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Daily one-pagers about AI, leadership, technology, and being human.

johnmaconline

I'm writing to think, learn, and remember in public. I'll be here everyday.

June 19, 2026 1 minute read

Relative to What?

HumanThe250

Be careful when you see percentages.

For example, from one point of view, no one reads the articles I write. If we calculate the percentage of visitors to my site on any given day relative to Earth’s population (or heck, relative to the US population), the answer is 0. Always, every day. Mathematical truth. Zero.

However, if we calculate the percentage relative to people that I know or care about, that answer is not zero. It might even be something healthy like 25%.

Percentage is relative.

No matter what team you’re on, you can use percentages to make your point.

Therefore, “Relative to what?” is never a dumb question.

June 18, 2026 1 minute read

Less with More or More with Less

HumanLeadershipTechnology

If you’re budgeting across personnel and tokens, you can take either of these two paths.

You can try to do more with less, or do less with more.

More output, more ideas, and more value.

Or less scattershot, less distractions, and less surface area.

Either can lead to exponentially better.

There is a third path also: status quo, but save time and cut costs.

That’s the perilous path. It’s the dirt trail on the side of the steep mountain, in the jungle, and it’s been raining for days on end. Up or down?

It doesn’t matter.

You’ll end up in the same place.

June 17, 2026 1 minute read

AI Trolls

AIHumanTechnology

We have two kinds of AI trolls.

The first are humans trolling AI. These aren’t dangerous. An AI doesn’t care if it gets trolled.

The second is AI trolling humans. These are dangerous. Humans care about getting trolled.

Let’s think about this as we continue to weave AI into everything we do as humans.

June 16, 2026 1 minute read

Belonging

HumanThe250

Everybody wants to belong.

It’s one of the most powerful human emotions. If you can make someone feel that they belong, that’s a win.

This is just a reminder.

June 15, 2026 2 minute read

Proper Deadlines

HumanLeadershipThe250

We have a love/hate relationship with deadlines.

Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the available time. For example, if you schedule a 60-minute meeting, you’ll talk for 60 minutes, even if 15 would have been enough.

So common-sense efficiency dictates scheduling the meeting for 15 minutes. You should start doing that, by the way.

The same can be true for schedules. If you give someone a week to finish a half-day task, they will take the full week. Are they working on it the whole time? Of course not. They probably started 4 hours before it was due.

So should you have put today as the deadline rather than next week?

A deadline helps. It puts a box around it. It takes away one of the variables. It says, “here’s where we need this.”

But also, it can cause panic, shoddy work, and demotivation. I’m not gonna get it done, so what’s the point?

That’s the deadline paradox.

The proper deadline walks that line. And “proper” has little to do with reality.

Proper deadlines do not have to correspond with or be described as realistic, nor do they have to build in the proper time for this, that, and the other thing that also needs to get done. Proper deadlines are not comfortable.

Proper deadlines motivate. It’s that simple.

June 14, 2026 1 minute read

Growing the Human Team

AIHumanLeadership

Growing your human team still matters.

In fact, in today’s world of AI teams augmenting human teams, it might even matter more as personnel budgets split between humans and tokens. Each person on the team matters more. And they must not only interface with other humans, but also the robots. That’s a new skill set we humans need.

As you grow your team, it’s still important to remember that hiring is not dating. You’re looking for those who will make a difference and add something that doesn’t exist today, not necessarily those you want to take to lunch.

As you talk with candidates, ask them about AI. Ask them about their experiences with it, their philosophy about it, and their ideas about how to best use it. The “I don’t like it,” “I don’t use it,” or “I’m just as good as it” all indicate a certain core philosophy. That’s a fine personal philosophy, but does it align with your professional team’s mission?

Today, growing your human team also means growing your AI team. Hire accordingly.

June 13, 2026 2 minute read

The Micro Version Number

LeadershipTechnologyThe250

Software releases have version numbers.

It’s how we know, both internally and externally, what this thing is that we just unleashed. “We” is many different people:

  • The customer-facing people. The version number serves as a marketing communication tool. “This version has these features and improvements that you care about.”
  • The software engineering people. The version number serves as both a specific indicator of what code is included (and, by extension, excluded) and, if there’s a bug (there’s always a bug), where to start so they can fix it.
  • The test people. The version number indicates the actual thing they must test because this is what goes out to the world. We’re not testing some like what we’re delivering. We’re testing the delivery.
  • The executive people. The version number serves as a way to discuss, prioritize, and understand the overall progress of the product.

The version number usually looks something like 12.3.14.

We call that last number, 14 in this case, the microversion. Seems small. Seems like no big deal. 14 probably isn’t much different than 13.

Could be true.

But also, it could be thousands of hours of effort.

Sometimes what looks like the smallest of the hurdles turns out to be the biggest of the mountains.

June 12, 2026 1 minute read

Where is Here?

HumanLeadershipThe250

“What are we doing here?”

A good question to ask in both a geographical and operational situation.

What are we doing here? Meaning physically here.

How did we get here? Do we know where we are? Is this where we want to be? Where are we going?

What are we doing here? Meaning operationally here.

Why are we doing this? Is this going to help? Should we be doing it? What are we doing next?

Keep asking the basic questions. Maybe not all the time, but definitely sometimes.

If you don’t like or don’t know the answers, it might be time to plot a course to a different here.

June 11, 2026 1 minute read

The Art of It

AIHumanTechnology

I know it when I see it.

So do you. But what is it in the age of generative AI?

Spoiler alert: It doesn’t mean handmade. Or live. Or no tech.

It does, however, take insight. And creativity. And emotion. And perspective.

Art is still the same as it ever was.

You know it when you see it.

June 10, 2026 1 minute read

Doing the Job Versus Doing Your Job

HumanLeadershipThe250

The job has a title and role description. Maybe even KPI’s.

That’s the job.

But that’s not all there is to your job. Your job also requires curiosity, caring, effort, responsibility, creativity, and generosity.

No title, role description, or KPI can describe or measure them.

Only you can do your job.

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