2016 was a year in which there was a seemingly endless series of announcements of deaths of people in the public eye. Many of those deaths seemed tragically too early. And in maudlin moments I pondered on who it would be whose demise would really knock me back. There was only one person. And it … Continue reading Weeknote 321: Taylor-made army
Category: Projects
And so the insurrection is beginning. Last week Japanese insurance Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance announced that it was going to be replacing 34 staff with an artificial intelligence that would be calculating payouts (although, it noted, with human oversight still making final approvals). The technology would improve productivity by 30% and the firm expected to save some … Continue reading The rise of the cost-benefit robots
This week I have learned: I struggle to understand how the "rational" approach to the impending President Trump is anything other than fairly irrational. I am contemplating buying a Mac. Long story. So much of my career has been in roles where the value is a narrative, not a set of KPIs. That can be … Continue reading Weeknote 320: 2017
Another year flies past... If you go into a branch of McDonald's these days (an occasional guilty pleasure, I'll admit it), then you are increasingly likely to find that the restaurant has been upgraded to the new automated model. Big touch screens enable customers to place their orders, pay, and then queue up to receive … Continue reading Yearnote 2016
The circumstances that led up to my meeting with David Schneider are a microcosm of the sorts of things that I think organisations (and we individually) need to do to be able to survive and flourish in our ever-ambiguous modern world. Social networks enable us to make connections with people with an ease that just … Continue reading The Agile Stage
This week I have learned: The trouble with Agile is that organisations forget about the human side of things and just end up trying to follow the instructions verbatim People who willingly help others are just the best. Being told "we've still got £200 to spend" when at a bar at Christmas... well, you can … Continue reading Weeknote 319: improvisation
This week I have learned: - the world of books is beautifully archaic - graduates really do look ridiculously young these days - it's time to make decisions Next week: engage.
This week I have learned: I find it difficult to see an unwillingness to work openly as much more than deep-rooted paranoia. It's also difficult to tell if they are actually out to get you. I'm not sure that camouflage fatigues are really appropriate office wear for the middle-aged man. The larger the organization, the more the … Continue reading Weeknote 317: schadenfreude
This week I have learned: complexity multiplies with connections... ...but a good connection can simplify remarkably quickly corporates can just be so dumb sometimes I have a publishing offer... ...so now it's time to find a few more Next week: a day of exploration, and another birthday. The end of my early 40s.
This week I have learned: occasionally events occur that really, truly make you take stock and think about how short this whole thing is. They're not the global political/socio-economic. They're the personal. chance encounters are to be engineered as much as is humanly possible it's all about helping people, ultimately. Next week: the last week … Continue reading Weeknote 315: fragility
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