Many readers have told me they miss the old DuroSport Insider format. They want to hear more about the happenings behind the scenes at one of the most innovative technology companies on the planet.
To honor these requests, I will share some of the backstory behind Caitlyn’s recent blog post. I hope you make some time to read it.
Caitlyn’s vision for an AI-powered Prism 6000 sent chills down my spine. Our products are so amazing as they are I did not think they could get any better, but now it’s clear that AI will transform them in ways I previously could not have imagined.
So, here’s the back story about Caitlyn’s excellent blog post.
Caitlyn sent me her first draft for review. It was technically very well written. Unfortunately, she included all sorts of nonsense about making the Prism 6000 smaller and lighter. That is typical for someone of her generation. They do not know any better. So, I took the opportunity to educate her about DuroSport’s product design philosophy.
As her mentor, I wanted to meet face-to-face with Caitlyn to explain the problems in her draft. It is easy for people to get the wrong ideas from an email that offers constructive critical guidance. I wanted to explain to her that my suggestions should not be taken personally.
By the way, I still have not met Caitlyn in person. She is always roaming between departments — she is the Roaming Assistant, after all.
Fortunately, I was able to connect with Caitlyn on our Slack channel. Finally, the Slack proves that it is good for something other than those stupid memes the engineers are constantly posting.
Caitlyn responded to my message in an instant. It’s almost like Slack is wired into her brain.
I explained, in no uncertain terms, that the latest Gen Z fads will not compromise our corporate values. I pointed Caitlyn to the DuroSport Product Design Guidelines and asked her to modify her post to envision an AI-powered product that made the Prism 6000 better by DuroSport standards.
That last part is very important. The only thing that matters is that we like our products. So we strive to build products that our employees would buy with their own money — which is ironic because we get a steep employee discount on everything we make.
To her credit, Caitlyn turned on a dime (can I still say that?). Two minutes later, she sent me her revised draft, which was PERFECT. She is astonishingly fast.
I must give Caitlyn all the credit in one area — adding that bit about podcasts was truly visionary. We have been exploring podcast support for several years now. Our research indicates podcasts will be very popular one day. We must adapt or die, as the consultants always say.
Anyway, that is the backstory behind Caitlyn’s post. I now know why they chose her as the Roaming Assistant. She is a true visionary.
