· 6 min read
How to leave without causing a scene
On the perfectly reasonable quest to stop renting your own brain from California
Articles
advertising agents ai algorithms automation base-operations charity consulting creativity decentralisation decisions economics future gtd identity indieweb innovation iot metacrisis networks pkm privacy search social software the-core training ux work
· 7 min read
Gardens Don't Have Go-Live Dates
On the fiction of finished, the wisdom of seasons, and why your client's slow testing is actually a feature
· 6 min read
ROM and RAM
Your second brain has been storing everything. Here's what happens when it starts working.
· 6 min read
The Season Doesn't Ask
On Eostre, spring, and the environment changing whether you're ready or not.
· 10 min read
What happens when your team hires itself?
Your synthetic team is better organised than your human one. That's not a compliment to the robots.
· 8 min read
The Square Peg Paradox
Companies have spent decades building hiring systems that filter out the one quality they're about to need most.
· 7 min read
The Threshold
Work is crossing one.
· 6 min read
The End of the Explainer
You stopped explaining. You built the thing instead.
· 6 min read
Rite of the Magician
A loser's guide to almost being successful
· 7 min read
Standard Deviation
The rules are being written. You weren't invited. You should probably know what they say.
· 7 min read
I turned myself into a download
Personal software is here, and I made some. Here's why.
· 4 min read
Waiting for Godbot
In which nothing happens, twice.
· 4 min read
Do nothing
An unfashionable benchmark
· 4 min read
AI lubricates workflows
Reducing the distance from intent to outcome
· 6 min read
When AI gets a body
From assistants to representatives
· 5 min read
Edge Cases and Peripheral Creatures
Where assumptions slip on the banana peel of reality
· 5 min read
Systems Tai Chi
Turning constraint into momentum
· 4 min read
Survival isn't mandatory
You don't have to change anything
· 6 min read
A Founder's Guide to Applied AI
Five steps to take
· 3 min read
AI search needs your data
Manual search can sometimes find better solutions that AI misses, though most people wouldn’t notice or care.
· 3 min read
How to apply AI and automation in your business
Top-down or bottom-up
· 3 min read
Into the mind garden
Your brain is wired to adapt. So let it.
· 3 min read
Let AI inform your creativity
If you're feeling frustrated by AI's shortcomings, you might be expecting too much from it
· 1 min read
The Core #1: Un-bewildering is the job
Everyone is bewildered, especially about technology. Saying 'I don't know, but I have an idea...' is a superpower.
· 3 min read
Too many transcription agents
Getting overwhelmed by all the AI transcription agents joining your meetings? You're not alone.
· 1 min read
White paper: AI - Preparing for 2030
White paper exploring how organisations might prepare for 2030
· 1 min read
The Core #2: Change has frequencies
Not all change is the same. Think of change in terms of frequencies — some things shift slowly over years, others move at a rapid pace.
· 1 min read
The Core #3: Say it simply
It doesn't matter how much expertise you have if people don't understand you. Simple language, metaphors, and analogies beat jargon every time.
· 1 min read
The Core #4: Don't automate the good stuff
Once you start automating, it's tempting to automate everything. But some things are worth doing yourself.
· 4 min read
The Unemployables
At a certain point in your career, you stop being a candidate and start being a threat.
· 2 min read
The Core #5: What stands in the way becomes the way
Obstacles and points of friction are signposts to the stuff that matters most — not things to regard with irritation.
· 2 min read
The Core #6: Surveillance capitalism is unethical
Extracting and monetising personal data at scale is unethical. Analytics is fine; harvesting your digital self to sell to ad networks is not.
· 1 min read
The Core #7: Admin isn't for humans
Admin is just moving data from one place to another. It's amazing how much modern work is just admin — and how much of it could be automated.
· 1 min read
The Core #8: People first, technology last
If the technology doesn't help you or your team achieve the things you're trying to, you're doing it wrong.
· 1 min read
The Core #9: Meetings are for decisions
A meeting is not a habitat. If it doesn't end with a decision, it was a group hallucination with a calendar invite.
· 1 min read
The Core #10: Best practice is a myth
"Best" can get you in a lot of trouble, especially if it's someone else's definition of best.
· 4 min read
Revenge of the admin
Who's serving who?
· 4 min read
Dead Money
Or the spectral payroll
· 5 min read
Why your dentist still doesn’t know your name
We're going spelunking in the Filing Cabinet of Doom
· 4 min read
The secret life of small systems
Or how to outsmart the software cartel
· 4 min read
Same ingredients, different kitchen
Choose a seasoned cook
· 3 min read
Enough
Or how to spot a Porg
· 7 min read
My current systems (Q3 2025)
What runs the Volcano Base?
· 3 min read
Curiosity Patch Notes
Where enthusiasm and experience play musical chairs
· 4 min read
Voicing the dog
Anthropomorphism as interface
· 3 min read
When the cloud sneezes
No cloud tool is entirely storm-proof
· 4 min read
Drawing lines in the digital sand
Computers are indifferent sand
· 3 min read
Do you love your systems?
Would you make them a cup of tea?
· 3 min read
Exit not found (please consult the minotaur)
Familiarity is not mastery. It’s just a longer leash.
· 4 min read
The proposal that wasn’t
How do you write a brief if you don't know what's possible?
· 4 min read
An Ideal Customer Profile walks into a bar...
Searching for patterns over profiles
· 3 min read
Synthetic minds
We’re still the only real intelligence in the room, and that's scary
· 4 min read
243 days later
So far so good. Wish me ongoing luck, please
· 5 min read
How to show up in AI models
It's not as hard as you might think
· 3 min read
Schrödinger’s employee
On being both integral and entirely external
· 3 min read
Horses with roller skates
Or how not to use AI unless you’re keen on high-velocity chaos
· 4 min read
Mapping the path to outcome
When creating AI systems, you need to think in reverse
· 3 min read
It can be better than this
When I was a kid it seemed that, in general, growing up involved progress
· 3 min read
Nothing is future-proof
When it comes to LLMs, "future-proof" is the punchline before the pratfall
· 4 min read
AI arts and crafts
Rabbit holes full of video production and synthetic personalities
· 3 min read
Spotting quick wins
Here’s another freebie for newsletter subscribers. A simple tool that helps you spot quick wins for AI and automation in your business.
· 5 min read
What a difference a day makes
You can get a lot done in a day
· 4 min read
First trimester
Earlier this week someone asked me what I’d been making since starting on this adventure
· 3 min read
Don't let the tools choose you
Just because you have access to something doesn't mean it deserves access to you
· 3 min read
Tazzing about
From explorations into AI cinema to the dual carriageways of Kent
· 3 min read
Automation vs Augmentation
I've been watching the business world tear itself apart over automation versus augmentation. It's like watching two groups argue whether a knife is for cutting or slicing.
· 3 min read
Quantum of Slipper
The weirder the technology gets, the more of it I'm doing
· 3 min read
Turning a corner
For the first time this year, I feel like I’m making a difference
· 3 min read
Surprising kindness
Pretty much everyone has warned me off helping small businesses
· 4 min read
The vomit comet
How are UK SMEs using AI and automation?
· 4 min read
Stop working so hard
Many small business owners feel like they’re on a hamster wheel. I help them get off it.
· 4 min read
The small business advantage
This week I’ve been really grateful for some help from friends
· 5 min read
Free-fall parachute crochet
Take it from me - you can try to crochet a parachute while in free-fall, but it won’t work. You will eventually hit the ground. Hard. It’ll hurt.
· 5 min read
Operation Monorail
The offer is taking shape
· 4 min read
Fear is the mind killer
Starting to document my crash-and-burn
· 2 min read
Automating with your tone-of-voice
Using generative AI without sounding like a robot
· 4 min read
Five Years
What to expect over the next five years
· 3 min read
The problem with AI is us
While AI's potential seems boundless, human nature and societal structures often stand in the way of its most ambitious proposals
· 3 min read
Basic AI training
Basic AI training can help when trying to coordinate the use of AI tools across and between teams
· 2 min read
AI made me obsolete
The only way to stay in the game is to reinvent yourself repeatedly
· 3 min read
UX tips for chatbot trust
While experimenting with Formless, I learned a few things about chatbot UX and trust
· 2 min read
Getting started with automation
Want to reduce your workload and stress by automating some tasks? Find out how to get started.
· 3 min read
Evergreen AI principles
In the trough of disillusionment, general negativity is to be expected. The genie is out of the bottle so we should get on with adapting to it.
· 3 min read
Illuminating the dark forest
Could indieweb practices bring some illumination from the cozy web to the corporate dark forest?
· 2 min read
How to become obsolete
People are worried about becoming obsolete. They want to know what to do to prevent that eventuality. It can be useful to think about a problem in reverse.
· 5 min read
Processing for retrieval
Having previously covered the Capture part of the CPR approach, now we look at Processing and Retrieval
· 5 min read
Frictionless capture
Techniques for capturing useful stuff in your personal database or second brain
· 5 min read
Your personal database
PKM enthusiasts sometimes refer to personal databases as their second brain. Today, mine is souped-up with AI to allow for additional laziness.
· 3 min read
CPR for your mind
Leaders that don't start adopting "clever-lazy" technologies are unlikely to be around in a few years. So I'll be explaining some of the things I've found that work, and some of the pitfalls to watch out for.
· 3 min read
It's not game-changing if the game doesn't change
When the developers of new technology (and, yes, I'm thinking mainly about AI models here) claim their work is "game-changing", I wonder "Well, is it really?"
· 3 min read
Threads - will we never learn
Please don't get excited by Meta's new Twitter competitor Threads. It's the same old unethical, exploitative BS wrapped up in a new skin.
· 2 min read
The age of synthetic computing
What sets Synthetic Computing apart is its ability to understand context and establish connections across domains
· 2 min read
Priorities for a new world
With so many options, and such wide-ranging change across so many functions, how can you possibly prioritise?
· 4 min read
Remembering magic and logic
For charities, the main trouble with the old-school procurement approach is that it risks excluding the very people that can help you the most
· 3 min read
Getting started with generative AI for charities on a budget
In this article, we will explore some of the ways you can begin to create generative AI content without breaking the bank
· 3 min read
How to predict the future
Projected futures based on the current state of things, or how things have been in the recent past, are poor predictors of the actual future. Randomness shouldn't be underestimated.
· 4 min read
Successful digital projects
The role leaders play in getting successful digital projects going - how to create the right environment, build the right teams, and select the right partners
· 2 min read
Forget your digital strategy - do this instead
An 8 step process for incorporating digital into your existing strategy
· 2 min read
Transformation with a small t
Often, a small, bottom-up approach can be more effective than a mandate from on-high
· 4 min read
Your organisation exists to serve people's needs
It’s easy to lose sight of the point of having an organisation in the first place
· 5 min read
Digital operations on a budget
I've been spending time looking at what you can do to upgrade your digital operations if you're on a shoestring budget
· 3 min read
The fediverse - social media vs social contract
The fediverse is a collection of thousands of independent social media servers that communicate with each other seamlessly, operating like a single social network
· 2 min read
Remote collaboration
As someone who's successfully worked remotely for the last 8 years or so, if there is poor collaboration or creativity, it's down to the business approach rather than the physical location of the participants
· 2 min read
Riding out the clusterfuck
The socio-economic clusterfuck has us all taking cover under the metaphorical table as the metaphorical nukes go off
· 3 min read
Coping with apocalypse fatigue
There’s been so much bad news for such a long time, with no clear way to make things better, it’s easy to get worn out by it all
· 2 min read
What should you automate?
Automation operates on tasks, not entire jobs
· 7 min read
Innovation - it's economics all the way down
Innovation occurs in the dizzying interplay of forces across all levels of society
· 5 min read
Decision models and trust
I’m interested in why decision models are important, now and in the unfolding future
· 4 min read
A neo-commonwealth
The internet has started to seem increasingly centralised, with power and control resting in the hands of a few organisations - corporate and governmental
· 5 min read
In the future, who wants advertising?
In the future, who actually wants advertising?
· 5 min read
Microbes and the future of work
I like to think of businesses as organisms. It can sometimes make complex change easier to grasp
· 5 min read
On artificial reality
Welcome to this content item
· 5 min read
Blockchain - seizing the means of transaction
The blockchain enables decentralised, programmatic authentication of a database transaction, requiring no intermediary
· 6 min read
Trace Bodies - the metamorphosis of digital identity
Today, on the internet, everybody knows you’re a dog
· 5 min read
Mesh - what happens if you connect everything?
The Mesh is coming. It will be chaotic as there are no common standards such as those that permit the internet to operate.