Talking about AI doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world.
Join Rich Ziade, Paul Ford, and their guests as they discuss how AI is changing software development, business strategy—and everything else. New episodes every Tuesday.
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Talking about AI doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world.
Join Rich Ziade, Paul Ford, and their guests as they discuss how AI is changing software development, business strategy—and everything else. New episodes every Tuesday.
There are a huge number of low-code tools out there—but is “low code” a meaningful term? Paul and Rich discuss the promise versus the reality of low code, what most businesses really need from software, and the other descriptors they’d use if tasked with a low-code rebrand.
What does “risk-taking” really mean in business—and how can embracing some level of chaos help foster success? Paul and Rich make the case for unpredictability, talking about everything from New York City’s Diamond District to the relatively short runway when running an agency to Rich’s management style. (Hint: It involves repeatedly hitting a metaphorical gong.)
You’ve got one software system that doesn’t play nicely with your other software system—so surely the answer is a third software system to link them together, right? And how about adding a fourth, maybe even a fifth? Paul and Rich discuss the challenging gaps between the platforms people use to manage their businesses: How hard it can be to truly identify problems while you’re trying to grow, and how technology consultants tend to recommend shorter-term solutions that only make things more complicated—and more expensive.
How do you bring in ten times as many new users every day? That’s not the question you should actually be asking. Paul and Rich discuss the tech world’s faulty success metrics, the perpetual struggle of onboarding, and the importance of humility when listening to and communicating with your users.
If a huge company wants to “partner” with your small business, can that ever be a fair partnership? Paul describes a recent mentorship dilemma to Rich, and they discuss the dynamics that make the position of the smaller player in that scenario so challenging. Plus: Musings on public-spectacle trials past and present, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and the existential dread prompted by even the most innocent Slack notifications.
From copyright violations to environmental concerns to the looming threat of the singularity, AI is a hot-button topic these days. Paul and Rich talk through many facets of this conversation, and discuss how they think about the AI components of Aboard. Plus: A little roleplay in which we learn that Paul thinks Aboard is an earnest mid-century cartoon character.
Most weeks, the Aboard Podcast is only sponsored by Aboard—but this week, Paul and Rich celebrate Aboard’s relaunch by devoting the whole episode to their shiny new AI-powered product! After they take a (technical and non-technical) look at exactly what’s going on under the hood, they discuss the ways Aboard uses AI to help humans, not supplant them.
Just a quick update today, because....WE'RE LAUNCHING A SHINY NEW VERSION OF ABOARD!!! Paul and Rich will be back on Thursday with a full episode (which, as you can imagine, will be about the shiny new version of Aboard). In the meantime, check out all our changes—open up the app or visit Aboard.com!
This past week, the big news in the design software world was Canva’s acquisition of Affinity, and Paul and Rich kick off the episode by asking, “Is this a failure on Adobe’s part?” But of course Adobe remains a massively profitable company—so what drives the impulse to frame a giant tech company’s misses as overarching “failures”? As they mull over various motivations, they discuss how to reframe success on your own terms, outside the simple metrics of competition or industry trends.
Can we all agree that the vibes are off? On this week’s podcast, Paul and Rich dig into our broader societal malaise (the effects of the pandemic; our phones as an endless portal to misery) and discuss how business leaders can combat these feelings. Plus: Some early analysis of the DOJ’s antitrust case against Apple, and a story about a Formula 1 team using a single Excel spreadsheet for…everything.