Pieces about gentle productivity, ADHD, design, and the slow work of building an app that doesn’t shame anyone. Roughly one essay a month.
March 14, 2026
Why cat, fox, bunny, and dragon — and what it took to make them feel alive.
The familiar is the product's emotional anchor. Picking which animals to offer, and getting their reactions to feel right rather than performative, took longer than anything else.
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February 4, 2026
A short list of habits productivity apps have, and why they don't work for the brains they claim to serve.
Most apps marketed at ADHD users borrow heavily from neurotypical productivity culture and bolt on a couple of "ADHD-friendly" features. For a lot of people, the result adds shame to an already exhausting situation.
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January 8, 2026
A short manifesto for an app that doesn't tell you what to do.
Most productivity apps are managers. They assign tasks, track compliance, judge output, and reset everything when you fall behind. Familiar is a different kind of tool — a helper — designed around the assumption that you already want to do the things you want to do, and that a companion helps more than a boss.
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