How I Under-Engineered my Book

I'm Matt Wood, and this is For Your Information. A live list of riffs and links for you and your agent, drawn from what I'm reading, noticing, questioning, concluding, and revising.

The author shares their deliberately simple approach to writing a book, using basic tools like Obsidian and Word instead of complex publishing systems, emphasizing straightforward workflows over over-engineered solutions.

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Connections

Challenges

How I Over-Engineered My Book Directly responds to 'How I Over-Engineered My Book' by presenting the opposite philosophy — deliberate simplicity with basic tools versus complex publishing systems, making these companion pieces in explicit tension

Supports

Write.md - Customizable Markdown Editor for macOS Both advocate for simple, focused writing tools (Obsidian/Word vs. Write.md) over complex workflows, reinforcing the value of minimal-friction writing environments
Taste Is All That's Left Both pieces argue that craft and intentionality (taste/simplicity) matter more than sophisticated tooling or technical complexity in creative work
Understanding is the new bottleneck The under-engineering philosophy implies that understanding and clarity are the real bottlenecks in writing, not tooling sophistication — aligning with the thesis that understanding is the true constraint

Related to

How This Was Made Both reflect on the meta-process of how something was made, sharing behind-the-scenes workflow decisions with readers interested in creative production methods

Type:	link
First published:	Tuesday, 18 August 2026 at 16:33 UTC
Location:	https://chriskiehl.com/article/how-i-under-engineered-my-book
URL:	https://mattwood.fyi/i/320242d8