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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 August 08, 2009

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 15 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

8 Aug 2009

Links to what I’ve been reading recently.

  • The APIs for the Sun Cloud: Wiki — "Well thought-out RESTful API. Includes API versioning through headers. Great reference to use when designing an API. "
  • The Case Against the Case Against Google — "the company was so intent on protecting its cash cows—it derives most of its revenue from two products, Windows and Office—that it was blind to opportunities in new markets. Microsoft couldn’t make a Web e-mail system like Gmail, because that ..."
  • Culture — "Reference Guide on ourFreedom & Responsibility Culture These slides are meant for reading,rather than pr "
  • Revisiting the Software Design Manifesto (and what's changed since then) — "My recent article on technical debt and its positive uses generated a fair bit of controversy. One of the topics that raised heated debate was whether I had conflated technical design with product design, because I made the admittedly counter-intuitive ..."
  • The Delusion of the Perfect Product | VentureBeat — "There is more to a startup’s success than just its agile approach to product and customer development. There is the entrepreneur’s clarity of vision – a customer driven approach to defining the market and simplicity to the business model. The ..."

Recently Written

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.
A Framework for Scaling product teams
Oct 9: The people, processes, and systems that make up a product organization change radically as you go through the stages of a company. This framework will guide that scaling.

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What I'm Reading