Kevan Lee

View Original

Best of 2018.

Tis the season to be ... listing! I simply can't get enough of lists this time of year, so much so that I have begun contributing to the listopia with a list of my own. Below you can find a few of my favorite things from the past year. Happy 2018/2019!

You can also hop in the time machine to see what I loved in 2017.

1. Best books

I had the privilege of reading a ton of books this year -- over 100 -- and there were so very many that I loved. Here are three that stand out to me for the beauty of the writing, the strength of the story, or the depth of the characters (or all three).

  1. Turtles All the Way Down
  2. Exit West
  3. Priestdaddy

Feel free to check out the full list of what I've read. Let me know any books you want to talk about!

2. Best business and management books

  • Powerful
  • Managing Humans
  • The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
  • The Knowledge-Creating Company
  • So Good They Can’t Ignore You
  • High Growth Handbook
  • Data-Driven Marketing
  • Exactly What to Say
  • Tribe of Mentors
  • Whiplash

3. Best marketing idea

Loops are the new funnels

Poor funnels. They got dumped on a lot in 2018, disregarded as old-school and ineffective and impersonal. There is a strong vibe of linear, top-down movement when it comes to funnels-as-acquisition; the reality is that acquisition is neither linear nor top-down. Loops do a better job of reflecting reality for user growth in 2018. 

https://twitter.com/JaneEliz/status/994219766117228554

4. Best newsletters

  • Homerun -- collection of workplace culture tips, sent weekly
  • Reforge brief -- recaps of the best growth and marketing articles, sent weekly
  • Dense Discovery -- beautiful collection of design resources and interesting things, sent weekly

dense discovery newsletter screenshot

5. Best people to follow

Anyone who is not like you. 

May we all exit our echo chambers and welcome fresh voices, fresh faces, and new perspectives in 2019. Here are a few of my favorite follows:

6. Best copywriting

  • Nishi - showcase of great online writing

Example:

Nobody reads websites. People read what interests them. Sometimes it's a website.

7. Best podcast episodes

8. Best learning app

Py - Learn to Code

screely-1544880206802

9. Best new-to-me tool

Revue

I've known about it for awhile (and happily used tools like it before -- Goodbrew, Curated, etc.). This year, I dove in because I needed to save time creating my monthly e-mail newsletter. Time saved = ✅

10. Best workplace culture app

Standups.io -- daily video standups for remote teams

11. Best website design

Quartz

quartz website

12. Best blog redesign

Intercom

Intercom blog

(Note: I'm pretty proud of what we designed for the Buffer blog this year, too.)

13. Best blogs

14. Best microblog

Swiss Miss. Good medicine to remind you we're all gonna be okay.

15. The "ship it" award for product innovation

Product Hunt

Is Product Hunt a product? Not sure, but I did really enjoy the way they shipped so many enhancements to their community this year. Maker space, Sip daily news, a podcast, and more.

16. Best article

How to stay scrappy by the Dropbox Paper team.

17. Best longform

The red flags and magic numbers that investors look for in your startup’s metrics by Andrew Chen

18. Most enjoyable landing page

CodeKit

and just for fun ...

19. Best purchase

Melissa & Doug temporary tattoos

20. Best video game moment

https://twitter.com/pretendkevan/status/1027405438990446592

21. Best iOS game

Bacon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=7Y_ZFI8p8y0

22. Best songs

These ones:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/42YqRdD31TTYDlV3iki7vL

23. Best movie

Mission Impossible: Fallout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb49-oV0F78

What did you enjoy most in 2018?