The Important Thing

Hosted by Michael Lopp

Management LeisureExplicit

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Episodes

100

Latest episode

Jul 2026

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About the show

The Important Thing with Michael ("Rands") Lopp and Lyle Troxell. Let's spend a few minutes of your life listening and learning about an Important Thing.

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60 recent

August 14, 202639 min

The Promotion Paradox

In our 101st episode, we kick off a new era of episode titles as your best engineer becomes the interim manager of their own team — delegation, one-on-ones, the three-year rule, a visit from Chili Palmer, the Cadillac of minivans salesman himself, and the only question that matters: do you actually want this job? Down the rabbit hole: Sometimes Your Job is to Stay the Hell Out of the Way, the wolves post Rands published the day this was recorded Sometimes Your Job is to Get in the Way, the direct response Get Shorty, home of Chili Palmer and the Cadillac of minivans Related Important Things episodes: EP 32: The One About 1:1s — the investment, not the cost EP 76: The One About Seven Managers EP 9: The One About Manager READMEs EP 20: The One About Management (Pt. 1) — plus Pt. 2 and Pt. 3

July 13, 202645 min

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 importantthing.show. Deep-link a favorite or just scroll through a hundred episodes of history. Stuff that came up: Riverside, where this show has been recorded since the We Are Netflix days Rands Leadership Slack, now staffed by a helpful jobs robot named Floyd Planetfall, the Infocom classic Floyd is named after Friends, the homage hiding in plain sight in every episode title Marco Arment, listening since at least Rands' fiftieth birthday Related Important Things episodes: EP 56: The One About the Month of Podcasting EP 51: The One About Names... Again EP 98: The One About The Joy of Bots EP 18: The One About Sugar — Lyle's favorite, as heard on-air EP 78: The One About Sandwiches — the other favorite EP 96: The One About ARC Raiders — the first episode the robots dressed up

July 8, 202621 min

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: Arc Raiders, absorbing ten-hour days like it's a job Rands Leadership Slack — 35,000 leaders, 7,000 a week Daring Fireball, John Gruber's one-person media entity Ray Kroc, who started McDonald's in his fifties CalArts, where Lyle's daughter learned she didn't want to animate for a living UC Santa Cruz, Lyle's decade in the state of California Related Important Things episodes: EP 25: The One About the Pro Leisure Circuit EP 96: The One About ARC Raiders

July 5, 202645 min

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: Planetfall, the Infocom game that gave Floyd his name Rands Leadership Slack Managing Humans Railway Supabase Bear Ghostty Cory Doctorow on centaurs and reverse-centaurs Related Important Things episodes: EP 73: The One About Robots EP 83: The One About Your AI Tools

March 13, 202614 min

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: Rands Leadership Slack South by Southwest Jony Ive & Patrick Collison at Stripe Sessions Related Important Things episodes: EP 73: The One About Robots

March 5, 202624 min

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: ARC Raiders The Last of Us (HBO) Pokemon Go Sea of Thieves World of Warcraft Acquired Podcast Related Important Things episodes: EP 25: The One About the Pro Leisure Circuit EP 2: The One About Destiny EP 55: The One About Destiny 2

January 31, 202616 min

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.

December 1, 202518 min

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.