Catalyst Podcast

Paul tells us about his new project, Ephemeralist, a web page that gives your brain a break from the heaviness of social media. It pulls archives from places like the MoMA and the Smithsonian, and allows you to scroll through history—from books and fossils, to pictures of donkeys from the 1700s. We go through Paul's experience with hosting his new project on Google Cloud and how these massive hosting platforms have become increasingly convoluted and geared towards engineers.

Enterprise software is a behemoth. It’s expensive, confusing and takes forever to learn. On this week’s episode of Postlight Podcast, Paul & Rich continue to break down why enterprise software is such a mess. We get into this confusing world of caked-on features and mysterious sales pitches.

In the wise words of Elbert Hubbard “logic is a tool for furthering prejudice.” On this week’s episode of the Postlight Podcast, Paul & Rich unpack this quote and talk about how best to communicate facts and logic. We share some tips on how to communicate facts in a way that actually engages people and talk about why using rhetoric rather than fact is a better way to get your point across. And in the end, we of course tie this all back to software. 

The past 6 months have forced everyone into a new working situation, a situation that could continue for a while yet. This week Paul & Rich share some tips for coping with the ongoing pandemic. We discuss why you should be gathering your team more often and keeping clear and frequent communication about what’s happening across the company. We also talk about ways to be a source of stability for your employees and, of course, about the importance of humor.

We regulate cars so why not regulate tech? This week on the Postlight Podcast, Paul & Rich get philosophical. We ask the big questions about how to regulate our own creations and how sometimes infringing on someone’s freedom can actually be a good thing. After all, without red lights the streets don’t work.

In this final episode of our 3 part series, Paul & Rich check back in with Managing Partner Chris LoSacco on the two final mistakes you’ve likely been making with your product. We talk about the importance of marketing your products within your own organization. Chris also explains his controversial opinion on why you shouldn’t be listening to your customers (don’t worry it’s not as scary or irresponsible as it sounds!).

In Part 2 of this 3 part series, Paul, Rich & Postlight Managing Partner Chris LoSacco talk about two more mistakes you’re making with your product, neglecting your tooling and single sourcing your Quality Assurance (QA). We discuss how you can optimize your tooling setup to be more productive and catch errors early in the development process. We also talk about how product managers can help select the right tools and why QA should be baked into the whole process.

Keeping your timeline super flexible may sound like a good idea when developing software, after all software is always changing, but Chris LoSacco is here to tell you why that’s a mistake. This week we dig into the 6 common mistakes people make in product development. In Part 1 we go over the first two mistakes, being vague with your timelines and waiting too long to ship...

When presenting to a client, you may feel inclined to load your pitch deck with information, but overwhelming your audience with information may actually be working against you. This week Rich & Gina give some tips on putting together an effective and persuasive deck. We talk about the importance of simplicity and storytelling and discuss our different methods of rehearsing the pitch.

We hate to introduce yet another acronym, but this one is worth paying attention to. This week we introduce QORE, Postlight’s method of evaluating the main components of any projects. We breakdown the 4 letters of the acronym, quality, opportunity, risk and efficiency and show you how keeping track of these can help you produce something you and your clients will be proud of. Use QORE and prosper friends!