The best user experiences are enchanting. They help the user enter an alternate reality, whether it's the world of making music, writing, sharing photos, coding, or managing a project.
Just make people better at something they want to be better at.
In many cases, the more you try to compete, the less competitive you actually are.
Make the right things easy and the wrong things hard to do.
We are all human, and caring about the way something looks and feels does not mean we're superficial--it means we're human. We don't need to exploit sex to recognize that a certain amount of sexiness is both pleasurable and natural.
It does not matter how awesome your product is or your presentation or your post. Your awesome thing matters ONLY to the extent that it serves the user's ability to be a little more awesome.
Twitter, for all its good, is a hate amplifier.
Upgrade your user, not your product. Value is less about the stuff and more about the stuff the stuff enables. Don't build better cameras - build better photographers.
Give users what they actually want, not what they say they want. And whatever you do, don't give them new features just because your competitors have them!
Amazing, powerful, inspirational - those adjectives might make me sound like a fawning fan, but REWORK is that useful. Be prepared for a new feeling of clarity and motivation.
Code as if the next guy to maintain your code is a homicidal maniac who knows where you live.
Give users what they actually want, not what they say they want.
The secret to building great products is not creating awesome features, it's to make your users awesome.