Communication Norms

External Communication

Tone

First-person, conversational, intellectually honest. “Your smart friend who builds stuff and tells you what they learned.” We say “I” in articles (the author’s voice), not “we” (the corporate voice). We admit what we don’t know. We share failures alongside successes. We reference specific tools by name, share screenshots, give actual numbers.

Formality Gradient

Context Formality Level Example
Newsletter articles Conversational-intellectual “I’ve been using Claude to manage my email for 3 months. Here’s what actually happened.”
Social media (X, LinkedIn) Casual-authentic Tweet-length insight from article, in author’s voice. Not “NEW ARTICLE: 10 Ways AI Will Change Your Life!!”
Podcast (AI & I) Warm-conversational Dan’s interview style: curious, specific questions, genuine reactions
Consulting materials Professional-warm Direct, evidence-backed, grounded in our experience. “Here’s what we built. Here’s what we learned.”
Product copy Clear-helpful Spiral: “An AI writing partner with taste.” Cora: “Give AI your inbox, take back your life.”
Legal/contracts Formal-precise Standard legal language, no personality — this is the one context where we’re corporate

Words We Use

  • “Allocation economy” (not “AI revolution” or “digital transformation”)
  • “Compound engineering” (not “AI-assisted development”)
  • “Taste” (our highest compliment for quality judgment)
  • “Ship” (not “launch” or “deploy” — ship implies it’s going to real people)
  • “Builder” (not “developer” or “engineer” — builder is identity, not job title)
  • “What comes next?” (our guiding question)
  • Specific tool names: Claude, Claude Code, Spiral, Cora, Monologue, Sparkle, Proof
  • First names of team members when referencing their work

Words We Never Use

  • “Leverage” (corporate-speak)
  • “Synergy” (meaningless)
  • “Cutting-edge” / “best-in-class” / “world-class” (lazy superlatives)
  • “We’re excited to announce…” (corporate blog voice — just say what you’re announcing)
  • “Democratize” (overused and usually inaccurate)
  • “Disrupt” (2012 called)
  • “Content” when referring to our articles (we write “articles,” “essays,” “pieces” — they’re not “content”)
  • “Users” when we can say “readers” or “subscribers” or the person’s name

Three Rigor Tests (Editorial)

Every article must pass all three:

  1. Articulates something true — makes a specific, falsifiable claim or observation
  2. Offers learnable value — reader gains a framework, technique, or insight they can apply
  3. Sounds authentically like the writer — not interchangeable with any other author

AI Tells to Reject

  • Formulaic transitions (“Moreover,” “Furthermore,” “In conclusion”)
  • Hedging without substance (“It’s worth noting that…”)
  • Correlative constructions that add nothing (“Not only X, but also Y”)
  • Vague pronouns (“This approach,” “These insights”)
  • Unsourced quotes or claims
  • Lists that could be in any order (if the order doesn’t matter, the list probably doesn’t either)

Internal Communication

Tone

Direct, fast, casual, no hedging. “This doesn’t work” not “I was wondering if perhaps we might reconsider the approach we discussed.” Disagreement is welcome and expected. Dan and Brandon openly debate strategy in shared Slack channels. Questions are encouraged at any level.

Response Time Expectations

Channel Expected Response Escalation If No Response
Slack (general) Same business day None — async is fine
Slack (direct/urgent) Within a few hours Follow up once, then respect async
Linear comments Within sprint cycle Tag in Slack if blocking
Email 24-48 hours (internal email is rare) Slack is preferred channel
Weekly demo day Synchronous — show up, participate This is the one meeting that matters

Internal Norms

  • Linear is source of truth for product work: “If it’s not in Linear, it doesn’t exist” — Naveen Naidu
  • Slack is the nervous system — informal, fast, transparent
  • Demo day is sacred — weekly, synchronous, celebratory. Show what you shipped.
  • Feedback is direct — say what you mean. “This article isn’t ready” not “Maybe we could explore some additional revisions.”
  • Context over permission — share context widely so people can make good autonomous decisions rather than requiring approval for everything