Weeknote 696 – reality returns

This week I have learned:

I always find this time of year a little maudlin. The kids are back at school, the summer is over, the leaves are turning, and before we know it, we’ll be into the birthday/Christmas season that dominates the Ballantine-Pescatore household for 8 weeks, and then another trip around the sun is completed.
it’s also been a relatively quiet week before a few weeks of many things novel – a couple of conferences, a run of internal in-person events in London topped with a day trip to Bournemouth for Silicon Beach Lite.
I’ve been thinking once again about how technology delivery is an exercise in applied social science as much as it is an exercise in engineering. The trouble is that the social science part too often gets labelled as “Soft skills” and then willfully ignored or placed into the “too hard” bucket.
I’ve also been thinking more about planning as an exercise in trying to exert control over the future, but it too often being little more than a comfort blanket as a result.
The book research is starting to impact my worldview: we exist in the middle of a maelstrom of random events, some more predictable than others. Our ability to adapt to those random events effectively is what makes the difference between success and failure, and those abilities are as much luck as they are judgment.
The 7S model is something I keep coming back to. It’s not rocket science – just a very useful mnemonic.
Have been thoroughly enjoying Dave Egger’s The Every. The central idea that people might like a bit of draconian big brother is slightly disturbing and more than a little true.
After a prolonged summer absence, I at last got my lazy arse down to the gym this week.
I hate plumbing. The potential to flood the entire house scares me.