Pillar

Strategy

The pursuit of meaningful outcomes.

Product direction shaped by clarity, judgement, and use

Highlighted stories and artifacts.

Pillar feature · October 2023

Building Community Outcomes Through Systems Thinking

The Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ has grown from a neighborhood gathering into a repeatable community fundraising system. By combining clear goals, multiple ways to participate, visible progress, a dedicated microsite, and a meaningful live experience, the event shows how product thinking and systems design can create reliable outcomes without losing the humanity, gratitude, and music at the center of the work.

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Related writing and events

Authored pieces and public events.

Essay · July 17, 2026

When the BBQ Found Its Purpose

What started as a fun way to celebrate music has become a tradition of giving back. The Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ is now an annual community fundraiser powered by music, friendship, and generosity, crushing fundraising goals and generating nearly $9,000 over two years in support of diabetes awareness, research, and the race for a cure.

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Essay · July 13, 2026

Turning World Cup Chaos Into a Tracker You Can Actually Use

Built to make the FIFA™ World Cup easier to follow in real time, the tracker brings standings, projections, bracket paths, match details, scorers, and team profiles into one readable view. The archive preserves what the tracker saw, how its projections performed, and what changed as the tournament moved from group-stage uncertainty into knockout clarity, while setting the stage for future tournament coverage.

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Essay · June 21, 2026

Shortening the Idea-Build Cycle with AI

The faster tools can build, the more important it becomes to define intent clearly, inspect output carefully, test edge cases, and keep the experience coherent. The product-AI confluence is not about replacing judgment. It is about shortening the loop between seeing a need, shaping a response, and putting something useful into the world.

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Essay · June 13, 2026

We -Are- (Can Be) The Champions

Most meaningful accomplishments begin as unreasonable ideas.

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Essay · June 30, 2014

Disrupt yourself

The NYT went from editorial titan to digital dwarf even after a massive effort to digitize their presence. Realizing the miss they attacked the problem as any reporting organization would: they talked to people like crazy. What they came up with was a two-pronged approach: disruptively grow their audience and digitally fortify their newsroom.

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Community event · July 2027

Fourth Annual Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ

Stay tuned. We're gearing up for the 4th Annual Van Hiller Rock and Roll Backyard BBQ, with plans to raise the bar again and make an even bigger impact than before.

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