This week I have learned: that I might have booked in too many things this week when it was only four days of working long. creating products is fun. I need to discover more about graph database technologies. Next week: Gouda The week in pictures:
It's a year of anniversaries of five. This month see five years of working under the banner of Stamp. This October will mark five squared years of me in full time work. When I ventured into the world of office work in the autumn of 1993 it was a very different place to that that … Continue reading Has nobody noticed yet?
I got a reminder via LinkedIn this morning that it's now five years since I launched upon this madcap free-range experiment that I call Stamp. Coincidentally it would have been my grandmother's 100th birthday yesterday, and 2013 would have been granddad's centenary. Living to 100 was something that very few of their generation could have … Continue reading Five years
This week I have learned: My ability to think on my feet is still pretty good. The competitive spirit that can be provoked in many people who work in corporates leaves me bemused. Working out loud is such an alien concept to so many people. The fear of something so often is so much greater … Continue reading Weeknote 387: Maths Co-processor
This week I have learned: Basically anything useful on the internet that is useful will eventually be overridden with spam. Google seem to be blinding us with natural language processing. It's clever, but it's hardly Her. "Just talk to them" should be everyone's motto. I'm quite taken by the OKR approach. Four day weeks are weird. … Continue reading Weeknote 386: 32 Bit
Yesterday at their I/O conference, Google announced a couple of new developments that place Simulated Intelligence technologies into the world of collaborative platforms. The first, Smart Compose, extends out the quick response features already available in Google Inbox from a single line message (usually things like "Thanks!" or "I'm running late!") into full-blown messages. The … Continue reading The collaboration arms race
This week I have learned: No matter what help you offer, some men just don't understand how current actions reinforce existing societal biases. It's difficult to perceive privilege from a position of privilege, I guess. There again, some men are just massive arseholes. The free delivery option on Amazon is a bizarre thing, and mostly … Continue reading Weeknote 385 – there’s no helping some people
So apparently Theresa May has asked her Brexit subcommittee to go away and think a bit harder about their two proposed solutions to the post-Brexit EU border and customs problem. One of the two approaches has been summarised as: A 'highly streamlined' customs arrangement - This would minimise customs checks rather than getting rid of … Continue reading Problem-less solutions
We are obsessed with being busy. Think about how you answer the question "How are you?", particularly at work, these days... "Rushed off my feet!" "Back to back!" "Swimming not drowing!" and other such epithets. We use busy-ness as a sign of importance, of status. Of Godliness. The Protestant Work Ethic has a lot to … Continue reading The curse of busy-ness
This week I have learned: launching something new is nerve-wracking. When it becomes obvious that a few people seem to like it, it all becomes worthwhile. Hello @Drawpod! I really need to edit the second episode... writing staff policies might actually be more interesting than it at first sounds.... and the delights of working out … Continue reading Weeknote 384: Launching