I was reading an article last week about how the analogue revival in design isn’t really analogue. It’s a digitally fabricated imperfection with texture packs simulating hand-lettering and the aesthetic of human effort, without the effort. The sharpest line in the article: once handmade becomes valuable, it becomes something to mimic. The signal gets mistaken… Read More Faking the human
Next Sunday is International Women’s Day and I’ve been thinking about some data I came across this week. Women are rated higher than men on leadership effectiveness by their bosses, their peers, and their teams. Men rate themselves higher than anyone else rates them. Women rate themselves lower than anyone else rates them. And men… Read More Selection Over Supply
I was reading a story about how a children’s hospice recently improved uptake of an existing staff benefit. It didn’t introduce anything new but simply relaunched a financial coaching service with a timely webinar and honest messaging about financial pressure. Early engagement improved, and the full impact is still being reviewed. There is a clear… Read More Visibility Gap
We frequently receive requests to be a guest on the Women Talking About Learning podcast. Often these are AI generated, agent-led approaches that bear no relation to the podcast, our style or design, or content and history. This is trawling: casting your net out wide in the podcast space and seeing which podcasts you can… Read More Fly fishing in deeper water
We talk about data constantly and understand it poorly. Not technically but culturally. Alf Rehn wrote about this recently. Data is “recorded difference fixed for operational use. ” Tree rings, cuneiform tablets, your postcode, your browsing history, the gap where your medical record should be. That last one is the point. The gap is also… Read More Data Is a Decision
Lost and Desperate 