76th of 100

Today's coffee companion is a data person. We talked about: the huge great hype machine that is going on around LLMs and machine learning the lack of qualitative data in business and organisations Goodhart's and Campbell's laws the strange cycles that emerge around financial periods ownership of data (or, more often, the lack thereof) how … Continue reading 76th of 100

74th of 100

Today's coffee companion is a marketing consultant. We talked about: the nature of coaching getting into organisations through one's professional discipline the tech hub that is Leeds conferences the loneliness of free-range working the surprising cross-over between our networks despite geographic distance the way that timezone might be a bigger gap in how networks form … Continue reading 74th of 100

Naked organisations

In the 1990s, the Dutch traffic engineer Hans Momderman pioneered a radical approach to urban design known as "Shared Space" or "Naked Streets". At its core was the idea that street furniture, from kerbstones to road markings to signs and traffic lights, stopped people using the space from communicating with one another. Remove them, and … Continue reading Naked organisations

Apple’s Duopoly Challenge

There are a lot of duopolies in the world. Coke and Pepsi. Windows and Mac. Android and iOS. Labour and Conservative. When you have a duopoly it's really hard to get a new entrant in to break it. Remember Virgin Cola? Remember OS/2? Remember Windows Phone? Remember the Liberal Democrats? I was working at Microsoft … Continue reading Apple’s Duopoly Challenge

One year on…

On this day in 2022, I entered the Equal Experts offices in Farringdon, London, for the very first time as an employee. After nearly three years in my last role, I'd got to a point where I knew that I'd done enough to get RHP onto a different track, and it was time to do … Continue reading One year on…

7-Ss for Technology teams

Over my nearly 30 years of work, I've picked up a bunch of theories and models along my way. Some of them are useful, many of them I've forgotten. One that I keep coming back to is the 7-S Model. Developed by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in the 1980s whilst they both worked at … Continue reading 7-Ss for Technology teams

The Halo Effect of ChatGPT

Over the weekend I read a wonderful article by Stephen Wolfram that explores and explains the way in which much of the current wave of AI technologies operate. It's well worth the read. One particular point that has stuck with me is Wolfram's assertion that ChatGPT has blown apart a long-held assumption that the act … Continue reading The Halo Effect of ChatGPT

Snap!

"Dump and clump" exercises are a fairly common tool in the world of workshop facilitation. Get people to think individually about a topic, and write down the things they think about on individual PostIt notes. ("No, Jeremy. One idea per PostIt note, please. Don't worry, it's not your stationery budget.") You then get people to … Continue reading Snap!

67th of 100

Today's coffee companion runs a small consultancy. We talked about The challenges of being a small business selling to big corporations The way in which time outside a big org appears to be running in slow motion when inside it's going like the clappers Socio-technical thinking the challenge of bringing in revenue, building new business … Continue reading 67th of 100

66th of 100

2/3rds of the way there, yesterday's coffee companion is a designer. We talked about: how design is so much more than graphics my current brainworm about the transfer barrier and how broad collective misunderstanding can be the joy of tactility and how that means playing cards! our collective recent experiences of moving into new organisations … Continue reading 66th of 100