The Important Thing

Spend a bit of your life listening and learning about this week’s Important Thing with Michael Lopp and Lyle Troxell.

The One About The Important Thing 07/13/2026

The One About The Important Thing 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 . Deep-link a favorite or just scroll through a hundred episodes of history. Stuff that came up: , where this show has been recorded since the We Are Netflix days , now staffed by a helpful jobs robot named Floyd , the Infocom classic Floyd is named after , the homage hiding in plain sight in every episode title , listening since at least Rands’ fiftieth birthday Related Important Things episodes: — Lyle’s favorite, as heard on-air — the other favorite — the first episode the robots dressed up /episode/index/show/rands/id/42053490

The One About the Pro Leisure Circuit (Again) 07/08/2026

The One About the Pro Leisure Circuit (Again) 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: , absorbing ten-hour days like it's a job — 35,000 leaders, 7,000 a week , John Gruber's one-person media entity , who started McDonald's in his fifties , where Lyle's daughter learned she didn't want to animate for a living , Lyle's decade in the state of California Related Important Things episodes: /episode/index/show/rands/id/42015680

The One About The Joy of Bots 07/05/2026

The One About The Joy of Bots 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: , the Infocom game that gave Floyd his name Related Important Things episodes: /episode/index/show/rands/id/41966700

The One About In Real Life 03/13/2026

The One About In Real Life 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: /episode/index/show/rands/id/40421575

The One About ARC Raiders 03/05/2026

The One About ARC Raiders 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: /episode/index/show/rands/id/40335225

The One About Exercise (Again) 01/31/2026

The One About Exercise (Again) 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. /episode/index/show/rands/id/39943475

The One About The Unfortunates 12/01/2025

The One About The Unfortunates 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. /episode/index/show/rands/id/39223565

The One About Fully Formed Humans 11/06/2025

The One About Fully Formed Humans In our 93rd episode, we wonder aloud about free will, children, and what makes a good ice hockey team. /episode/index/show/rands/id/38942995

The One About Productivity (Again) 08/25/2025

The One About Productivity (Again) In our 92nd episode, we talk about the ongoing battle with productivity tool swirl. Again. /episode/index/show/rands/id/37949625

The One About Founder Mode 07/12/2025

The One About Founder Mode In our 91st episode, we talked about Founder Mode long after everyone else had moved on. /episode/index/show/rands/id/37384610

The One About Exercise 04/02/2025

The One About Exercise In our 90th epsiode, we walk through all the benefits of improving our exercise strategy. /episode/index/show/rands/id/35975510

The One About Fiber 01/11/2025

The One About Fiber In our 89th episode, we talk about the wires that bring us the bits. And then Derrick the editor time travels. /episode/index/show/rands/id/34814685

The One About the Software Developer's Career Handbook 12/29/2024

The One About the Software Developer's Career Handbook In our 88th episode and WAY AFTER the book was published, Lyle and I talk about the Software Developer's Career Handbook. Yes, this book was published a year ago. /episode/index/show/rands/id/34645625

The One About World Building 12/28/2024

The One About World Building In our 87th episode, we talk about world-building, but we mostly talk about shows that we love with a minimal amount of spoiler alerts. /episode/index/show/rands/id/34639170

The One About Gifts and Bees 12/02/2024

The One About Gifts and Bees In our 86th episode, we talk timepieces (again), and then we somehow segue to bees. Brace for it. /episode/index/show/rands/id/34224065

The One About Dapper 11/11/2024

The One About Dapper In our 85th episode, we talk dapper and how it might be armor. /episode/index/show/rands/id/33873712

The One About Rabbit Holes 08/31/2024

The One About Rabbit Holes In our 84th episode, we go deep on the idea of why it's bad to be busy. /episode/index/show/rands/id/32828352

The One About Your AI Tools 05/05/2024

The One About Your AI Tools In our 83rd episode, we revisit the various use cases we've discovered with our favorite AI tools. /episode/index/show/rands/id/31131648

The One About Timepieces 03/20/2024

The One About Timepieces In our 82nd episode, we talk watches I mean horology I mean chronophiles or maybe timepieces. /episode/index/show/rands/id/30450963

The One About Notifications 03/16/2024

The One About Notifications In our 81st episode, we BING talk about the BONG important BONG BONG topic of BING BING BING notifications and DING DING DING notifications sounds. /episode/index/show/rands/id/30401448

The One About Travel (Again) 03/07/2024

The One About Travel (Again) In our 80th episode, we talk about travels to last summer. There was a pillow menu. /episode/index/show/rands/id/30267313

The One About Losing the Weekend 03/05/2024

The One About Losing the Weekend In our 79th episode, we talk about situations with software that might destroy your weekend. /episode/index/show/rands/id/30246883

The One About Sandwiches 12/26/2023

The One About Sandwiches In our 78th episode, we’re go deep on sandwiches. Great, now I’m hungry. /episode/index/show/rands/id/29231893

The One About Magic 10/03/2023

The One About Magic In our 77th episode, we discuss why magic is everywhere. /episode/index/show/rands/id/28213307

The One About Seven Managers 06/04/2023

The One About Seven Managers In our 76th episode, we freestyle a list of the seven types of managers on the planet. There are more, but here are seven. /episode/index/show/rands/id/27041178

The One About Shoes 05/30/2023

The One About Shoes In our 75th episode, we’re talking shoes. Only 25 episodes left… and we’re talking shoes. Ok. /episode/index/show/rands/id/26993061

The One About Powerful Organizations 05/28/2023

The One About Powerful Organizations In our 74th episode, I swear we are only talking about one Important Thing, but I may be AI hallucinating. /episode/index/show/rands/id/26971668

The One About Robots 05/07/2023

The One About Robots Everyone has AI fever in our 73rd episode where — and you better get used to it — we are talking about those robots again. /episode/index/show/rands/id/26766876

The One About Must-See TV 05/04/2023

The One About Must-See TV Speed round episode. Things we’ve been watching that you must not miss. You’re welcome. /episode/index/show/rands/id/26745006

The One About Mastodon Follow-ups 04/16/2023

The One About Mastodon Follow-ups In our 71st episode, we talk about robots again, and then we follow with a Mastodon chaser. /episode/index/show/rands/id/26555757

The Important Thing

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