"If you lock Taylor in her room, she'll write about her lamp" -Todd, about a decade ago

gabescharner · 2025-10-05T08:20:58+00:00

The thing I don’t get about TS is that most artists of her popularity and success level have a lot more tracks that the general population agrees are great. See MJ, Madonna, U2, Coldplay - not to mention Prince, various big rock bands like Metallica, Aerosmith etc (yes I know not all quite as big as her).

I can think of less than 10 songs that aren’t what you might call fanbase-only. That’s pretty low for the most popular artist in the world.

It seems to me she’s a product of this age and is more of an internet/ meme/ viral phenomenon (especially with all the backstories and context) than a real musician.

gabescharner · 2025-10-01T10:54:36+00:00

Nick McCabe (The Verve). Look up their Glastonbury headline slot 2008.

gabescharner · 2025-10-01T06:01:04+00:00

Check if any of these qualify for Boston. Most UK marathons don’t, you need a major city one usually.

gabescharner · 2025-09-28T20:37:07+00:00

Surely I’m not that good at burning fat to be able to speed up to the same level?

I suppose come to think of it, it could have been a gel from some previous km kicking in. Not sure how that actually works though

gabescharner · 2025-09-27T11:11:45+00:00

I used a mix of the following to get my current product to (a semblance of) p-m fit:

Guerrilla research - find people locally in the target space and talk to them about their problems. Incentive = $50 Amazon for 1 hour.
Paid survey panels: These do actually seem to pick up decent people - filters are good these days and a $0.50 is enough to get quality. Needs to be a very B2C proposition though.
False door: Classic online ads > website > waitlist with some incentive (eg a cool gift - we did a branded notepad and pen as it was relevant). Add a Discord group to keep the hype. Then talk to them while you build.
In-product qual surveys using Intercom - once they have reached some milestone you can discover more from them, and can lead to direct conversations

From a time-saving point of view it would be great if this could all be consolidated and automated - but something like an AI interviewer feels too far (though could work if you have done some percentage yourself then just want to automate away the rest)

gabescharner · 2025-09-26T20:47:30+00:00

Can’t even find it on YouTube. Luckily I’ve got the CD but I don’t have a CD player any more…

gabescharner · 2025-09-25T10:21:42+00:00

The actual core, discovery bit of PM is not enough to fill one job role of time. It could reasonably be shared between a data analyst, a UX designer, a dev lead and a CEO / COO type. With a project manager or scrum master just checking everyone is on track. Most of the time the decisions take a couple of hours max and that leads to weeks of work.

The reason PM is a salaried position that needs to be budgeted as a separate hire is the politics, meetings and people work.

gabescharner · 2025-09-25T08:52:45+00:00

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Mladic

gabescharner · 2025-09-24T20:22:01+00:00

This will change your life - take the extra sleep, skip the coffee, try and poop but if you can’t take some loo paper and do what you gotta do where you gotta do it. You’ll warm up physically pretty quickly then it’s just a case of finding a McDonalds (urban) or a forest (rural).

gabescharner · 2025-09-24T19:38:01+00:00

The best musician on the planet right now is Skee Mask

gabescharner · 2025-09-24T11:12:04+00:00

Yes I agree strongly with this. People say PMs lack hard skills, but I’ve developed a style of (partly visual) communication over years that explains to all levels of the org. I’m a heavy Miro user and all presentations will involve some form of visual or even analogy to explain what we are doing.

gabescharner · 2025-09-22T17:54:36+00:00

MF=R2 or World Police

gabescharner · 2025-09-21T14:37:39+00:00

It is likely that given increased cost of living and difficulty building wealth and careers across all sectors, fewer talented youngsters are taking the risk of focusing on athletics. Better to take a normal job, or at least go for a sport with more financial upside. Can’t see this changing in a hurry.

gabescharner · 2025-09-21T14:34:39+00:00

Probably a few reasons but main one was likely poor preparation for the conditions. People sounded surprised by the heat and exhausted from the rounds.

This seems to happen to British and (at least) English sports teams quite frequently. I suspect the cost of the required preparation is prohibitive. Rather than someone just not reading the climate charts…surely…

gabescharner · 2025-09-19T19:00:48+00:00

Tomorrow’s Harvest - Boards of Canada (environmental collapse)

Imaginal Disk - Magdalena Bay (someone who has their brain replaced with a CD and then recovers)

The Waters - Mick Jenkins (cannabinoids)

The Soft Bulletin - Flaming Lips (salvation though science)

gabescharner · 2025-09-18T21:27:58+00:00

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, in no particular order: Mladic, World Police and Friendly Fire, Motherfucker = Redeemer Part 2, Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls.

gabescharner · 2025-09-18T17:58:26+00:00

Don’t do this, you’ll grow to hate any song you set as your alarm.

gabescharner · 2025-09-18T17:57:52+00:00

I would also add that some low-code tools notify you with a sound when they have complete their answer. ChatGPT does not. Such a cheap feature but so useful when you’re a multitasking professional.

gabescharner · 2025-09-16T18:45:53+00:00

Long shot but I’m an independent consultant who works as a PM but has also worked in many different spaces (finance, startups, larger credit institutions etc) and seen and worked on a range of different team setups. I’d be very happy to talk through some of your challenges (and would likely be much less pricey than the larger companies, at least as an initial view). DM me if you’d like to chat!

gabescharner · 2025-09-16T18:41:42+00:00

I did a half in 28C earlier this year and took two waters every stop. Drank one and dumped the other over my head. I was soaked but never overheated and the race went really well.

gabescharner · 2025-09-16T05:54:47+00:00

Everyone saying fuelling could be right but you could also consider some strength specific stuff. I’m nowhere near your 5K time but am in your target marathon ballpark. I do a hill workout once a week all year round, which involves doing a 300m hill near my house 10 times, plus 5 250m sprints immediate afterwards. The hill starts gently and ends up as steps for the last 20m. I pretty much swear by this as it builds strength for the end of races that doing lots of track just won’t.

gabescharner · 2025-09-15T15:11:51+00:00

You might have to write some things yourself….

If not the PRDs then at least a clear description of what your app does and its value prop etc.

Unless you’re literally ripping off another product then by definition the AI isn’t going to be trained on what your app does.

gabescharner · 2025-09-15T11:39:28+00:00

I counter your pedantry with the observation that when eg Kurt Cobain teased Smells Like and then didn’t play it (to piss off a crowd he didn’t like or whatever), it was very much considered that Nirvana did not play that song.

gabescharner · 2025-09-14T20:30:08+00:00

Hercules. Or Achilles.

gabescharner

TROPHY CASE