Three ways of showing intent
Lots of organisations suffer from a gap between what they announce, what their structures signal, and what their behaviour actually proves. That gap is where trust erodes and priorities go to die.
Topic
organisational culture
A collection of 27 issues
Dealing with the decision-making logjam
Even strong ideas stall when decision-making systems can’t keep up with limited leadership attention. This piece looks at why everything escalates, how attention becomes a bottleneck, and what leaders can change to reduce friction without burning out teams or themselves.
This week's best things #85
Opaque web filtering, accessibility, algorithmic power, the world's quietest room, crisis leadership, Google's year in search, and the dangers of organisational firefighting.
This week's best things #84
A mix of indie web oddities, creative projects, research on leadership, tools to dodge AI slop, and how AI safety features can be circumvented with poetry. Also some reflections on audio design, leadership dynamics, a design system from the Swedish state railway, and a recipe for clotted cream
Imagination, resilience and letting go
Organisations face accelerating pressure and shrinking capacity. Imagination matters, but it needs scaffolding, stability, and space to take root. Real progress comes from better conditions for decision making, small experiments, and structures that turn ideas into sustainable practice.
This week's best things #80
Playing an instrument helps keep the brain young. Also: a museum of web design, innovation vs infrastructure, antifragility, Aurora Orchestra’s learning platform, sensory sculpture, design systems at the NHS, the “futures cone” as a way to think about uncertainty, and the “Age of Worth It.”
This week's best things
Lessons from a museum cyberattack, Welsh AI content support, the EU’s plan to fix cookie law chaos, a doomsday prediction tracker, hat/haircut/tattoo decisions, why writing in books boosts memory, Amazon’s decline, team focus research, cultural bias in GPT, and sitcoms in Yugoslavia.
Not all decisions are equal (or why you shouldn't treat your hats like tattoos)
In cultural organisations, too many decisions are treated as irreversible. Using the “hats, haircuts, tattoos” framework could help leaders distinguish between low-stakes and high-stakes choices, speeding things up and building a culture of trust.
This week's best things
Copenhagen trips, upcoming talks on AI + digital failure, and a load of good reads: on daydreaming, content structures, gateopeners, the myth of engagement, and why prompting is a design act. Plus rain maps, Lego Globe, shark tracking, and a truly dreadful novel.
This week's best things
Anonymous curators at Apple Music Classical, a zero-click AI vulnerability, the illusion of alignment in digital projects, crowdsourced visioning at the National Gallery, Excel as esport, and what playgrounds reveal about gender and space. Plus: shoes, stoops, and Karel Gott.