The Important Thing

Latest Episodes:

The Promotion Paradox Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

In our 101st episode, we kick off a new era of episode titles as your best engineer becomes the interim manager of their own team — delegation, one-on-ones, the three-year rule, a visit from Chili Palmer, the Cadillac of minivans salesman himself, and the only question that matters: do you actually want this job?

Down the rabbit hole:

Sometimes Your Job is to Stay the Hell Out of the Way, the wolves post Rands published the day this was recorded
Sometimes Your Job is to Get in the Way, the direct response
Get Shorty, home of Chili Palmer and the Cadillac of minivans

Related Important Things episodes:

EP 32: The One About 1:1s — the investment, not the cost
EP 76: The One About Seven Managers
EP 9: The One About Manager READMEs
EP 20: The One About Management (Pt. 1) — plus Pt. 2 and Pt. 3

The One About The Important Thing Jul 13, 2026

Show notes

One hundred episodes. For this occasion, years in the coming, Lyle and Rands talk about the thing itself — the nuts and bolts of the podcast, including how the robots now do an alarming amount of the work, what a hundred episodes taught us, and why we use the "The One About…" naming convention.

🎁: the show has a home at importantthing.show. Deep-link a favorite or just scroll through a hundred episodes of history.

Stuff that came up:

Riverside, where this show has been recorded since the We Are Netflix days
Rands Leadership Slack, now staffed by a helpful jobs robot named Floyd
Planetfall, the Infocom classic Floyd is named after
Friends, the homage hiding in plain sight in every episode title
Marco Arment, listening since at least Rands' fiftieth birthday

Related Important Things episodes:

EP 56: The One About the Month of Podcasting
EP 51: The One About Names... Again
EP 98: The One About The Joy of Bots
EP 18: The One About Sugar — Lyle's favorite, as heard on-air
EP 78: The One About Sandwiches — the other favorite
EP 96: The One About ARC Raiders — the first episode the robots dressed up

The One About the Pro Leisure Circuit (Again) Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

In our 99th episode, Rands is back on the Pro Leisure Circuit — infinite time, a suspicious amount of Arc Raiders, and no wind in the sails — and we wrestle with what actually motivates a person when the engine of work goes quiet.

The usual suspects:

Arc Raiders, absorbing ten-hour days like it's a job
Rands Leadership Slack — 35,000 leaders, 7,000 a week
Daring Fireball, John Gruber's one-person media entity
Ray Kroc, who started McDonald's in his fifties
CalArts, where Lyle's daughter learned she didn't want to animate for a living
UC Santa Cruz, Lyle's decade in the state of California

Related Important Things episodes:

The One About The Joy of Bots Jul 05, 2026

Show notes

In our 98th episode, we list the things we've been building with our robots and figure out who we're really yelling at when it all goes wrong.

Mentioned, referenced, or obsessed over:

Planetfall, the Infocom game that gave Floyd his name
Rands Leadership Slack
Managing Humans
Railway
Supabase
Bear
Ghostty
Cory Doctorow on centaurs and reverse-centaurs

Related Important Things episodes:

The One About In Real Life Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

In our 97th episode, we talk about how much more we learn in person and why the last 10% of anything is the most important part.

Things we mentioned:

Related Important Things episodes:

EP 73: The One About Robots

The One About ARC Raiders Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

In our 96th episode, Rands goes deep (perhaps too deep) on ARC Raiders, an extraction shooter where trust is the real currency.

Mentioned, referenced, or obsessed over:

Related Important Things episodes:

The One About Exercise (Again) Jan 31, 2026

Show notes

In our 95th episode, we again talk about the value of exercise. Lyle paddles an outrigger, Rands used to play hockey, but now he bikes, and we compare peak heart rates. It's a thriller.

The One About The Unfortunates Dec 01, 2025

Show notes

In our 94th episode, we talk about when Rands goes unhinged and why that is cathartic. Then, we talk about the plight of enterprise software users and why they are so unfortunate.

The One About Fully Formed Humans Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

In our 93rd episode, we wonder aloud about free will, children, and what makes a good ice hockey team.

The One About Productivity (Again) Aug 25, 2025

Show notes

In our 92nd episode, we talk about the ongoing battle with productivity tool swirl. Again.