Building Through Common Language

Newsletter #80

Author

Kyle Cole
May 24, 2026

Hi, 

This week, I had a eureka moment while reading. This newsletter will be a lot of direct quoting, but I promise it will be worth it. 

Here is some context, this chapter in The Timeless Way of Building talks about creating a shared language for a larger building. In this case, they are building a hospital. The following quotes are provided as it pertains to the way the doctors reacted to being able to work with the architects on the hospital using shared languages. The pairing of the doctors, who had domain expertise on what the departments needed to run, and the architects, who understand what a building needs in order to be built. 

This story is especially important in the wake of vibe coding and all the unlocks AI can offer people.

Let’s dive in shall we? Alright first up: 

“... [Here is why] the active use of a language is so important to a person. It is because it is the only process in which he is able to make his picture of the world solid and actual – his feelings are embodied in the active concrete manifestation of his language: he feels his world as whole; it comes within him, and then is around him, physically.”

There is so much to unpack with this block quote. I am going to let you simmer on the first 80% of it, and dive into the last 20%. One of the things around the negative interpretation of AI is the focus on the things it takes away from humans and the brushing off of what it gives them.  If you were to watch 90% of entrepreneurs talk about their journey, they will say the moment that got them hooked was the moment that they made their first dollar. 

The power that building something that lives inside of your brain, and then another person coming along and seeing its value is a life changing experience. But the issue is that a lot of times the skills needed to have a good idea are not aligned with those needed to build the idea. 

But now, you are able to build with common language, you are able to build with raw thoughts, you are able to build with enthusiasm. 

Will it be perfect? No, but it wouldn’t be if you knew how to code either. The value of the experiences of building an idea comes from the latter piece of the quote: It comes within him, and then it is around him, physically. 

That is immensely powerful. 

Okay, next up: 

“Now, years later, seeing the building made real… he remembers that week, standing in the fog, making chalk marks on the ground as we laid the building out, talking about the place for the entrance, the greenhouse, the places where people could sit, the fountains, the small gardens, the rooms, the arcade – he remembers this week as the best week in his five years in his working life.”

There is much to be said about doing hard things. A lot of them are good. But not all of them. As an achiever myself, I tend to value things higher the harder they are for me to achieve. There must be value in the struggle, right? 

Maybe, but not always. 

This guy was a doctor, there were almost certainly more difficult weeks in his life getting to where he was than walking around a building site marking spots where things should go. So why could this have been his favorite week? Because he was able to speak something into existence, and it isn’t just an inconsequential thing, it was a major aspect of a hospital. The ability to speak through the process of how something ought to be built and then it be done is a gratifying process. 

Sounds a lot like vibe coding to me. 

Okay, Okay, last one: 

“It is a moment when, within the medium of a shared language, they create a common language of their lives together, and experience the union which common process of creation generates in them.” 

One of the founders of my company said this to me in a meeting recently and it really shook me, “If companies realized how valuable a meeting is, like a real meeting, where you are bringing your brightest people together to solve a problem using all of their collective experience and understanding, they wouldn’t waste time on worrying about slides.” 

Okay, the end there I may have added a little razzle dazzle, but the point still holds, you don’t brainstorm so that one person can tell people how smart they are, you brainstorm to bring forward the years of experiences every member has. You never know, maybe someone learned something by volunteering at a soup kitchen, or watching their kids soccer game, or taking pottery classes. 

The power of a common language is that it takes all experiences and puts them on the same level, so now you get to play with all of the lessons learned, not just those that were learned through corporate jargon and hierarchies. 

So when you put this all together, you get people who are able to get their ideas of out of their head into the world, they are doing gratifying work that inspires them, and you are able to bring people together and solve problems that enable more people not less. 

That to me sounds like a pretty awesome future. 

And if you don’t believe me, think about a problem, write down all of the tech solutions for it, have Claude write you a prompt for lovable, and then vibe code it. 

Build something you thought was only reserved for those who speak computer, and your perspective will change. I promise.

Kyle