In our 87th episode, we talk about world-building, but we mostly talk about shows that we love with a minimal amount of spoiler alerts. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing … | Continue reading
In our 86th episode, we talk timepieces (again), and then we somehow segue to bees. Brace for it. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0086.mp3 | Continue reading
I’m in the midst of a media cleanse. This started before the election when I canceled my Washington Post subscription. Jeff Bezos can do whatever he wants with the Washington Post, and he’s 100% correct that I don’t trust large media organizations. After the election, I removed a … | Continue reading
In our 85th episode, we talk dapper and how it might be armor. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0085.mp3 | Continue reading
Hi. I’m stressed, too. Here are random thoughts on this from the beginning of November 5th, 2024 — election day: Today, a convicted felon and failed businessman (six bankruptcies!) slash narcissist slash twice impeached politician who does not believe in democracy, who called for … | Continue reading
Less than 1% of your writing will be life-changing. 3% will be trivial to write. 4% will strongly resonate with others in a way you didn’t expect. 5% will be quite good. 15% probably should’ve never been published. 26% will illicit a reaction you did not expect. Positive or negat … | Continue reading
Good, me too. Over on the Rands Leaders Slack, we are almost thirty-four thousand. Fun fact: in the 2020 Presidential Election, three battleground states, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin, the margin of victory was less than 30,000. In Georgia, President Biden won by just over 12, … | Continue reading
In the early days of this weblog, I was on MediaTemple using MoveableType for a good long time. Three things happened during these many years: MoveableType was mostly abandoned during this time. I’m sure well-intentioned folks were working on it (and it appears they still are), b … | Continue reading
I was doing this talk, which I’d done dozens of times before. Good, well-practiced deck. I was speaking to CTO-types (current and aspirational) as a favor to a friend. This was a monthly morning coffee chat for this crew, and they invited folks like me to speak. It was on a weekd … | Continue reading
I’ve worked at three successful start-ups and one failure. I’ve also worked at post-IPO successes such as Borland, Netscape, and Apple, which means I’ve seen a lot of different founders who, if you measure success financially, were quite successful. My backstory aside and with de … | Continue reading
In our 84th episode, we go deep on the idea of why it’s bad to be busy. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0084.mp3 | Continue reading
Awkward. Seven of us now. Sitting around the table. Five minutes since the start of the meeting. We’ve used up our chit-chat allowance and wonder if you will show. In the scheme of things relevant to a company’s success, showing up late to a meeting is not the end of the world. W … | Continue reading
You’re not going with that title, are you? I might. There are no actual trophies or awards. Correct. There are three Rands Useful App Awards this year, but before I award them, I will define the criteria I used to select these products. The application has substance. This is not … | Continue reading
Say their name if you think they aren’t listening. In a meeting with five or more humans, it’s ok if someone checks out of part of the conversation. Not every topic is of equal interest to all humans. When you know the conversation is steering back to a human who isn’t listening, … | Continue reading
There are two classes of songs I listen to when writing. Words and no words. Word songs are used when I the writing does not require flow — deep thought. The problem with words is they get in your head, bump around, and start creating more words. At a time when I am attempting to … | Continue reading
In our 83rd episode, we revisit the various use cases we’ve discovered with our favorite AI tools. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0083.mp3 | Continue reading
Second year of UCSC. Decades ago. A predilection for Domino’s Pizza and a fundamental misunderstanding of how credit cards worked left me in a financial hole. I needed a job, any job, and the School of Social Sciences offered a job aligned with my computer science degree, lab tec … | Continue reading
Prologue. Westworld was an HBO reboot of the 1973 Michael Crichton movie. The pitch: we’ve built vast amusement parks populated with ultra-realistic robots (called “hosts”) who act their parts within the park. The first season is set into motion when the creator of the hosts, an … | Continue reading
Back in December of 2015, I was in a meeting with HR, and we were arguing about retention, stock grants, or something similar. I was making no progress in explaining my nuanced point. Long pauses and blank states usually mean my spoken words have nothing to do with the valuable i … | Continue reading
In our 82nd episode, we talk watches I mean horology I mean chronophiles or maybe timepieces. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0082.mp3 | Continue reading
In our 81st episode, we BING talk about the BONG important BONG BONG topic of BING BING BING notifications and DING DING DING notifications sounds. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theim … | Continue reading
In our 80th episode, we talk about travels last summer. There was a pillow menu. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0080.mp3 | Continue reading
In our 79th episode, we talk about situations with software that might destroy your weekend. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0079.mp3 | Continue reading
I asked DALL-E to draw a flowchart on how to make a decision. This is spot on. | Continue reading
I have a superpower, and like most superpowers, it’s not actually a superpower, but only a habit that I do 10% better than most humans. I chisel. Let’s say there’s this big project I want to complete. It’s not a big project; it’s immense. I’ve never done it before, and I’ve no ac … | Continue reading
Remember. Monday. It’s not Wednesday when everything is already blowing up. Monday is a blank slate before 9am; this is my chance to set the tone. While it is still quiet, get a fresh cup of coffee (I prefer black and strong). Not a coffee drinker? Great, try Chai or just a glass … | Continue reading
The New Year is an excellent time to tidy. I’ve been sitting on the same browser information structure for years, meaning cruft has been acquired. My initial plan was to describe the current structure and then describe the proposed changes. As I evaluated my current set-up, a sle … | Continue reading
Do you remember your first job? Correction: not your first job, but the first job you wanted. This is my career. This is what I want to do. I don't want to screw this up.I was a grocery store clerk, a butcher, a video store clerk, the guy who backed up the system onto tape drives … | Continue reading
You need to understand my to-do list process before you read these steps. I strive for a daily inbox-zero task system, which means I can scrub the complete list in less than 10 minutes. The size of individual entries varies. Most can be completed in one work session, but others a … | Continue reading
In our 78th episode, we’re go deep on sandwiches. Great, now I’m hungry. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0078.mp3 | Continue reading
Destiny. You’ve got some time on your hands right now. It’s the holiday season. You’ve got free time. Take a call. There’s quite a bit of content. Destiny has been around for almost ten years. A lot is going on in that world, but more importantly, they’ve had a lot of time to mak … | Continue reading
I am delighted to announce The Software Developer’s Career Handbook has been published. I call it the Bird Book because, well, there’s a bird on the cover. The Bird Book is the second edition of Being Geek. The absence of the words “being” and “geek” in the title hints that somet … | Continue reading
In our 77th episode, we discuss why magic is everywhere. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0077.mp3 | Continue reading
Why Are We Here? Seems like a good set of people, but everyone is looking at each other, wondering what is happening. It’s nefarious; it’s just.. confusing and agenda-less. Why Am I Here? It seems like a good set of people, but I have no clue how I’m relevant to this meeting. I w … | Continue reading
When your favorite software tool receives a major update, it’s all dread. It’s not you expect them to ruin the application (although possible); it is because it’s your favorite tool, you know all the intricacies of how it works, and you know exactly how you need it to work. This … | Continue reading
You’ve had a small number of career-defining moments. These are the select few moments in time when the trajectory of your career changed instantly and drastically. I have two buckets of these: ones I expected and ones that completely blindsided me. While the surprise and subsequ … | Continue reading
In the hallway, late on Thursday, someone tells a bit of information about your product that is 100% provably not true. You laugh, wink at the person, and say, “That’s goofy. What reasonable human would believe that?” And that conversation moves on. Two hours later, different loc … | Continue reading
One of my least favorite moments as a leader, specifically your leader, is when you ask me to make the decision. First, yes, I know it’s my job to make these decisions, especially the complicated and high-risk ones. Second, it’s true I’ve acquired ample experience over the last t … | Continue reading
In our 76th episode, we freestyle a list of the seven types of managers on the planet. There are more, but here are seven. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0076.mp3 | Continue reading
In our 75th episode, we’re talking shoes. Only 25 episodes left… and we’re talking shoes. Ok. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0075.mp3 | Continue reading
In our 74th episode, I swear we are only talking about one Important Thing, but I may be AI hallucinating. Enjoy it now, or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0074.mp3 | Continue reading
Gruber alerted me to the new beta of Photoshop with a compelling name: generative fill. The pitch: ask the robots to fill in parts of your existing photograph with, well, whatever you want. Yes, I am not showing these initial trials deliberately. The first case I tried was insert … | Continue reading
Everyone has AI fever in our 73rd episode where — and you better get used to it — we are talking about those robots again. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0073.mp3 | Continue reading
72 episodes. Speed round. Things we’ve been watching that you must not miss. No spoilers. You’re welcome. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0072.mp3 | Continue reading
Drinking a glass of Ridge Cabernet on the deck. Night time. Starry night. Mrs. Rands was traveling, so the house was quiet. I was staring at the stars doing what I do best: letting my mind wander. Both good and bad ideas enthusiastically arrive at these moments. This evening, a s … | Continue reading
In our 71st episode, we talk about robots again, and then we follow with a Mastodon chaser. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0071.mp3 | Continue reading
In our 70th episode, the topic is mediation, not meditation, but mediation. Yeah, I had to look it up, too. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/rands/theimportantthing0070.mp3 | Continue reading
In our 69th episode, the topic is zombies in the context of The Last of Us and the entire zombie genre. BraaAAaaaaaaaaiAAains. Only 30 episodes left, people. Enjoy it now or download for later. Here’s a handy feed or subscribe via Overcast or iTunes. https://traffic.libsyn.com/ra … | Continue reading