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Are “wide-open” social networks the way that we should be interacting with each other? Maybe we should return to our roots in the physical world and build focused communities? Communities with shared interests and ideas, where people feel like they belong.

I’ve been told that I used to be a very curious person. Somewhere along the line I lost it, and now I’m trying to get it back. I’ve effectively created a system where I can choose what stays with me in the long-term. Having a reliable method to actually keep track of everything, rather than forgetting everything after a week, makes me so much more excited to discover and analyze new things. For one of the few times in my life, it makes learning, and following my curiosity, actually fun.

Welcome back to Product/Michael Fit! I almost spelled November wrong, so get ready for a good one. My week has once again been non-stop research and writing. I’m not sure if Black Friday/Cyber Monday week is peak of craziness, or if it’s just the release of pent up marketing energy and speculation. That remains to be seen, but early indicators look super interesting. Based on one research firm’s data, it appears that Etsy made the biggest leap in 2020, followed by Nordstrom, Amazon, and Walmart.

Well, this was another nuts week (x2). For this volume, imagine yourself on a cross-country flight, with minimal turbulence, and noise-canceling headphones to drown out all of the sounds around you. Because that’s how I listened to pretty much everything that I’m mentioning below.If you’re new (welcome!), this is Product/Michael Fit, a series where I share my favorite pieces of content from the past week(ish), along with my own takeaways. Subscribe here or on my Substack to get on the email list, and find me on Twitter @MSilb7.

Hello, hello, welcome to the most anticipated event of the week: Volume 2 of Product/Michael Fit! If you missed volume 1 from last week, check it out here (Writing Like a PM, The WWW MVP, and Tech is Dangerous) For this volume, my "week of interesting content" was really just packed into the weekend. Why? Well, 1) Our every 4 years experience of the United States' paint by number game (and "breaking news" alerts with zero substance), and 2) Turns out that working in consumer experience for an ecommerce company during the holidays demands a lot

My Favorite Things From this Past Week (10/26–11/1/20)Hey all, I’m trying something new here. In this series “Product/Michael Fit,” (I’m Michael) I plan to share my favorite pieces of content from the past week, whether it’s a blog post or article, a podcast episode, a YouTube video, or anything else. Who knows? Send me more cool things on Twitter @MSilb7, and subscribe for free if you’re interested in more!

Over my career, I’ve accumulated a set of skills that have helped me work faster and get more stuff done in less time. I’ve mostly kept all of this knowledge to myself — until now. I’m sharing all of my secrets: The tools and strategies that I used to become a better analyst and PM. The Basics, Web Automation , Alternative Data Sources , Dashboards for Repeatable Analysis and Data Sharing , Scripting Languages (Python), No-Code Applications and UIs.

A few weeks ago, I started working on an idea. Today, I'm taking a step back. Not just from projects, but also thinking about where I want to go in my overall career. Past Few Weeks. I started on a side-project idea that I already had my own reservations about. I had been thinking about starting my own project, only for about a month, but I wanted to make forward motion. I wanted to stop thinking and talking about what I wanted my future to be, and actually do something tangible. So I did.But it wasn't right for me.

Many of us feel the most engaged in our work when we're building something new. Often times, the first step on that journey involves pitching your idea to someone in order to get their buy-in. In my career so far, I've had a few chances to pitch ideas that I was super excited about. But each time, no matter how clear or precise I tried to be, I struggled to get support to move forward. Something was missing, but I didn't know what. I recently learned a little bit about what VCs look for when they're evaluating startup ideas

I've written about the empowering feelings that come with discovering that it's possible to develop almost anything that I want. I've also touched on how hard it can be to truly believe in an idea.So now, I'm in a position for the first time in my life where I feel like I have the freedom to go build whatever I want. When the world is your canvas and you could go in any direction... What do you build?In my career so far, I've prided myself on being able to identify opportunities and solve problems that we didn't know we had yet.