Published in→→ ←←·Pinnedthe constant constant“It’s not our work to have the answer. It’s our work to be ready when called.” – Bayo Akomolafe It’s dawning on me that our frames of change are what’s at fault. The short, sharp act. The efficient manoeuvre. The successful campaign. None of these have all advancing when the change is run. All…Design1 min readDesign1 min read
PinnedBird on a wire 🦉One day, quite early, there appeared a small bird on a wire, its feathers ruffled by the cool morning breeze. “I wonder what I am doing here?” the bird thought. As it pondered, a sudden gust of wind swept it off the wire and into the sky. “and how is…2 min read2 min read
Published in→→ ←←·Nov 10What if?What if we took the world and all that’s in it, and risked it on one game of pitch and toss? and lost.1 min read1 min read
Published in→→ ←←·Oct 29Why Most Change Efforts Don’t WorkThe Paradox of Evolution & Homeostasis — “In trying to climb out of the pits we’ve dug ourselves, the pit becomes resilient. In trying to escape the prison, the prison gains its form.” — Bayo Akomolafe Imagine a forest, a complex web of organic life, where every tree, bush, and critter has a unique role to play…Change5 min readChange5 min read
May 26, 2021Sorry isn’t enoughIn 1836 a 17 yo boy left Scotland bound for Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land… “Fired by his pioneer spirit” and tales of opportunity, he traveled north to explore the Port Phillip district. Two years later, he set out with a group of others — and many sheep — to search…Sorry2 min readSorry2 min read
Jan 10, 2021We are not alone: a thought experiment.Play a game with me for a moment. Think about a person. They might be anyone. Even you. For the purposes of this game, let’s picture this person as an individual, existing on a uniform plane in otherwise empty space. (Imagine they don’t need a breathable atmosphere in this game) …3 min read3 min read
Dec 17, 2018On perception, and frames.Think about a stone you pick up from the bank of a fast flowing river. Perhaps granite. Tumbled matte by the forces of water and other things it repeatedly rubs up against. If we hit this stone with a hammer and it fractures along some internal fault line, is it…Design3 min readDesign3 min read
Oct 20, 2017Grokking The SwampAdventures into the practical abyss, and back again. — Ten years ago I started two big projects. This is the story of one of them, my PhD. I wrote this for anyone contemplating something similar. “In the varied topography of professional practice, there is a high ground overlooking a swamp…” — Donald Schön Let me tell you a story the tale of how I grokked my PhD. Grok is coined as an untranslatable…PhD16 min readPhD16 min read
Aug 28, 2017A Project is a PromiseWhen we start a project with someone, we make a promise to them that we will go from A to B… and, when we get to B we’ll have something to show for it. — We can talk all we like about the middle bit – that meandering path that leads through ambiguity, to some new sense of understanding – but it’s not until they’ve experienced it that a client or stakeholder will understand what you meant when you said:1 min read1 min read
Aug 27, 2015getting to WTFThere’s a moment when things get a little strained. Adrenaline wakes the fluttering bugs down below, eye contact becomes difficult, words fail someone and the pause … extends. Time to pack up and go home, there’s nothing here for you. That moment is the when the door reveals itself. Like…Design Research1 min readDesign Research1 min read
