Is Your Top Business Metric Actually Wrong?
Most teams rank growth above mission on their metric stack. That's backwards. How Yu-kai Chou structures the hierarchy…
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The Blog
Gamification Analysis
Articles on Gamification Analysis — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework.
Is Big Tech Really Hijacking Your Brain? The Story That’s Making You More Addicted
Nir Eyal's counter to the dopamine panic: the 'big tech is hijacking your brain' narrative strips you of…
CONFIG Not CODE: Why Bloom’s Akasha Is the AI Game Builder Everyone Else Got Wrong
Bloom's Akasha ships voice-to-playable-Unity-in-browser with no code generated. Yu-kai Chou, advisor to Bloom, unpacks the CONFIG not CODE…
Why Loyalty Programs Fail: The Mercenary Trap
Most loyalty programs don’t build loyalty. They build mercenaries. People who stay as long as your deal is…
Why Your Partner Can’t See Your Effort (The Appreciation Gap)
My wife Angel hates it when I sit on the couch wearing jeans. Not because she’s being unreasonable.…
Why the Hook Model Creates Addicts, Not Habits
Short answer: The Hook Model is Nir Eyal’s four-step habit cycle: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment. He…
Why Friction Creates Meaning (And Convenience Kills It)
Every game designer, product manager, and UX lead I talk to is obsessed with the same thing: reducing…
The Sincere Apology Framework: Professional Relationship Repair Through Behavioral Design
A colleague I deeply respected cut off all contact with me. No warning. No conversation. Just silence, followed…
Lifestyle Inertia Design: The 5-Component Self-Gamification System That Replaces Willpower
Every productivity system I’ve encountered makes the same fundamental error: it treats procrastination as a character flaw and…