mmitII

This week I have learned: I didn't have "get a group of Civil Servants playing Pass the Parcel" on my 2026 bingo card, but this is why prediction is a mug's game.To explain - I ran a session with a large group of senior civil servants this week exploring the role of luck and randomness … Continue reading Weeknote 804: Pass the parcel

This week I have learned: Monday night felt weird. For so many years, it was the podcast night. Although the last episode was published on Monday, I recorded and edited it in advance. I sat at home, listened to music and read a book. I'll miss WB-40, but it was time to move on. Sunday … Continue reading Weeknote 803: the last show and the Victoria Line

This week I have learned: ending things is hard. Chris and I recorded the last ever WB-40 this week, just about 10 years after we recorded the first. I've loved making the show, and it's given me so many new perspectives on the world around me. But it was becoming a grind, and I didn't … Continue reading Weeknote 802: ending

This week I have learned: the value of shared experiences, even if separated by place and time. that a period of calm can be interrupted with a tsunami of activity. Thursday was calm right up until about 4pm. when I get an invite to look at a new piece of software it's now often totally … Continue reading Weeknote 801: connecting

This week I have learned: When push comes to shove, there are few better ways to solve a problem than to ask someone else. A problem shared, etc.It felt like my 800th weeknote should be somehow celebrated. I asked. And a few people suggested. In particular, Rishi Dastidar suggested I should compile a list of … Continue reading Weeknote 800: EIGHT HUNDRED!

This week I have learned: the enjoyment to be had at a marathon. Assuming that you're doing the baggage, rather than running 26.2 miles which, from the look of it, looks like a laudable aim but bloody painful. Doing the baggage at the Kew RunFest is the closest I'll come to doing a marathon, especially … Continue reading Weeknote 798: marathon not a sprint

This week I have learned: how important procrastination is in the creative process, but how fearful people are of it. A fascinating discussion which happened at Kev Molloy's wonderful Social (Media) Mixer this week. The Protestant Work Ethic is strong, and if we are not all pumping out stuff like machines, then we feel guilty. … Continue reading Weeknote 797: Procrastination

This week I have learned: Spent a glorious weekend in the Cotswolds. Spending time with friends is so important. Meeting booths in offices have often been designed for a different era. The one I used this week in a client's office had a wedge "seat" in the wall, perpendicular to a shelf that was slightly … Continue reading Weeknote 796: decisions

This week I have learned: How much people fear giving feedback. It's a key work skill, and so few people have ever been trained in how to do it effectively. Quite how loud an MRI scanner is. Nothing serious, but had my first scan last weekend. I imagined myself in the docking scene from 2001. … Continue reading Weeknote 795: feedback