Interesting inbounds as a measure of research success

More broadly, I’ve experimented this year with a mindset I’ve been calling “working with the garage door up.” I try to share rough, ongoing artifacts from my process, including the working notes where I do most of my daily thinking. This has worked quite well when I adopt the right mindset—that I’m sharing objects made as part of my primary work, rather than things created specifically for publication.

The practice generates more conversation and serendipitous inbounds “for free.” It’s worth noting that in most ways, unusual inbounds are a better leading indicator for my work than page views or other more traditional metrics. Popular projects might garner a lot more mass attention but a lot less attention from unusual, singular people. Those people often introduce surprising (and more meaningful) insights and opportunities.