Ron Ijack

Good Canadian Kid Does and Sings AI Nick Frosst, co-founder of AI company Cohere, simultaneously leads a successful indie band called Good Kid. An unexpected blend of technology and music! Song recommendation: Listen to "Nomu" by Good Kid. The song includes interesting references to technological topics such as syntax, semantics, and lost language - concepts related to the world of AI. https://lnkd.in/dKBpKx5F This shows how the band members' technological background influences their musical creation. "The syntax skips, semantics slip And what was left a growing cleft of language lost, tokens unknown" To view the full lyrics: https://lnkd.in/d-78VdXr A moment of nostalgia: "How do you convert PDF to JPG?" by the (Israeli) band Umlala? What a classic! Today, we'd ask an LLM how to do that ;-) https://lnkd.in/dyMiq9cv What musical association comes to your mind?

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Transitioning to a new role at Shopify has been a journey filled with both excitement and challenges. Here are a few key learnings from my experience so far. Prioritizing Information: One of the biggest challenges has been sifting through the vast amount of information available. With so much happening across the organization and an abundance of content to absorb, distinguishing between what's actionable and what's just for context is crucial. I've learned the importance of seeking early guidance from my team to help prioritize effectively. This approach has been invaluable in focusing on what truly matters and ensuring my contributions have the most impact. It's about striking a balance between being informed and overwhelmed, and I've found that open communication with colleagues has been key to navigating this. By actively engaging in discussions and leveraging the expertise of those around me, I've been able to streamline my focus and direct my efforts where they are needed most. Embracing Change and Adaptability: This is a dynamic environment where some applications and processes have been around for ages, while others may have been introduced just the month before I started. Some systems endure because they work exceptionally well, while others might be in desperate need of a rewrite, refactor, or replacement. This mix of tradition and innovation requires a willingness to ask more questions than anyone else in the room. It's about understanding the rationale behind existing systems and being game to exploring new approaches. Through all of this, I am realizing that change, while daunting, offers a chance for growth and reinvention. I was ready for a new challenge, and I got exactly what I was looking for. The supportive and collaborative spirit of the team has made this transition not only possible but rewarding. I'm lucky to be a part of this team, where the shared commitment to Shopify's mission makes it very clear we are all rowing together in the same direction. #Shopify #SoftwareEngineering #NewBeginnings #GrowthMindset

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Is AI to blame for the Air Canada lawsuit? It's a hot topic in AI discussions I've had with folks over the past few weeks (AC was found responsible for a promise that it's AI-powered chatbot made to a customer, and had to reimburse them ~$2500.) People are quick to blame AI, and worry about the risks if a business uses AI in customer-facing solutions. But there's an important detail in the ruling, namely that the judge found that "Air Canada did not take reasonable care to ensure its chatbot was accurate." Air Canada was found at fault, and not AI itself, because AI is a tool that Air Canada used improperly. They did not give it properly bounding laws under which to operate, and did not ensure accuracy of its responses. This is the important principle about using AI in your personal and business life: It's a tool, and it must be used responsibly, given proper boundaries, knowing its limitations. Just like there are laws and principles that Air Canada uses for how to fly a plane, they should have implemented laws and principles along with governance for how their AI was to behave, and they failed in this regard. I personally found that modern LLMs like ChatGPT4 can be highly predictable with careful prompt design, along with robust testing and output monitoring. For example, we created a lead-capture chat AI widget for small business websites, and given it the goal of answer questions about the business, understanding a person’s needs, and then capturing their contact information for the business to follow up. It’s like having an employee on call, 24/7 for your business. One of our users (a law firm) was skeptical. Before they agreed to put our chatAI product on their website, they believed they could get it to make a false promise. But their entire firm was unable to break it. Why? Because we've set clear boundaries on the AI behaviour in the product, only allow it to answer questions that it confidently finds in the businesses knowledge database. Here’s the learning, for anyone using AI in business: You must not unleash a LLM chat solution in your products without giving it a strict set of rules to operate by, giving it an accurate knowledge database, and testing it thoroughly. Human oversight is also extremely important, make sure you have a team that monitors and manages your AI’s actions. Don’t shy away from using AI in your business, it’s a very powerful tool that can help your business in a growing list of incredible ways.

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Just in time for Halloween, a piece of tech history has been brought back from the dead! A 1986 Macintosh Plus has risen from the grave, thanks to the tinkering of developer Hunter Irving. The developer set out on a mission to get the old machine connected to the internet and – thanks to some tech wizardry involving a Raspberry Pi Pico W and BlueSCSI – he managed to achieve it (although it’s not exactly surfing the web at lightning speed…) While it's fun to see old hardware being brought back to life, this isn’t a call to cling to outdated tech in your business. Instead, it's a reminder of how far we've come. This vintage Mac might be great as a fun experiment, but sticking with up-to-date technology is key to keeping your business competitive. Modern systems are so much faster, more secure, and better suited to today's needs. Is any of your old tech ready to be laid to rest? My team and I can help you replace it, get in touch. #BackFromTheDead #OldTech #TechHistory https://lnkd.in/eDzMiqkF

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Hi peeps! Does any of you wonderful people have a favourite software to run a mentorship program in medium-sized company? We're looking for some automation, especially for matching mentors and mentees for a group of ~150 people to begin with, potentially expanding to up to 500 or so. At this scale matching folks manually becomes a bit of problem. I would imagine, someone has solved this problem really well by now. What would you recommend? #mentorship #softwarerecommendation #opensource

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Well I got my worst case scenario out of the way real early in my entrepreneurial career…. Having worked in identity and authentication for years, I couldn't imagine anything more embarrassing than authentication breaking during the app launch. And on Saturday evening, I died a little on the inside when I realized that for several days every single person who clicked through LinkedIn and tried to login with Google got an error message. WORSE -- an error message indicating we weren't complying with Google's OAuth policy. The ironic thing -- we didn't realize the problem, because the launch was so successful, it exceeded every goal we had set for ourselves. Even without Google working, we received more sign ups and more paying customers than we had dared to hope for on an initial launch. So what happened? I am fully aware that Google does not allow in-app browsers for social sign-in and had we launched our own app, we would have complied, BUT I FORGOT THAT SOCIAL APPS OPEN LINKS WITH IN-APP BROWSERS. Hours of testing and never once did I stop to consider that most people browse LinkedIn (social apps) on their phones and I should build and test accordingly. 🤦‍♀️ Want to know how I added insult to my own injury? A friend warned me about the error almost immediately after we launched. It didn’t take long to figure out what caused it, so I added a pop up warning indicating social auth should be used with system browsers only. However, I only verified the pop-up showed in Facebook messenger and when a former coworker warned me about the error later that same day, I responded about the in-app browser and mentioned the popup warning, but STILL didn't verify if the reason he was messaging me about the error was because the pop-up didn't show in LinkedIn. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ And then I rubbed a little more salt in the wound when I realized Descope has built in functionality that allows me to fix the problem easily with no code changes required (we only offer / show magic link with in-app browsers, but social auth is still provided on mobile if you go to the website from Safari / Chrome) -- IF ONLY I HAD THOUGHT OF THIS ISSUE. 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️ So I guess — here’s to a memorable launch that gave us something to celebrate, with just a dash of panic attack thrown in. Entrepreneurship... this sh*t is no joke. 😂

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This last month was bittersweet. I've celebrated multiple achievements. We rebranded KYT to Canopy in just 3 weeks, launched our iOS app, and shipped our AI Assistant. But, last week was also my last one full-time at Canopy. Going after the ambitious goal of helping people become better managers at scale with a bootstrapped small team required a lot of effort, and I am so proud of what we accomplished. For a long time after I joined, it was just Claire and me, bootstrapping our way through. We grew it into a business making 7-figures in annual revenue, an amazing team of 8 people, and reached tens of thousands of users. Working with Claire and the team has been amazing. But after seven years, it’s time for something new. So I’m moving into a technical advisor role at Canopy. I’m not exactly sure what comes next. One thing I am sure about is that I want to work with LLMs a bit more. My last full-time project at Canopy was our AI assistant. It was a blast to work on, and I learned a lot. This project is something I've been working on and off since GPT-3, and now it’s up and running beautifully. There's so much potential. For now, I’ll focus on learning more about similar applications. I learn best by doing and I have several ideas involving LLMs—some more personal, others with maybe business potential. I’ve set aside three months to work on these projects. If I like the direction, I might try to extend for another 3 and see from there. I'm going to try to share my learnings on Substack (https://lnkd.in/g9nBsQ9B) / Twitter (https://lnkd.in/gsZpSxqp) and here. This is my first time since moving to the US that I change roles without something lined up. It feels weird but also exciting.

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What's the options market telling us about Shopify's upcoming earnings (expected this week)? Looking for more of the same: consistent revenue growth in the 25-30% YoY range and GMV growth in the 20-25% YoY range, leading to an anticipated move of around 7% post-earnings announcement. Since the normalization of e-commerce post-Covid, Shopify's growth narrative has shifted towards its Merchant Solutions segment, driven by GMV, as opposed to its Subscription Solutions segment, which is fee-based. Sustaining revenue growth hinges on merchants generating more income through the platform. Options activity is reflecting a slight premium for downside risk protection, but with minimal short interest. Sentiment suggests SHOP keeps flying upward 🚀

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Take Two is cutting staff and canceling projects while they wait for GTA6 to come out. They seem to be undertaking a year of efficiency not unlike Meta's in 2023. Sigh. I had hopped that Take Two was better than this. ----- Feb. 6, 2023: GamesIndustryBiz: "Take-Two misses sales guidance, downgrades forecast again. Zelnick says shortfall isn't on developers as publisher looks to trim expenses without sweeping layoffs" GamesIndustryBiz: https://lnkd.in/gtSUr4sy Feb 8, 2024 : IGN: "Take-Two CEO Says They Have 'No Current Plans' for Layoffs Amid Cost Reduction Program. Strauss Zelnick says they "haven't put any meat on the bones of" the cost reduction plan quite yet." IGN: https://lnkd.in/gM7tgBMA March 7, 2023 GamesIndustryBiz: "Take-Two cuts jobs at Private Division Publisher says impact on US dev teams is minimal, and it has started legal processes outside of US that could result in further layoffs" GamesIndustryBiz: https://lnkd.in/gRTN67MU March 28, 2024 GamesIndustryBiz: "Take-Two to acquire Gearbox from Embracer for $460 million. Randy Pitchford to remain leader of the Borderlands developer" GamesIndustryBiz: https://lnkd.in/g8_b7pwz April 17, 2024 GameDeveloper: "Take-Two is making layoffs weeks after dropping $460M on Gearbox Interactive. The publisher will spend up to $200 million on a cost reduction program that will also include project cancellations." GameDeveloper: https://lnkd.in/gV97WPwr ----- April 17, 2024 GamesIndustryBiz: "Take-Two laying off 5% of staff. In addition to approximately 580 jobs cut, publisher's latest cost reduction program also involves cancelling projects, streamlining organizational structure" ( Brendan Sinclair) (April 16, 2024) "Take-Two Interactive is embarking on another cost cutting program, and this one will see the company layoff about 5% of its employees by the end of the year. "As part of these efforts, the company is rationalizing its pipeline and eliminating several projects in development and streamlining its organizational structure, which will eliminate headcount and reduce future hiring needs," Take-Two explained in an SEC filing stating that the board of directors approved the new program today. In its latest annual report, Take-Two reported having 11,580 full-time employees, which would put the layoffs at approximately 580 people. Take-Two expects the cost reduction program to cost up to $200 million, with as much as $140 million in charges coming from the cancelled games, up to $35 million in employee severance and similar charges, and as much as $25 million more in office space reduction expenses. Take-Two has posted net losses for seven straight quarters. Its last quarter reporting a net profit was the three months ended June 30, 2022, the quarter before the publisher closed on its acquisition of Zynga." GamesIndustryBiz https://lnkd.in/g4rD93_4 #gameindustry #gamelayoffs #disturbanceintheforce #gamedev #taketwo

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This weekend’s adventure: *Cracking the PM Career*! 🕵️‍♂️📖 Pretty sure by the end, I’ll either be a Product Manager pro... or building roadmaps for my snacks. 🧀🍪 Either way, it’s going to be a wild ride full of “aha” moments and maybe a few “wait, what?” moments. 😂 Excited (and slightly terrified) to dive into this PM world. Let’s see if I can nail it before I start adding “survival mode” to the roadmap! 🛠️😅 Wish me luck—I’ll need it! 🙃 #WeekendReads #PMJourney #CrackingTheCode #ProductManagementFun #productmanager #product #PM

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Ever found yourself staring blankly at your 🖥, unsure where to start on a creative work project? Recently I shared a new Copilot tip with my fellow Customer Experience PMs at MSFT: using Copilot to develop an adoption asset for a new feature. The results were so impressive that I'm excited to share them with you! Copilot wasn’t just a time-saver (it shaved four hours off my usual workflow)— it was a creativity booster. Here's how I leveraged Copilot to elevate my ✍: ✅ 1. Groundwork: I began by gathering relevant content to ensure Copilot stayed true to our product's branding & facts. Prompt: Help me find documents (files, emails & chats) that contain information about <specific topic> that could be used as sources of input for an <adoption asset> I need to create ✅ 2. Brainstorming: Copilot helped me brainstorm compelling subject lines that connect emotionally with the audience. - Start by giving Copilot a specific role in your prompt - Define role at beginning of prompt, Copilot executes instructions in order.   Prompt: Act as a marketing copywriter and generate a list of 5 headlines for an <adoption asset > to help <e.g., announce the launch of new product>. The headline should compel <target audience > to read on, so they <how you want to appeal to reader emotionally>. ✅ 3. Drafting: I set specific guidelines for the output, from structure to style, ensuring the content was impactful and precise. - Be specific about the elements you want included in the asset - Specify information sources. Type ‘/’ in the text input area to quickly reference files and/or people. -  Check for accuracy Prompt: Act as a marketing copywriter and help me draft an engaging and informative <adoption asset > targeted at <audience>. The goal is to <e.g., announce the launch of new product>. The adoption asset should catch the reader's attention, inform them about <e.g., the availability of new feature/product>, and inspire them to <e.g., start using it today>. Include the following elements: ·      An introduction that captures attention and introduces <new product> ·      An overview of key features and benefits. ·      Instructions on how users can get started ·      A call to action that <e.g., encourages use> Use the information from </name of file> to help you write the email. The tone should be <e.g., professional yet inviting>. ✅ 4. Refining: We then simplified technical jargon and explored various tones and headings to better resonate with our audience. Prompt: Condense this complex information into a succinct, engaging summary focusing on [specific aspect] ✅ 5. Final review: Promoting Copilot to 'editor-in-chief', I ensured the final draft was inclusive, engaging, and polished. Prompt: As a copy editor, please review this text and provide suggestions for making it more inclusive and engaging.  Provide feedback on how to enhance its impact. Imagine what you could achieve with the extra time gained!

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👋 Hey product hiring managers! You may have noticed dozens of people now with a new certificate from the Alberta Product Leadership Program. If you manage or are prospectively seeking a new PM to join your team, you should know that: 1) The program is selective. You can't just sign-up. Since it's inception, the program has sought to upskill professionals that have shown their motivation for growth and desire to hone their product management craft. 2) The graduates get broader exposure to practices and industries beyond their resume. Our sessions are interactive and facilitate sharing of perspectives and ways of working across multiple organizations - from grassroots startups to FAANG giants. 3) There's more to it than training. During the course of the program, many participants gain mentorship, build a supportive peer group, and get out of their comfort zone. The program is refreshed every year by hiring managers just like you to optimize for the skills we need to hire and promote for. So if you see the APL certificate with a candidate profile, know that candidate choose to do more than your average course. #abtech #yyctech #yegtech #productmanagement

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How's this for being a 'prompt engineer?' I used ChatGPT to be my study partner for my upcoming written driver's test. First, as a Canadian, I figure I gotta explain why I don't currently have a license. I lived abroad for about 15 years. In 2009 (I think!), I was in Itaewon the party district in Seoul, South Korea and my purse got stolen. I moved back to Shenzhen, China, where my license expired at some point. Then when I repatriated I just had other concerns, like a serious case of reverse culture-shock that took like 2-3 years to (maybe) get over. I had just gotten a photo id for cost reasons. But it's set to expire in 10 days, so I gotta pass that written post-haste! I wanted to create an app to quiz me, but time's seriously coming up, so on to prompt engineering via ChatGPT! I *finally* found an online version of the official handbook, so I decided to use my fave AI to ensure I pass on time. First, I copy and pasted a section in and asked for a summary... You can imagine how lackluster those results were! So, I sent a giant prompt telling it exactly what I wanted: - a detailed summary with: - any and every number mentioned in the text - any step-by-step instructions included - special notice of fines, demerit points, and jail time mentioned - distances - any info that could be gotchas on the written - I sent a copy of a sample test and asked it to create at least 7-10 similar questions on each section. But to make it harder, cause I should pass on the first go. - I said I'd read the sections, then it's summary and to add any details I wanted added to the summary. - To quiz me question by question. And I have to say the results are amazing! Three chapters in I haven't had to add any additional details. The quizzes are awesome! Pretty much like the sample I gave, which had three pretty obviously wrong answers and one right. But it did up the ante a bit, in that a couple do have wording where one could be more right than the other choices. And it does give me a grade with a summary of the results and an explanation if I got a question wrong. I did get one wrong so far. It was about child seats. I don't have kids, so that's to be expected, but I was happy it challenged me so much.

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Ravi, this is a fascinating leadership framework that really resonates. I've seen both the "Coconut" and "Mango" leadership styles play out. I tend to gravitate more toward the Coconut approach - setting high expectations and standards upfront, while also striving to build deep trust and empathy with my teams over time. I find this balanced combination of structure and support to be an effective way to drive results while also cultivating long-term loyalty and engagement. That said, I've also seen the value in the Mango style, especially for leaders who need to quickly establish rapport and credibility within an organization. The ability to be warm and approachable from the start can be a real asset. Ultimately, I believe the best leaders are able to adapt their style as needed, knowing when to be tough and when to be nurturing. It's about having that core set of principles while also being attuned to the unique needs of each situation and team. Really thought-provoking post, Ravi. I'd be curious to hear your own reflections on developing this leadership versatility over the course of your career. #Leadership #ProgramManagement

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#UncertaintyTax #InfluenceAtWork - How much would you pay for $50 gift card at a local retailer that must used in two weeks. On average people were willing to pay $45. Now offer a lottery ticket with 50% chance of winning a $50 and 50% chance of winning $100 Gift card. We would expect the perceived value to go up or stay the same. In fact it dropped to $16. To reduce the #UncertaintyTax at work, offer experiments and make bigger decisions reversible. The Catalyst - Jonah Berger

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We can't get over these Hootsuite dashboard changes 👏 Our new Plan page offers a sleeker, more intuitive way to plan your content for the day, week, month—you name it! Have you played around with this new feature yet?

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