Perspective – Blog by Jacob Stahl

Average

Jacob Stahl — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 12:06:07 +0000

Anybody can write a book. Only few write a good one.

The same goes for AI-written text. Copy becomes dull and bloated. It’s on us to refine it. Simplify it. Justify each sentence and every word.

Don’t let AI pull us down to average.

Feature requests

Jacob Stahl — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 14:25:30 +0000

Feature requests are rarely about features. They’re a user’s guess at a fix. But they tell you about friction, and wherever it runs hot, your product is failing people.

At MOCO, we built a friction tracker: a heat map of unmet needs. It tells us where to look instead of what people wish for. From there, we can uncover the why behind the requests — and figure out the fix with the most impact for everyone.

Inside out

Jacob Stahl — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 15:09:33 +0000

Most homes are bad products. Built top-down — plot defines shape, shape dictates floor plan, floor plan decides the rooms — with a compromise baked into every step.

Good products start inside out: what do you actually want to do in this room? Sketch out how you live, draw rooms for it, stitch them together, put a building around them, then find a plot that fits.

This might be a naive perspective on the construction industry — but hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?

Vacation

Jacob Stahl — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 15:04:09 +0000

We always travel with a sharp kitchen knife.

If we can’t have good food, we can’t relax. Between picky kids and food restrictions, an ‚easy night out‘ is hard to come by. Not to mention the current economic reasons.

So we cook. Three-course menus and stuff. The quality of the kitchen is as important as location when choosing our accommodation.

And we travel with a sharp knife, a peeler, and a set of basic spices. Because without, cooking is no fun at all.

Ted Lasso

Jacob Stahl — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 07:20:14 +0000

Oklahoma.

Value

Jacob Stahl — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:23:22 +0000

One more chatbot with a generic LLM response you ‘smell five miles against the wind’ (as you say in German). Type what you want, hope for the best. Micromanage your new AI trainee.

The strange thing with AI is that, yes, it is a tool, not a feature. But screwed into a product, a tool alone isn’t enough — it needs a character, an identity that feels native to your product. Then it becomes something integral, something people can relate to and feel good about. Have fun with, even.

We’re not the first ones bolting AI onto a product.
But I intend to bolt it on right.

Compulsion

Jacob Stahl — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:54:06 +0000

Only because it feels (!) like everybody is doing it doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do.

Love

Jacob Stahl — Tue, 12 May 2026 09:39:52 +0000

It’s 2026 and people still feel the social pressure to have a “coming out”. Thought we would be beyond this by now.

Why should anybody other than me care about who I love? Or how I express love?

The Nightingale

Jacob Stahl — Tue, 05 May 2026 19:23:20 +0000

Loud, he calls tonight
into the dark silent void
forever hopeful.

Commute

Jacob Stahl — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:10:32 +0000

I always felt sorry for people having to commute to work. So much time, just wasted. But reading a short post on Thisness… on Sourcefeed today got me thinking.

The commute can be a ritual. Quality time. Being alone with yourself. A stop at Starbucks. The first morning coffee. Singing along to the new album of your favorite band.

Working remote, I have to deliberately create moments like this. Maybe having to commute isn’t that bad after all.

Strangers

Jacob Stahl — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:31:03 +0000

Think of everyone who’s left a mark on your life, from the day you were born until today. Now imagine a map that shows where they are. No, not like Google Maps. Like the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter. And imagine the map moves through time, tracing everyone’s path.

I bet you’d see quite a few „paths crossed” — people walking right past you — years before you’d actually meet them.

Terry Godier

Jacob Stahl — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:07:39 +0000

If we all would be a little bit more like Terry Godier, the world would be a better place.

Thank you for doing what you are doing, Terry.

Siri

Jacob Stahl — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:43:01 +0000

Okay, this one is funny–and a bit sad.

I set up a shortcut for Siri to listen to my question, hand it off to ChatGPT, and read its answer out loud.

“No” by default

Jacob Stahl — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 08:05:44 +0000

“Can we add a setting for that?” slowly kills the product. The default response to feature requests should be “no”.

What you don’t build is as important as what you ship. If an issue keeps coming back, ask “why”. And if that answer resonates, start digging.

Dark Mode

Jacob Stahl — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:21:50 +0000

Can we stop adding fancy light bulb switches to our apps and websites? It’s 2026. We have a system preference for that. Just use it already.

Harry Potter

Jacob Stahl — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:29:42 +0000

Watching my daughter experience the magical (pun intended) world of Harry Potter for the first time is an incredible joy. Such a fantastic story, but at the same time so relatable and accessible.

And I totally forgot how packed the first part was. The Dursleys, Hagrid, Diagon Alley, Gringotts, Ollivander, Hedwig (!), Hogwarts Express, the castle, classes, Snape (miss you, Alan), Quidditch, troll, three-headed dog, the Mirror of Erised, the forbidden forest, centaurs, the unicorn. Oh, and Dumbledore and Voldemort, of course. Unbelievable.

I can’t wait to see the new adaption of the series.

Break

Jacob Stahl — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 07:39:50 +0000

I feel like we should normalize ending meetings five minutes early and starting five minutes late. And spend the extra time to talk off topic or grab a coffee. Just ease things up by default.

Discovery

Jacob Stahl — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:49:18 +0000

Building is easy. Letting people know is not.

Pluribus

Jacob Stahl — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 21:21:16 +0000

If you watch one TV show this year, watch Pluribus.

The Witcher

Jacob Stahl — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 08:16:41 +0000

I’m sure Liam Hemsworth is a great guy. But following Henry Cavill as The Witcher… I hope he finds a new agent who prevents such bad decisions in the future.

That being said, I really hope that this was the last adaption Lauren Hissrich ever worked on.