In this episode, we introduce you to my co-host Lyle – pre-eminent listener, longtime radio host, and fellow mountain resident. We also spend time talking logos and introversion… and then we finish with a strong Spider-Man chaser. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a hand … | Continue reading
In our latest and greatest episode, we talk about the craft of communication. After a brief introduction, we talking about Werewolf, lying, death in D&D, and the art of yolo’ing it. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. http … | Continue reading
Don’t tell anyone. We’re still producing episodes. In this brief episode, Lyle and Lopp talk pens and typography and how they help us say what we need to say… Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. http://traffic.libsyn.com/ra … | Continue reading
Two years almost to the day, we’re back with The Important Thing. In our surprisingly quick to arrive fourth episode, we briefly giggle about the clickity-clack of a mechanical keyboard and then talk about a time at Apple where it was critical to understand the why. Enjoy it now … | Continue reading
Two years almost to the day, we’re back with The Important Thing. In the third episode, Lyle and I talk Information Consumption. Notification purges, marking all as read, and figuring out how to catch the most important information are just a few of the tips and tricks we discuss … | Continue reading
I do a lot of work in Slack. It’s been almost three years since I started working there and can’t remember a world where I needed to wait anywhere from two minutes to two days for someone to get through their inbox and respond to that urgent email. I take it for granted that ever … | Continue reading
Two-week holiday. Walk into my home office with big plans that start with a thorough cleaning of the space. A clean space is a healthy and productive space. A place where proper work can happen. But first, let’s play Destiny… for two days. Day three. Ok, just clean the desk. This … | Continue reading
I’m going to jump right to the punch line. I’m going to start by telling you exactly what you need to do to finally write that book you’ve promised yourself for the past three years. Are you sitting down? Good. Don’t write a book. Even better, stop thinking about writing a book. … | Continue reading
When I am in a foul mood, I have a surefire way to improve my outlook – I build something. A foul mood is a stubborn beast and it does not give ground easily. It is an effort to simply get past the foulness in order to start building, but once the building has begun, … | Continue reading
First job. Scotts Valley, California. Zero clarity what a manager did, but Rick seemed like a nice guy and he pointed me in the right direction. Mostly. Rick was demoted after we didn’t ship for three years and Linda showed up and OH MY a solid opening lesson in credible and effe … | Continue reading
We’re going to play a really simple and really dumb game. I’ll explain the setup and the rules: Two one-person ‘teams.’ On a flat, boring surface, you draw two parallel three feet long white lines which are fifty feet apart. Teams choose one home baseline. The other line marks th … | Continue reading
Check-in on my phone. Confirm airport, departure time, and gate. Count the number of days I’ll be gone. One outfit for each day. Always extra socks and extra underwear because the unexpected is amplified while traveling. If the trip requires more outfits than my overhead Tumi lug … | Continue reading
I am, once again, very happy to announce the publication of another edition of Managing Humans. It’s been over four years since the last update to this book, and I’m shocked we’re still talking about it. As with each edition of these books, there are topics of note: I’m three for … | Continue reading
I spend a lot of time listening. A non-trivial act for me because my mind… it wanders. However, I’ve got a system. Feet flat on the ground, slightly clenched jaw, staring you straight in the eyes. I am full body listening. You have my complete attention. I am not missing a word. … | Continue reading
Ted’s feeling pretty good. He sits across from me in the conference room and says, “Program launch is solid. We’ve been working on the details for almost a month. We vetted the concept with all the affected teams and made tweaks, and now they’re fine. The only step left is sendin … | Continue reading
The easiest way to improve your information consumption practices is to watch someone you trust to do their work. I get glimpses every day. At the beginning of meetings during the traditional inane five minutes of wondering why the AV never works, I eagerly await your shared scre … | Continue reading
Your most precious asset is your time. You can start and adopt the following set of habits right now to give yourself hours of your life back. Equally important, these habits will substantively increase the quality of your time by reducing stress, increasing focus, and ultimately … | Continue reading
Being in the Zone is such an essential concept to me, I did a shirt. The Zone is a place, and Flow is an activity that occurs within this precious mental place. Flow is the ability to consider a project or a problem deeply. In Flow, you can keep a superhuman amount of context in … | Continue reading
INT. EVENING. CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA. BJ’S RESTAURANT AND BREWHOUSE. A RECENT FRIDAY NIGHT The bar is full. Two keyboards sit at the bar: APPLE EXTENDED II and MACBOOK PRO. The front door opens, TOUCHBAR looks around, sees the two keyboards at the bar, grins, and heads their direc … | Continue reading
Apple is eventually doomed. Yes, the most valuable company on the planet will slowly fade into stagnant mediocrity. It will be replaced by something that they will not predict and they will not see coming. This horrifically efficient culling is a fact of life in technology becaus … | Continue reading
The majority of people-related disasters I’ve created and participated in originated or were amplified by the fact that either myself or another manager chose to not say the hard thing. On my short list of critical leadership skills, the ability to “say the hard thing” is right a … | Continue reading
Resignations happen in a moment, and it’s not when you declare, “I’m resigning.” The moment happened a long time ago when you received a random email from a good friend who asked, “I know you’re really happy with your current gig because you’ve been raving about it for a year, bu … | Continue reading
Do you know what time of year it is? It’s not performance season. Given I have no clue when you are reading this piece, how do I know it’s not performance season? For many of the companies I’ve worked at for the past three decades, performance season is three weeks once a year. M … | Continue reading