(An experiment in stakeholder management, creativity and vibe coding) Some months ago, I came into the possession of a bag of 10 small rubber ducks. The reasons why are on a need-to-know basis, and you probably don't need to know. I thought about turning them into art. Originally, I was going to glue them to … Continue reading Ducks in a Row
Tag: technology
On Wednesday, I was part of a team that ran an evening workshop for our emerging executive community in Benelux. We had around 20 CxOs come together to connect, share ideas and build relationships. Our European business unit lead, Simon Bostock, asked me to help create a workshop that would allow people to engage, "work" … Continue reading Field notes: Humans v AI
I spent a fascinating few hours yesterday afternoon as a guest of MS Amlin and Julia Hobsbawm at an event looking at some dimensions of the future of work. Looking out over the skyline of London there were some thought-provoking conversations. Here, in no particular order, are some of the thoughts the discussions sparked for … Continue reading Some futures of work
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
This week I have learned: about products. The usability of a product isn't simply down to its design. It's also down to the user's expectation of what that product is. So if I come to a car thinking it's a horse, I'll be disappointed, no matter how well-designed it is.It's all well and good "reconceptualising" … Continue reading Weeknote 673: on product
I found myself chatting to a few folk about the IBM Watson artificial intelligence thing at a lovely event organised by Slalom Consulting. Being in that mild state of belligerence that only a couple of glasses of a nice red can give, I was a bit dismissive of the undoubted achievement that the Watson team had … Continue reading Britain’s Got Robots
I had a fascinating chat with Mark Earls yesterday in the vague sun of Holborn. Towards the end of our broad conversation we got onto the subject of Behavioural Economics, and Mark's frustration that the entire field seems to be dominated by a meme that describes our human ability to shortcut processing (effectively Kahneman's System … Continue reading Cognitive strengths, not bias bugs
I saw a wonderful documentary last night about the conjuror and professional sceptic James Randi. After the first part of a career spent emulating and improving upon the work of Harry Houdini, Randi since the 70s has put much of his efforts into debunking fraudster faith healers and spiritualists (including waging a war on spoonbender … Continue reading Blind Faith
I've argued in the past that the holy office trinity of Word, Powerpoint and Excel have a questionable future not because of an better word processor, presentation tool or spreadsheet coming along, but because they are tools from another era that are increasingly no longer fit for purpose. The way in which smart phones in … Continue reading Incompatibilities