Thought-provoking essays for technology leaders.
Good ideas are great. Deep insights are awesome. However, they tend to have little impact when they are not well timed . If not timed well, they may at most get a “cool story, bro’.” However, when timed just right, they can change things. They can blow minds.
Tell me about a time when you were rejected for a role, what the context was, and what you learned from it. People don’t tend to brag about this type of thing, but I’ve been rejected by both Google and Amazon. I interviewed once with Google
“Can we use  X  to boost productivity?” You mean X the “social” network, or X.ai? “No, no, I mean  X , the generic placeholder.” Ah. It depends. “You always say that, why can you never simply give me a straight&
“I know Kubernetes!” — Neo The Matrix scene where skills and knowledge are uploaded directly into Neo’s brain is iconic. To many, this is the ultimate learning experience: lay back, stab a giant-ass plug into your brain, and let the upload begin. Ahhhh! Sweet.
Date: December 31, 2047 Dear Martin, As part of clearing out the final area outside of town for the new Bubble-III data center, an old PC (Personal Computer) was found. It was left behind in a cabin further down in the forest. The PC still had a “hard
“I have a presentation to give. Quick, gimme some low-effort, high-impact tricks!” While for many topics I have books to pull off my shelf , I realized that the last book I read on the topic of presenting was probably Presentation Zen (1st edition), circa 2008. At
Here’s the pattern that repeats for me writing code — the pattern that has kept me engaged in this field for well over thirty years: Something starts out small: a few hundred lines of code. It does something useful. As I use it and build it out, it
A new technology, methodology, movement reveals itself and people go all in, enthusiastically. After some time, it becomes clear things have been pushed too far. Cracks start to show, limitations become obvious. What follows is a partial swing back to older ways, with lesson learned and if we’re
From Empire of AI , chapter 15: Instead of negotiating between egos, he was conveying to everyone exactly what they wanted to hear as he maneuvered to get exactly what he wanted. And he was telling so many little lies and some big ones in the process that it was becoming
“Do you mind if I tweak the slide deck of our All Hands: Reorg Edition slightly?” “Sure, go ahead.” 30 minutes later. “Err... Zef , what did you do?” People don’t care what you do, they care why you do it. 15 years
“Why is it so hard to make people give a damn? I mean, like, really care?” I have found there are a few key ideas in management that have a tremendous amount of leverage. Once we internalize them, we start to see patterns, and they can explain a
Recruitment is broken. Candidates can’t get through to the right companies, are ghosted left and right, and have to jump through increasingly ridiculous “AI enhanced” hoops to get a job. Who is not having a terrible experience interviewing right now? Very sad. And what for? Because,
“The only sensible organization size is one. ” That’s quite a statement. Especially if it comes from your company’s COO. It always stuck with me, because it’s bold. And pretty useless. As somebody who recently went solo on some projects, I can attest
People say that AI is going to be highly disruptive for just about every job. Many such jobs will simply be automated and disappear. Except — well — our own. Why not our own? Because our own jobs require a very particular set of skills . Knowledge. Creativity. Years of experience.
I think it’s time for me to pull the “old man” card. That said, in my defense, this is going to be a repeat of a message I was already spreading thirteen years ago . Which, now that I think about it, you can interpret as simply