SNL’s must-see Weezer sketch is probably making fun of you

This sketch may be about Weezer, but its really about any pop culture thing that inspires serious opinionsand it will make you rethink how you air yours in public. What: The only sketch you will ever need to see about Weezer.Read Full Story

Leadership is about coaching. Here’s how to do it well.

You can start with one simple behavior change that will bring a massive impact. If youre a leader or a manager, you probably wear a lot of hats. Youre a project manager, delegator, spokesperson, and most importantly, a coach. But the problem is that no one ever tells you how to be an effective coach, or even what that means. Are you supposed to act like a sports coach? A therapist? Perform some bizarre (and arcane) HR ritual?Read Full Story

Food for Agile Thought #172

Missed Obamacare open enrollment? You still have a few insurance options

The deadline to apply for the ACA was December 15. Despite a federal judge striking down the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) as unconstitutional on Friday, the healthcare law remains in effectduring the appeals process. The case may very well head to the U.S. Supreme Court, but for now, the estimated4.1 million people who signed up for plans on Healthcare.gov will be insured for 2019.Read Full Story

Amazon and Walmart add more robots, but insist they won’t terminate jobs

Companies like Amazon and Walmart say their automation efforts will lead to new jobs, but critics worry about the humans who could be phased out. Since Amazon bought warehouse robotics company Kiva Systems in 2012, its efforts in automation have been well known. The retail and tech powerhouse has introduced its cashierless Amazon Go stores, flirted with plans for drone deliveries, and rolled out tens of thousands of robots to shuffle goods around its fulfillment centers.Read Full Story

Why being a manager is a career change, not a promotion

This Buffer engineer shares some of the surprising lessons and takeaways of transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager. Almost two years ago, I fell into becoming a manager.Read Full Story

Facebook’s Building 8 research lab is no more

Its not easy to translate DARPAs fabled principles into world-changing successes. Business Insiders Rob Price is reporting on the end of Building 8a much-ballyhooed skunkworks within Facebook dedicated to wildly ambitious hardware research. Its Portal videophone is now a commercial project, and a recent reorg has shuffled its other projects elsewhere at Facebook. As Facebook VP for AR and VR Andrew Bosworth pointed out to me on Twitter, the shift is more about the end of the Building 8 branding than Facebook pulling back on bleeding-edge research. Still, it feels like a notable moment in a six-year-long saga that spans both Facebook and Google.Read Full Story

Top 5 Ads Of The Week: Ryan Reynolds sips his gin with tongue in cheek

The tears of the Deadpool actor power his gin, a horrifically human Xmas tree, and Sandy Hook Promise marks six years. Back in July, Finnish newspaperHelsingin Sanomat used billboards to cheekily welcome Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to Finland, the land of the free press. Now the paper is marking other Earthly disasters with a limited series of Christmas sweaters. But instead of gaudy reindeer, the sweaters represent the ugliest news of 2018. So its war, climate change, plastic ocean pollution, sexual harassment, and technological manipulation. Except, yknow, on a wool sweater. Onward!Read Full Story