Working notes
A notebook of observations, experiments and evolving ideas about building better products, teams and organisations. Some of these thoughts are finished. Some are still moving around. That’s sort of the point.
13 thoughts
Note · Systems & automation
Scaling creative with AI makes brand voice, product facts and visual decisions more important. They need a shared home and someone to keep them current.
Essay · Data & decisions
Dashboards are useful, but only if they keep helping a business ask better questions. Once they stop shaping decisions, they slowly become part of the furniture.
Note · Technology & AI
Getting teams to use AI is only part of the job. People also need to know what they’re responsible for before and after it runs.
Note · Building things
Building a useful tool is one job. Helping someone find it at the right moment, and giving them a reason to come back, is another.
Note · Systems & automation
Automation can make work faster, but it can also make bad work happen faster. Before automating anything, ask whether the process should exist at all.
Note · Technology & AI
AI is useful when it removes the repetitive work that slows people down. It becomes dangerous when we expect it to replace context, judgement and human understanding.
Note · Data & decisions
Metrics should answer the question they were chosen to answer, but they should also create the next layer of investigation. The best metrics reduce uncertainty without pretending the work is finished.
Seed · Systems & automation
A system that only works when everyone is calm, focused and fully staffed is not a good system. Good systems are designed for busy Mondays and tired humans.
Note · Work & life
Small improvements rarely feel significant while they are happening. This is why teams need moments of reflection, not just goals and next actions.
Essay · Systems & automation
Naming conventions are not just an engineering detail. They create shared language across the business, and shared language is what allows teams to move quickly without constantly translating each other.
Seed · Building things
Simple experiences rarely happen by accident. They are the result of hard choices, careful editing and a deep understanding of the person using the thing.
Note · Human behaviour
Good meetings are not created by having the right people in the room. They are created by preparation, attention and a shared understanding of what needs to be decided.
Seed · Human behaviour
Curiosity is not just a nice personality trait. In teams, products and growth work, the quality of the question usually determines the quality of the answer.