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James Howard

Online since 1996

James Howard

Operations and technology, in the service of people.

I’ve been working on internet projects since I dropped paper airplanes for pixels in 1996.

I love building things online and helping people improve their business. I aim to distill good data to make good decisions and discover the untapped potential of people.

James Howard, in a blue jacket with white button-down shirt
Austin, since 2007

Writing

Twelve essays, 2016–2026, on operations, tickets, coaching, and the cloud.

  1. Tickets

    Beyoncé’s Impact on Ticket Data

    This week I wrote a little post at TicketCity on Beyoncé’s impact after she announced her Halftime Performance at the Christmas Day Ravens-Texans matchup.

  2. Tickets

    Time to Brag A Little

    When I started at TicketCity, one of the things I was impressed with was the dedication to the customer. Over the years it has been articulated many ways: “By fans, for fans”, “Your friend in the ticket biz”, etc.

  3. Tickets

    Formula 1 is Coming to Miami

    Ok, I’ll admit, this one was fun to put together. Sometimes my time is spent coding and sometimes it is spent grinding out financial reporting spreadsheets, but occasionally I get to exercise my visualization (and Photoshop) skills to…

  4. Cloud

    Starting to Love GCP

    At TicketCity we’re heavily invested in Google’s advertising products, so I’ve been exploring Google Cloud Platform.

  5. News

    “New Job, Who Dis?”

    Happy to announce I’ve accepted a role as VP of Operations at TicketCity! After my first full week, I am really impressed with the team and systems that go into powering a 9-figure, 30%+ CAGR ecommerce marketplace.

  6. Coaching

    The Thing about altMBA

    The thing about the altMBA is that you are forever changed by the experience.

  7. Uncategorized

    Changes in Benefit Preference

    Comparably has an interesting set of survey results on which benefits (excluding healthcare) are most important.

  8. Coaching

    Catalytic Coaching

    “Catalytic coaching is literally a system where you learn to say to somebody’s face the kind of thing you’d say about him more comfortably behind their back for the benefit of the organization as well as the benefit of that individual.”…

  9. Uncategorized

    Change Moment

    That moment you start working on your personal computer after you quit your job and you keep trying to login with your old work password.

  10. News

    Fond Farewell

    I’ve worked at Open Mortgage for 2,644 days. Today is my last.

  11. Project Management

    Turning the Titanic

    The TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule implementation in 2015 had potential to be the iceberg to the Mortgage industry’s Titanic.