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← People and their mental models

Addy Osmani's mental models

4 claims Addy Osmani made fit 4 mental models. Most often: Value moves to what stays scarce, Cheaper means more, not less, Exponential growth. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Exponential growth

Growth that doubles looks like nothing for a long time and then like everything; intuition is linear and gets it wrong.

Used by 12 others

Every time software has become easier to create, the world has created exponentially more of it, and this time will be no exception.

Mental modelCheaper means more, not less

  1. Addy Osmani Engineering leader and author who spent 14 years at Google every time that we've made it easier to create software, we've exponentially created more of it. From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com · 19 Aug 2026 · 1:16:47 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsevery time that we've made it easier to create software, we've exponentially created more of it.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 1:16:47 plays here

    ↗From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com

    19 Aug 2026 · video · 1h 32m · spoken · machine transcript

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Value moves to what stays scarce

When something becomes cheap and plentiful, the value moves to whatever is still rare next to it.

Used by 59 others

Now that anyone can generate a body of text, the only thing that justifies asking for a reader's time is whether the idea itself is worth reading.

  1. Addy Osmani Engineering leader and author who spent 14 years at Google now that it is very easy for anyone to use an agent to create a body of text, I think it's more important than ever for us to make sure that the ideas we're putting out in the world are actually worth people reading. From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com · 19 Aug 2026 · 1:18:49 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsnow that it is very easy for anyone to use an agent to create a body of text, I think it's more important than ever for us to make sure that the ideas we're putting out in the world are actually worth people reading.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 1:18:49 plays here

    ↗From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com

    19 Aug 2026 · video · 1h 32m · spoken · machine transcript

Whatever humans are still better at than models is alpha that decays with every model release, so the skill worth naming today will not be the one worth naming next year.

  1. Addy Osmani Engineering leader and author who spent 14 years at Google what what is the current thing that models are not very good at doing? Alpha is going to decay in some way with every model release or every series of model releases. So, it's going to change over time. From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com · 19 Aug 2026 · 1:13:27 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordswhat what is the current thing that models are not very good at doing? Alpha is going to decay in some way with every model release or every series of model releases. So, it's going to change over time.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 1:13:27 plays here

    ↗From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com

    19 Aug 2026 · video · 1h 32m · spoken · machine transcript

Cheaper means more, not less

Make something cheaper to use and people use so much more of it that the total goes up (Jevons paradox).

Used by 10 others

Every time software has become easier to create, the world has created exponentially more of it, and this time will be no exception.

Mental modelExponential growth

  1. Addy Osmani Engineering leader and author who spent 14 years at Google every time that we've made it easier to create software, we've exponentially created more of it. From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com · 19 Aug 2026 · 1:16:47 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsevery time that we've made it easier to create software, we've exponentially created more of it.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 1:16:47 plays here

    ↗From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com

    19 Aug 2026 · video · 1h 32m · spoken · machine transcript

Margin of safety

Leave room for being wrong, because sometimes you will be.

Used by 25 others

Letting automated loops build everything without guardrails on blast radius and on quality is a recipe for disaster.

  1. Addy Osmani Engineering leader and author who spent 14 years at Google But, simply just having your loops build everything without having some guardrails around the blast radius without having guardrails around how you think about quality, I think is a recipe for disaster. From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com · 19 Aug 2026 · 1:07:26 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsBut, simply just having your loops build everything without having some guardrails around the blast radius without having guardrails around how you think about quality, I think is a recipe for disaster.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 1:07:26 plays here

    ↗From Chrome DevTools to AI Engineering, with Addy Osmaniyoutube.com

    19 Aug 2026 · video · 1h 32m · spoken · machine transcript