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What Caught My Eye Culture · Brands · Design · Building Weekly Links by Mike Litman Issue #001 Taste Is the Differentiator Curated, Not Aggregated What Caught My Eye Culture · Brands · Design · Building Weekly Links by Mike Litman Issue #001 Taste Is the Differentiator Curated, Not Aggregated
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Weekly Links

What Caught My Eye

Curated links on culture, brands, design and building.

Week of 14 March 2026 · Issue #001
↓ the good stuff, filtered by taste
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AI & Building Culture & Brands Design & Product Strategy & Business Wild Card
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Short on time? Read this one → The Non-Coders Are Shipping Faster Than the Engineers ↗
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★ Top Pick
AI & Building
The Non-Coders Are Shipping Faster Than the Engineers
A deep dive into how AI-native builders without traditional coding backgrounds are outpacing engineering teams on product velocity. The skill gap is inverting.
This is the argument I've been making for four months. The advantage isn't knowing how to code. It's knowing what to build and having the taste to make it good. Agency plus curiosity beats syntax every time.
^ this one hit different
Send to:the friend who still thinks you need a CS degree to ship product
every.to
AI & Building
2
AI & Building
Claude Code Is Becoming the IDE That Understands Context
Anthropic's latest updates to Claude Code suggest a future where the development environment knows your entire codebase, your preferences, and your intent.
I've been building 20+ products this way. The tool is now better than most junior developers at understanding what I actually want.
living proof of this one
Send to:anyone still writing code in an empty text editor like it's 2019
anthropic.com
3
Must read
AI & Building
Why Your AI Strategy Needs a Taste Layer
Everyone's building with AI. Very few are building things worth using. The differentiator isn't the model, it's the curation layer on top.
taste > tech, always
Send to:your CTO who thinks the model is the product
stratechery.com
Culture & Brands
4
Culture & Brands
Hermès Just Proved That Brand Is the Only Moat Left
While luxury peers stumble, Hermès posted record results. The lesson isn't about handbags. It's about what happens when you never compromise on positioning.
Every brand strategist should study this quarterly. They do one thing: refuse to dilute. That's it. That's the whole strategy.
the dream client brief
Send to:the brand manager who keeps asking "can we do a collab?"
ft.com
5
Culture & Brands
The Return of the Editorial Brand
A growing number of DTC brands are pivoting from performance marketing to editorial content. The playbook is shifting from conversion to conviction.
conviction > conversion is a bumper sticker
Send to:the performance marketer having a quiet crisis of faith
dirt.fyi
Design & Product
6
Design & Product
Why the Best Products Feel Inevitable in Hindsight
The products that win aren't the most feature-rich. They're the ones where every decision feels obvious after the fact. That's not luck, it's obsessive editing.
editing is the most underrated product skill
Send to:the PM who keeps adding features instead of removing them
figma.com
7
Design & Product
Design Systems Just Became the Interface Between Humans and AI
As AI generates more of the UI layer, design systems are evolving from component libraries into the grammar that governs how machines build for humans. The teams who get this right will define the next decade of product.
This is where design leadership earns its seat. Not pixels, not process. Defining the rules AI follows when it builds things people actually use.
design systems people, your moment has arrived
Send to:the design systems lead who's been saying this for years
designsystems.com
Strategy & Business
8
Strategy & Business
The Portfolio Career Is the New Executive Track
Senior leaders are increasingly choosing to build portfolios of projects over single full-time roles. The market is rewarding breadth and agency.
This resonates. The best strategists I know are building, not just advising. Showing the work is the new credentials.
feeling very seen right now
Send to:that ex-colleague who just went freelance and seems suspiciously happy
sifted.eu
9
Strategy & Business
Why the Best Brand Strategists Are Becoming Builders
The gap between strategy and execution is collapsing. The strategists getting hired aren't the ones with the best decks. They're the ones who can ship.
This is the shift I've been living. Strategy without building is just commentary. The market is rewarding people who can do both.
the deck-to-deploy pipeline is real
Send to:every strategist who's secretly learning to code
hbr.org
Wild Card
10
Wild Card
Tokyo's Kissaten Revival Is a Masterclass in Atmosphere Design
The resurgence of traditional Japanese coffee houses isn't nostalgia. It's a rejection of optimised, frictionless third spaces. Sometimes slower is the point.
adding this to the Tokyo list
Send to:anyone who thinks "good vibes" is an interior design strategy
monocle.com
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Curated by Mike Litman · The Pattern

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