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This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Currently Reading

Daily Reading from June 20, 2008

Links to what I’ve been reading recently.

  • Handoffs Don’t Work — "I recently spoke with a project manager. He was concerned about the product managers handing off the requirements to the development staff. He was right to be concerned. Handoffs don’t work.  The more people think they are done with “their” ..."
  • Preparing For EC2 Persistent Storage — "While backing up data to S3 is standard practice, data backups do not guarantee uninterrupted read/write access to that data, only the ability to recover from catastrophic failure, a process which, depending on the size of the data set, can ..."
  • Internet-a-Gogo: Airlines to Offer In-Flight Access - WSJ.com — "Beginning this summer, as soon as next month, wireless Internet access will arrive in the passenger cabins of some commercial U.S. airliners. "
  • Steve Sabol - Entrepreneur - Keynote Speaker at New California 100 — "There’s going to be a few posts over the next couple of days about today’s New California 100. The day started early, and ended late and in between I met lots of people who’ve started companies and built them to ..."
  • Millennial Backlash — "Larry Dignan has a classic rant on how Millennials will run into a wall when they go to work and confront Six Sigma and enterprise IT.  Funny, and its a good sanity check, but nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, we ..."
  • Scaling your website with the Perlbal web server (PDF)
  • How To Properly Rock A Pocket Square — For the past four decades, if American men regarded the breast pocket on their suit at all, it was as an extra place to store sunglasses or business cards. Some men don’t even undo the stitching in the pocket ...

Recently Written

Decoding Product Leadership Titles
Mar 18: Not all product leadership titles mean what they sound like. ‘Head of Product’ can mean anything from a senior PM to a true VP. Here’s how to tell the difference.
What branding can teach about culture
Jan 8: Culture is your company’s point of view in action—a framework guiding behavior, even in the unknown. You can’t copy it; it must reflect your unique perspective.
Think Systems, not Symptoms
Dec 15: Piecemeal process creation frustrates teams and slows work. Stop patching problems and start solving systems. Adopting a systems thinking approach helps you design processes that are efficient, aligned with goals, and truly add value.
Your Policies Aren’t Your Culture
Dec 13: Policies guide behavior, but culture is the lived norms and values of your team. Policies reflect culture -- they don’t define it. Netflix’s parental leave shift didn’t change its culture of freedom and responsibility. It clarified how to live it.
Lighten Your Process Burden
Dec 7: Everyone hates oppressive processes, but somehow we keep managing to create them.
Product Add-Ons Are An Expansion Myth
Dec 1: Add-ons can enhance your product’s appeal but won’t drive significant market growth. To expand your customer base, focus on developing standalone products.
Protecting your Product Soul when the Same Product meets New People.
Nov 23: Expand into new markets while preserving your product’s core value. Discover how to adapt and grow without losing your product’s soul.
Building the Next Big Thing: A Framework for Your Second Product
Nov 19: You need a first product sooner than you think. Here's a framework for helping you identify a winner.

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What I'm Reading