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antifragility

01
Oct
Wednesday Reality: The Silence Before Departure

Wednesday Reality: The Silence Before Departure

On 6 March 1987, the Herald of Free Enterprise left Zeebrugge for Dover. She was a roll-on/roll-off
7 min read
29
Sep
Monday Myth: Every Part Passed Inspection

Monday Myth: Every Part Passed Inspection

Monday Myth: Every part passed inspection. The mechanism still refused to work. At the last bench, someone reached for a file. The real question was why the factory kept sending them there.
9 min read
27
Sep
Friday Fun: The Unit Was Agreed in Principle

Friday Fun: The Unit Was Agreed in Principle

🚀 Friday Fun: The dashboard showed a safe orbit. Mars filled the window. The numbers had passed every handover, so the programme remained green. 🟢
6 min read
23
Sep
Wednesday Reality | The Margin That Kept the Lights On

Wednesday Reality | The Margin That Kept the Lights On

The fault cleared in less than a tenth of a second. More than a million people still lost power. In IT, a green dashboard can tell the same story: the component recovered, while the wider system still carries the failure.
6 min read
22
Sep
Monday Myth: Precision Makes the Future Predictable

Monday Myth: Precision Makes the Future Predictable

Weather forecasts lose resolution as their horizon extends. Corporate roadmaps do the opposite: uncertainty grows, milestones multiply and confidence hardens. Precision does not make the future predictable. It merely makes surprise look like failure.
7 min read
19
Sep
Friday Fun: Your Outcome Is Out for Delivery

Friday Fun: Your Outcome Is Out for Delivery

Every department handled the parcel correctly, every handover succeeded, and every dashboard remains reassuringly green. The customer is still waiting outside, but your outcome is apparently out for delivery.
7 min read
17
Sep
Wednesday Reality: Most Failures Begin Between Two Competent People

Wednesday Reality: Most Failures Begin Between Two Competent People

The most dangerous point in a system is often not where someone fails. It is where one competent person finishes and another competent person begins. A product is not a baton passed from Product to Engineering. Value survives only when understanding travels through the whole loop.
8 min read
15
Sep
Monday Myth: Every Failure Needs Someone Responsible

Monday Myth: Every Failure Needs Someone Responsible

When failure demands a name, organisations usually find one faster than they find a cause. The person nearest the rupture gets corrected. The system that produced it quietly returns to service.
8 min read
12
Sep
Friday Fun: The Corporate Mobility Programme

Friday Fun: The Corporate Mobility Programme

The executive flight simulator shows clear skies. Down below, every strategic initiative is completing its sixth lap of the corporate roundabout. Fortunately, the dashboard confirms excellent momentum.
9 min read
08
Sep
Wednesday Reality: A System Can Protect You to Death

Wednesday Reality: A System Can Protect You to Death

A protection system can follow every rule and still destroy the system it protects. When controls become unpredictable, people do not become safer: they learn to work around them.
8 min read