If you understand the true motivations and fears of every stakeholder/team member, you can begin to understand where things may start to come apart.

Hint: the incentive is never “the work” and the biggest fear is always about the person, not the org.

Over-processing the work is too real a problem in a world of bloated middle management.

“I would have done this differently, but how you did it works too” is a sentiment not heard nearly enough.

~

plenty of fun metaphors for this one…

there’s a reason a car only has one steering wheel.

There are many ways to get somewhere. the most incorrect option is a... See more

That’s my problem with most “strategy lines” – they assume uniform interpretation of the abstract.

Schematics are guides for experts in a subject.

A map for those in the know.

Diagrams simplify something to transfer the idea from an expert to an audience.

A summary for those who haven’t done the reading.

Schematics ask; “whats the most efficient way to include all the information?”

Diagrams on the other hand require you to decide “what information do... See more

Maybe the only thing worse than being paid off to have an opinion, is guessing and adopting others’ opinions out of fear of being “wrong” about your own.

In an era of personal brands and monetizable reputations, every single one of our posts is a performance. If you exist online, there is no such thing as authenticity. This only becomes more true, ... See more

This curator dynamic treads dangerously close to “gate-keeper,” systematically narrowing the range of perspectives being promoted to the masses. Curatorial power in the hands of a privileged elite has never not been problematic.

There’s an irony here: Algorithms were once believed to untether us from the masses and offer paths for personalization. But “For You” is not about pushing the limits of our artistic palates, but a device to serve us what the platform wants us to be satisfied with, herding us into perfectly predictable siloes that can be targeted with more “precise... See more

I don’t talk about it much but I do work at Google and I just want to contribute, as a small addendum to the wider conversation about AI, and how much it sucks, and how stupid it is, and how if you make garlic oil like it tells you to you will give botulism to your entire family -

we don’t use it.

like internally. we don’t use it.

I mean that we don’... See more

“Writing is often the process by which you realize you do not understand what you are talking about.”