I am a short-form writer. A thousand words or so. Sometimes more, often less. I like to think I like tight prose and succinct thoughts, but I also know I’m impatient and have a short attention span. Over the years, familiar article structures and narrative flows have repeatedly crystallized into familiar templates. The most obvious… More
The Sabotage List
Imposter syndrome. It’s the feeling that pure happenstance or just dumb luck is the reason you’re in this current role. It’s a sense you don’t belong, you aren’t good enough, and – real soon now – everyone is going to see you for who you really are. You might have felt this before, and I’m… More
Ok. So, You Can’t Decide.
Even if you’ve checked your work, asked for all the help, and are moving gingerly, there will be decisions where you can’t decide. You’ve considered and reconsidered your pro/con lists, you’ve had endless debates with informed humans, but you remain mentally paralyzed. I have an observation regarding this paralysis, and then advice. First, the paralysis… More
The Metronome
Tick tock. Morning. Sit down at the desk. Hit the spacebar and wake up the displays. Calendar first. What is happening today, and how do I need to prepare? Any last-minute edits? Conflicts? New meeting additions to the day? Ok, which meetings are unfamiliar? Look at attendees—map names to the organizational chart. Assess political machinations.… More
WFH
Up at 7am. Check the outfit, the professional outfit, on the floor to make sure it still fits my mood. Adjust as necessary. Shower and put on the outfit. Consider wearing shoes, but don’t. My shoes are lonely. Upstairs. Coffee (black) and a glance at the view. Santa Cruz Mountains. No fog today. Walk into… More
Ok, I’m in Darkshore, and It Just Started Raining
(Ok, first hit play on the above video. This article has a soundtrack.) In World of Warcraft, Darkshore is the first major city outside of the Night Elf starting area and stands in dark contrast to the mystical and deeply saturated pink realm of Teldrassil. It’s where you discover that the game is full of… More
Spidey-Sense
You see James on the 8th-floor cafeteria. You haven’t seen him in weeks which is fine because while you’ve worked together for years, your paths are currently not intersecting. “Hey, James.” “Hey! Long-time, I was just thinking about you.” “Really, why?” “Randy just called you out in the launch meeting. He said the project was… More
The Important Thing
Welcome to The Important Thing — a frequent collaboration between myself and Lyle. On a regular basis, The Important Thing valiantly attempts to discover and discuss one important thing per episode. Sometimes there are two. Roll with it. You can find The Important Thing wherever fine podcasts can be found: • Episode List • Overcast • iTunes •… More
The 2018 Emoji Report
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 everyone… More
Kobayashi Maru Management
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 sending the announcement to the… More