rands

iPhone Home Screen – Year in Review

The first page of my home screen for my iPhone is a sacred real estate. It is the one screen where I carefully curate my apps. Placement and grouping are considered because the apps on my first screen are daily use apps. Here it is: Because real estate is precious, each year I perform an… more

February 19, 2018 11 Comments

Meeting Blur

Wednesday afternoon. 3:30. Tanya and I walking through a complex political scenario involving Product and Engineering. Nothing devious. Just complex. Many moving parts. I’ve had some version of this conversation five times today. The whiteboard is my savior. I’m using it to draw a picture that anchors the core points of the situation. Those core… more

February 8, 2018 4 Comments

How to Write a Blog Post

Randomly think of a thing. Let it bump around your head a bit. If the bumping gets too loud, start writing the words with the nearest writing device. See how far you get. The more words usually mean a higher degree of personal interest. Stop when it suits you. Wait for time to pass and… more

January 23, 2018 18 Comments

Pitch Room: Fixing The Last Jedi

EXT. MORNING, MONDAY JANUARY 18th, 2016, LUCASFILM HEADQUARTERS, LETTERMAN DIGITAL ARTS CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO. INT. THE BOARDROOM. A circular room with an equally circular grey table. Carved into the table is an off-center recessed black circle. The table is populated by executives from both Disney and Lucasfilm. Standing opposite the entrance, across the room director… more

January 15, 2018 1 Comment

Act Last, Read the Room, and Taste the Soup

The quiet is my favorite attribute of a holiday break. My various Slacks are quiet, the house is quiet, and while it takes three days of quiet, eventually my head is quiet. Quiet creates reflection. I replay the critical parts of recent life and rather than living them, I observe them… at a distance. This… more

January 5, 2018 7 Comments

So

We need to talk about the end of sentences. Specifically, the end of spoken sentences. They’re a problem for me. I’m solidly in my 40s. And to this day when I finish a spoken thought, I often say “so,” and the reason is… you aren’t saying anything, yet. So. I should explain. To begin, self-diagnosed… more

December 17, 2017 6 Comments

A Meritocracy is a Trailing Indicator

When you are asked as a manager “What do I need to get to the next level?” I suggest the quality and completeness of your answer is directly correlated to your effectiveness as a leader. Let’s start with the worst answer, “We’re a meritocracy where the best idea wins.” This is a bullshit cop-out answer.… more

November 26, 2017 2 Comments

Lessons From the First 5,000

Earlier this week, it was my distinct pleasure to invite the 5000th human to the Rands Leadership Slack. This endeavor has greatly exceeded my expectations while also continuing to teach me about community management and leadership. Started on June 1st, 2016, the Slack is now 5000+ members with roughly 1700 of those humans being weekly… more

November 1, 2017 1 Comment

Your Christmas Reading List

It’s almost November and that means the holidays are close. One of my favorite aspects of the holiday seasons are extended periods of quiet… like days long. While there will be Destiny 2 and Mario Odyssey during these times, my goal is to fill those long silences with reading. Here are ten books you should… more

October 27, 2017 9 Comments

The Guard

The Old Guard is a set of humans who inhabit the early days of a start-up. As I’ve written about before, they define the culture in both obvious and non-obvious ways. Simply: the way they act and how they treat each other disproportionately affects the values of the company. The Old Guard gets to be… more

October 10, 2017 7 Comments