Me

Hi, I'm Harvey Rustman 👋🏻

I enjoy problem-solving, building things, and empowering people.

I tend to think, a lot. Probably more than I should. Usually about problems, systems, friction, and why things often feel harder, more difficult, or more confusing than they need to be. A lot of what I tend to make starts there.

Something feels off, I keep thinking about it, then I end up trying to build a better way.

What this place is

This site is my "space". Kind of like a lab or desk or studio.

It's where I want to put my thoughts, tools I build, experiments, how-to's, and resources that someone hopefully finds useful. Some things here are finished, many though, are not. Some are quite polished, while others are still a bit rough around the edges. That's not a mistake, it's actually part of what this place is for.

I wanted something that felt alive, moving, growing, curious & fun. Not a profile or portfolio page that just sits there and says a few nice things about me.

This site is mainly for me, but also, for you.

It's a place where I can test things, share things, figure things out in public a little more, and hopefully make cool stuff that helps others too. If you want to follow along, learn with me, teach me something, send me feedback or throw me an idea, that's exactly the kind of things this site is for.

What I tend to care about

A few things tend to show up in what I do and create:

• making things better and easier to use
• attempting to reduce friction and improve workflows
• building things for "normal" people
• thinking about how things feel, not just what they do
• using modern tech in ways that are actually useful

A lot of that comes down to helping and empowering normal people to get more out of the tools available to them.

That probably makes me some mix of a builder, problem-solver, thinker, and person with too many ideas and not enough implementation.

I'm definitely also a perfectionist, which sounds good until it keeps you from publishing anything. I have a hard time putting things out before I feel they're ready. This place is partly me pushing back on that.

Because honestly, unfinished and real is usually better than hidden and endlessly polished.

Or, put another way: if Doc Brown waited until everything was perfect, the DeLorean never would've left the garage. I mean, look at that thing! It's dope, but that's partially because it's an unfinished project that was pushed into "production" too soon due to some serious external pressure and a minivan, and it worked out fine, as far as we know.

What lives here

You'll mostly find five kinds of things here:

• Thoughts about tech, design, usefulness, problems I notice, and whatever else I can't stop thinking about
• Experiments where I test ideas, interactions, systems, and plenty of half-formed concepts
• Tools that try to solve actual problems in useful ways
• How-To pieces that ideally break things down in a way that's easy to follow
• Resources I either use or love or both

Most of what I'm building points in a pretty similar direction: less complexity, better workflows, responsible and fun uses of AI, helpful automations, and things that just make life or work feel better.

And sometimes I build things just because they're interesting to me or because they bring me joy. This site is one of those too (it's a work in progress).

What I am building toward

I want this place to keep growing into something useful, fun, and inspiring.

Doesn't have to be finished, doesn't have to be polished, just continual growth.

A place where I can share what I'm thinking, what I'm building, what I'm learning, and what I think is worth passing along. A place that helps me stop hiding behind perfection and just get things out there. A place where unfinished things can still be useful, interesting, or worth seeing.

That's what feels better to me. More honest too.

Good places to start

If you are new here, maybe start with one of these:

• Why This Site Exists
• Tools and References I Actually Use

Reach out

If something here made you think, helped you, gave you an idea, made you incredibly furious, or you just want to tell me what you had for breakfast, you can drop a note.

Send feedback. Tell me what you want more of. Ask a question. Teach me something. Tell me why I'm right in believing that Back to The Future is the greatest movie series of all time. Whatever.

I read everything.

Just don't expect this to turn into a social platform. I'm no Mark or Elon, and I don't want to be.