1. Distraction, Attention,
and Simplicity
Dan Benjamin
Evangelist, Rails Machine

2. You are distracted

3. The most successful
objects, devices, and
applications have simple,
obvious functionality

4. Build can-openers

5. If you have to explain
your how your software
works, you’ve failed

7. Embed and shield users
from optional or
complicated functionality

8. [Innovation] comes from saying no to 1,000
things to make sure we don’t get on the
wrong track or try to do too much. We’re
always thinking about new markets we
could enter, but it’s only by saying no that
you can concentrate on the things that
are really important.
-- Steve Jobs

9. Say no

10. Features are
addictive

11. Quality not quantity

12. Build something that
lasts

13. “A poor man can
afford only the very
best.”

14. Do as little as
possible

15. Question everything
you think is a given

16. The iPod won’t sell

17. The iPhone won’t sell

18. Projected: 45 million
iPhones sold by end
of 2009

19. Function should
define and insist on
form.

20. The simplest solution isn’t
always the best answer,
but it is a great starting
point

22. If you do things right, no
one will be sure you’ve
done anything at all.

23. Be invisible

24. Before you start:
Stop.

25. The chattering mind

26. Meditation

27. Vipassana (n)
A training to cultivate a non-reactive,
deeply focused awareness of the present
moment, absent of judgement or
clinging.

28. Mindfulness

29. Just breathe

30. “Just thoughts”

31. Eliminate the
“chatter”

32. Ask the right
questions

33. Abandon your
assumptions

34. Abraham Wald

37. “If you ask the wrong question,
the answer is irrelevant.”
-- Garrett Dimon

38. You know too much
already

39. Private silos

40. Don’t be your own
user

41. Create space

42. Do less

43. Relax