Going to divide today’s list up into sections, just to shake things up. Lots going on lately.

Reads

  • 11am Baseball On One of 12 Streaming Services: Will be interesting to see how this evolves going forward. On one hand, this doesn’t seem conceptually more complicated than trying to find your favorite team on a cable package. Is it on ESPN or your local RSN or on your local broadcast channel? Maybe it’s on TBS? On the other hand, your cable box has gotten smarter, and allows search across all the channels. This will likely boil down to what data the streaming services want to control. Something tells me it’s not billing that matters, so I’d bet on seeing more deals like Verizon’s or Comcast’s. It’ll also be interesting to see what data the streaming services share. For example, on Apple’s or Xfinity’s boxes, you can search for individual titles from most streaming services. A notable exception is Netflix, which leads the way in terms of using data to drive their overall content programming strategy. All of this is further complicated by the fact that all of the major “connected TV” device manufacturers also run streaming services or advertising services (e.g. Roku). Even more interesting, do consumers end up in the same spot again? Prices are going up on all of these services… isn’t that what drove cord cutting in the first place? Ben Thompson has a great series that laid this out in 2013…
  • Yahoo Memo: The Peanut Butter Manifesto: I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember why I came across this again this week, but it still holds up. Good read.
  • Managing People: If you want to do anything with any significant impact, odds are you’re working with other folks. I agree with nearly everything in the list. Servant leadership + transparency are key.
  • If Your Boss Has an MBA, You Might End Up Earning Less Money: I know lots of people with MBAs who I’d happily work for. This study also rings true, though.
  • What Happened When Elon Musk Set Out to Destroy a Junior Engineer: Really bizarre and disturbing story about Musk and Tesla.
  • A Look Back At The Best MINI April Fools Pranks: These are April Fools jokes I can get behind. Some clever ones in here.

Code

  • Mantine: React component library that looks good. I’m still staying with Svelte with the front end work I’m doing, but this looks useful.
  • U.S. Web Design System (USWDS): The federal government began hiring from tech companies (including ESPN’s digital teams) in earnest about a decade ago, creating 18F. This design system looks interesting.

Maker Projects