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Adam Kalsey

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 October 14, 2008

14 Oct 2008

Links to what I’ve been reading recently.

  • Economics of Online Video 2: Unit Cost Structure — "After performing a detailed analysis of the economics of streaming video, we continue to believe it is a very tough business--with high capital costs and low profit margins.  In the first installment of this series, we explored the ramifications of ..."
  • Let's Get Practical — "Having lived through an aggressive downturn when the Internet bubble burst, I'm going to spend the next "chunk of blog posts" trying to give you - the entrepreneur, CEO, or executive of a startup - some practical suggestions about how ..."
  • Advice On Partnering With The Big and Powerful: Don't — "Big companies have something you don’t.  Time.  They can commit one or more people to the ongoing task of “exploring partnership opportunities”.  You probably can’t.  You have a day job (and probably a night job too).  As such, the mere ..."

Recently Written

Should individual people have OKRs?
May 14: A good OKR describes and measures an outcome, but it can be challenging to create an outcome-focused OKR for an individual.
10 OKR traps and how to avoid them
May 8: I’ve helped lots of teams implement OKRs or fix a broken OKR process. Here are the 10 most common problems I see, and what to do instead.
AI is Smart, But Wisdom Requires Judgement
May 3: AI can process data at lightning speed, but wisdom comes from human judgment—picking the best imperfect option when facts alone don’t point the way.
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.

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