Category: Blog
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Teaching consequences
One of the hardest lessons that parents have to teach is about consequences. We spend a lot of time naturally shielding our kids from consequences- even without thinking about it. Replacing dropped ice creams, lost football boots, broken [insert relevant toy here]s. And then suddenly, they get to an age where we think they should…
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Taking a punt? Times it by Pi
I’m fascinated by things that we’re serially terrible at and estimating is one of them. Judging how long something will take is a tricky proposition for us humans. We overestimate our competence, underestimate the complexity, rarely factor in the inevitable curve balls and often forget to consider any clean up. If we repeat something enough, we…
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Talking past each other
Much of the time that we disagree, it’s not about fundamental issues. We might both be heading in the same direction, but we disagree about where we came from, or how we might best get to the next destination. When this happens we start talking past each other. Making points, but not addressing the key…
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Calls for destruction
It’s harder to build something than it is to knock it down. Building requires planning, coordination, resource management, funding and determination. Destruction can be achieved by a far smaller team in a far shorter time. Individuals can, under the right conditions, destroy things overnight that took thousands of people, many years to build. So when…
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Sometimes it just doesn’t work
This is the third piece I’ve written today. I don’t normally write more than one (I don’t have the patience) but the first two just didn’t work. One of them doesn’t know what it wants to be about yet, and the other isn’t suitable given what’s going on in the world. Neither would have added…
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The richness of new perspectives
The perspectives we have are distorting. They present only one side of an object, an issue or a situation. That perspective might be zoomed in, in which case we have amazing detail, but lack the clarity of the big picture. Or our perspective might be from a distance, able to see all the context, but…
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Ask an oracle
I don’t believe in tarot cards whatsoever, but I still love them. They can be beautiful and they have wonderful sense of both playfulness and mystery. To be clear, I do not believe in their ability as a supernatural tool to predict the future. But I do believe in people and imagination and the power…
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People are not their government
This is something that I’ve relied on for years. As an Australian who lives in the UK, the two governments with which I have the most association have horrendous legacies. Luckily, I’m generally not held accountable for the actions of those governments. Even the recent ones. Those around me tend to judge me based on…
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But are the foundations solid?
As someone who designs collaborative sessions for a living – my primary way of approaching a problem is to think about a way for people to interact with it. I like to think about the mechanics of the situation, its fundamental components and the various ways in which those two things might be combined. I often…
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What it takes to remember
Occasionally life will give us a kick up the arse to remind us what’s important. What’s really important. A proper health scare will do it. A near miss on a busy road will do it. The death of a close friend or family member will also do the trick. They all force us to look…