file that executes automatically when the application starts. Static analysis reveals a throttled loader that retrieves encrypted commands through attacker-controlled blockchain transactions, decrypts the payload, and executes it. ### Source excerpt I pulled down a codebase for some work, like I normally do. I cloned the repo, installed the dependencies, spun it up locally, and started poking around to get my bearings. Then things started looking strange. ## Designing for One DevFeed: [Designing for One]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-07-05T23:45:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [designing for one](), [Product Management](), [Software](), [Open Source]() Tags: [articles](), [audience-building](), [building](), [code](), [design](), [designing-for-one](), [digital-products](), [music](), [open-source](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [product-management](), [side-projects](), [software](), [web-development](), [workflow]() ### AI overview "Designing for One" explores the appeal and hidden costs of building software for a single user: yourself. The article argues that this approach creates fast feedback, clear priorities, and highly opinionated products, while shortcuts around labels, instructions, and empty states become liabilities when other people start using the product. ### Source excerpt No audience to picture and no personas on the whiteboard. There's no imagined user whose confusion you have to design around. It's just you with the problem in front of you. You have the freedom to solve it exactly the way your own brain wants it solved. ## AI Coding Tools Shift Experienced Developers from Slower to Faster Work DevFeed: [AI Coding Tools Shift Experienced Developers from Slower to Faster Work]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jon C. Phillips Published: 2026-06-28T17:56:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jon C. Phillips]() Topics: [Artificial Intelligence](), [Code](), [Stack Overflow]() Tags: [ai](), [articles](), [audience-building](), [code](), [design](), [developers](), [digital-products](), [judgment-bottleneck](), [music](), [photography](), [product-engineering](), [side-projects](), [survey](), [web-development](), [writing-code]() ### AI overview The article argues that experienced developers' measured performance with AI coding tools shifted from roughly 19% slower in mid-2025 to roughly 18% faster by early 2026. It attributes the change to better tools and developers gaining experience directing and reviewing generated code, while noting sample-selection caveats. ### Source excerpt That puts me on one side of a heated argument. A well-known METR study in 2025 found experienced developers were around 19% slower with AI while sure they were faster, and skeptics passed it around as proof.