This is, I hope, a hopeful story about generative technologies, and it starts by thinking about my drum machine. I say "drum machine" in the singular, but I actually own four and have had a few more over the years. I will focus on a Behringer RD-8, a modern interpretation of the classic 1980s Roland … Continue reading Augmenting not replacing
Category: Themes
This is not a "thought piece". This is catharsis. I studied social science research methods at University. When I went to University, it was in the very earliest days of the World Wide Web (actual quote from Information Systems lecturer: "I don't think it will be as successful as WAIS or Gopher"). Back in those … Continue reading Bad Social Science
For many years, I've referenced a simple continuum that helps to describe the types of consulting that might be provided to a client, from Process consulting to Expert consulting. At the Expert end, the consultant takes ownership of the problem and exerts their expertise; at the process end, the consultants' expertise is helping the client … Continue reading Consulting and ambiguity
In the dark days of Covid, I set up a toy experiment on the place we used to call Twitter. I was fascinated by my coffee machine. In particular, the patterns that would emerge on the top of my morning Latte after preparation. Unlike in posh coffee shops where a trained barista will create intricate … Continue reading Seeing patterns
This week I have learned: that standing on a 23rd-storey glass floor sharpens one's presentation skills the importance of really thinking clearly about what you are selling, and how that's actually really quite hard shifting left in the decision-making process is also pretty important the PACE model for building trust that pressing the button to … Continue reading Weeknote 670: height
Wednesday's coffee companion is a photographer. We talked about: dramatically switching careers wiggly careers "spray and pray" the value of creative services helping people to think about how they price the value they offer how camera technology has evolved and continues to evolve knowing how things work from being around when they were first created … Continue reading 148th of 100
My coffee companion today is a colleague. We talked about: the power of meeting in novel places (he invited me to see a dinosaur exhibition in the library of the Royal Geological Society) building entire models from mere fragments of evidence how some discoveries can have a seismic impact on common understanding changing environments my … Continue reading 145th of 100
As a kid, I used to spend hours and hours writing computer code. The BBC Micro was my playground, and I built all sorts of things in BBC BASIC. I guess a fitting thing for a child who owed his existence to his parents' meeting at the BBC. And then we got an Atari ST, … Continue reading Rediscovering a lost love
This year I have learned... The joy of an electric bike... I'm fairly sure that my partner thought that getting an electric bike was a mid-life crisis. She might well be right, but I occasionally think about the neighbour in the house opposite who is rebuilding a 1980s Porsche and think "No, that's a mid-life … Continue reading Weeknote 662: Yearnote 2023
These aren't necessarily books released in 2023, but they are books I read this year. In no particular order... Don't Touch My Hair - Emma Dabiri What starts with the experiences of a black girl growing up in Dublin when there were no other black girls in Dublin turns into a fascinating exploration of Afro-Caribbean … Continue reading Reads of the year…
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