Category: General

In the last 12 months I've bought 35 books... and have remarkably read a fair proportion of them. Here's the list (and what I thought about them...). Not all of the books were published in 2021. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World Jevin D. West & Carl T. BergstromThis was a … Continue reading 2021 Bookshelf

This week I have learned: The experience of surgeryThe experience of how activity on one part of the body can impact othersThat good plans amount to nowt when they become realityThat providing advice is a nice thingThat saying goodbye is going to be hardThat good things can come from saying "yes" Next week: a year … Continue reading Weeknote 561: surgical removal

Ah, the annual business planning exercise. An art installation in the creative use of numbers. Organisations for the most part will go through such extended periods of financial contemplation every year, often about six months before a new financial year begins. Everyone guesses some numbers using intuition, past performance and the game that is "How … Continue reading Pipelines

The PlayCards include one card that I've been meaning to do on myself for a while. In the Be An Artist skill, the instruction is to Create an exhibition of your recent work. Invite friends and family to the opening. Well, this is the grand opening. And I've done a full life retrospective, rather than … Continue reading An exhibition

I posted a short article on LinkedIn at the end of last week that divided opinion. I won't link to it here, but it's on my LinkedIn profile if you want to see it. I say it divided opinion. The division was in no way equal. As I write this, the post has had c. … Continue reading Sowing division

This week I have learned: when rail transport goes wrong it can do so most spectacularlyconferences that don't talk endlessly about technology are my favourite conferencesit's good that I still know how to fill time because when you're waiting to get a Zoom connection to an MP whilst standing in front of a room of … Continue reading Weeknote 558 – Up north

On Monday and Tuesday next week I have the great privilege to be chairing the Inside Housing Connected Futures Summit in Manchester. Over the past few months I've been involved in helping to shape the event, which is a chance for change-focused people from across the Housing industry to gather together and discuss some of … Continue reading Pitfalls of the future

Every so often I'll try to read something a bit leftfield as it's often the way I can unlock thinking in my own world. So it was with reading Simon Winchester's Exactly: How precision engineering created the modern world. There's something fascinating about how the history of technological development can help to shape our understanding … Continue reading Why invest?

Right at the beginning of the recent article I posted about experiences of going back into an office recently I noted that there are many people for whom an office is a regular need, not a occasional diversion. I'm in the hugely privileged position to have space enough to work from home comfortably and productively. … Continue reading Future office

Earlier in the week I got the chance to play with the PlayCards with a group of two-dozen technology leaders at this autumn’s IT Directors’ Forum. Whilst I’ve run a few games now online using virtual versions of the cards in Miro, this was the first time I was able to try out physical versions … Continue reading PlayCards Field notes: more games to play