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I normally find this author quite enjoyable to read, and this seems like "the piece" he's been wanting to write for a long time. So it's surprising to find it

I normally find this author quite enjoyable to read, and this seems like "the piece" he's been wanting to write for a long time. So it's surprising to find it thrown together so seemingly hastily and written so poorly. It starts off with a couple paragraphs filled with non-parsable sentences like "I was employee #20 at the first start-up and the first engineering lead" (which start up again?) and "A growing groups needs to continually invest...", and then it spends four full paragraphs talking about "1:1", without ever bothering to define what a 1:1 is. It sounds like it must be a meeting of some type, but not one I've ever heard of, and as far as terms go, it seems to be almost designed to be non-googlable. I gave up at that point. So hey, Rands, if you're reading this. I (and probably others) would really appreciate it if you gave this article another edit or two. Put it back up here when it's ready!

rcfox 15y ago
For what it's worth, 1:1 is also known as a one-on-one. Basically, just a meeting between you and your boss. He describes it fairly well here: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_the_vent_and_the_disaster.html http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_...
dpritchett 15y ago
You've touched on a few of the conceits in his writing style: 1) He writes as if you're at least somewhat familiar with the stories he's been telling all these years. 2) The stories are presented as parables, and the details may not all be 100% consistent from year to year. The "parable" conceit could be a convenient dodge to avoid fully justifying or proving his points, but I've found the coherence and strong voice of the writing to be respectable enough so far. If you're really curious about the names of the startups you can easily Google up his LinkedIn profile. Click through to the book covers on his site to find out his real name. Rands is a pen name that goes along with the familiar storytelling style of the blog.
wisty 15y ago
He tries to avoid naming his companies. He worked at Apple from ~2002 to 2010, and was simply banned from giving any details, or even mentioning that he did work for Apple (though it's on Wikipedia). I guess the habit stuck.

rcfox 15y ago

For what it's worth, 1:1 is also known as a one-on-one. Basically, just a meeting between you and your boss. He describes it fairly well here: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_the_vent_and_the_disaster.html http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/09/22/the_update_...

dpritchett 15y ago

You've touched on a few of the conceits in his writing style: 1) He writes as if you're at least somewhat familiar with the stories he's been telling all these years. 2) The stories are presented as parables, and the details may not all be 100% consistent from year to year. The "parable" conceit could be a convenient dodge to avoid fully justifying or proving his points, but I've found the coherence and strong voice of the writing to be respectable enough so far. If you're really curious about the names of the startups you can easily Google up his LinkedIn profile. Click through to the book covers on his site to find out his real name. Rands is a pen name that goes along with the familiar storytelling style of the blog.

wisty 15y ago

He tries to avoid naming his companies. He worked at Apple from ~2002 to 2010, and was simply banned from giving any details, or even mentioning that he did work for Apple (though it's on Wikipedia). I guess the habit stuck.