Wu wei

“Wu wei” is a Chinese concept which roughly translates to “{effortless action}.”

In a historical context, it’s typically used in a spiritual sense, describing a person who behaves with harmony, spontaneity, ease. But I find it an interesting property to pursue in software design.

The Mac utility Quicksilver introduced me to the phrase in the early 2000’s. Designed by Nicholas Jitkoff, it allowed users to launch programs and execute commands by pressing Command+Space followed by a few keystrokes. It was quickly imitated by LaunchBar, Alfred, and Spotlight. But what matters is the feeling of this design—the effortfulness, almost mindlessness. I’d switch to another app by moving a few fingers, without even realizing that I’d done it. This is a powerful feeling.

Last updated 2023-07-13.