Too much of modern consumer-facing software think they're the ends, not the means.

this is so true and I think it's very instructive to have a regular look through this lens when thinking about building something.

You've got to think and care deeply about what you're creating while at the same time understanding it's of approximately zero interest to those who you're building for outside certain key moments of interaction. Try to just nail those as much as possible and beyond that, get out of the way.

I think this is the core of good design, that things make sense, are nice, and well explained to the point they are even fun to discover and explore when you care to go looking for them. If you don't care to, they're invisible and out of your way.

But but but … how else will we turn a minor value add into a sticky source of recurring revenue? After all, there are no other profitable business models.