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Excellence

29
Dec
Monday Myth: More Data Means Better Decisions

Monday Myth: More Data Means Better Decisions

Modern organisations proudly claim to be data-driven. In reality, most are data-soothed. Data does not sharpen judgement. It often dulls it. It reassures. It calms. It creates the impression that uncertainty has been handled.
3 min read
25
Dec
Epistemic Fragility: Why IT Systems Fail at Scale

Epistemic Fragility: Why IT Systems Fail at Scale

Book VI of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile is not about chaos in the abstract. It is about non-linearity. It explains why small causes can remain harmless while slightly larger ones suddenly produce disproportionate damage.
6 min read
24
Dec
When “Be More Collaborative” Really Means “Carry the Damage”

When “Be More Collaborative” Really Means “Carry the Damage”

In theory, and when properly implemented, collaboration sounds virtuous. Teamwork. Alignment. Shared ownership. In practice, in many organisations, it has become something else entirely: a mechanism to redistribute pressure downward without redistributing authority.
3 min read
23
Dec
Excuse-Driven Product Management

Excuse-Driven Product Management

There is a recurring pattern in modern product organisations that rarely gets called out because it is uncomfortable, political, and often shielded by good intentions. It is not bad product management. It is excuse-driven product management.
3 min read
22
Dec
Monday Myth: The Hands-On Executive

Monday Myth: The Hands-On Executive

When this appears prominently in a role description or is emphasised during an executive interview, consider it a warning label. At best, it signals confusion about the role. At worst, it advertises an organisation that has not decided whether it wants leadership or heroics.
3 min read
19
Dec
If Other Industries Ran Like IT

If Other Industries Ran Like IT

Every industry develops its own relationship with reality. Some learn quickly. Some learn painfully. Some do not learn at all. IT likes to believe it sits among engineering disciplines. Let us imagine, briefly, that other industries adopted the operating model IT has normalised.
2 min read
17
Dec
Why Foundations of Excellence Now

Why Foundations of Excellence Now

IT grew fast. It claimed to professionalise. It also claimed it scaled. But it never truly matured. We thought we gained processes, titles, and methodologies, yet never built the foundations that make a discipline serious. Craft weakened. Responsibility diffused. Consequences blurred.
2 min read
16
Dec
The Loop of Doom: How Implementation-First Thinking Kills Engineering

The Loop of Doom: How Implementation-First Thinking Kills Engineering

Walk into enough technology organisations and you will observe the same pattern repeating itself. Teams ship fast. Incidents multiply. Architecture degrades. Morale erodes. Yet delivery never slows down. On the contrary, it accelerates. This is not progress. It is a loop of doom.
5 min read
15
Dec
Monday Myth: “We Ship Fast Now. We Fix It Later.”

Monday Myth: “We Ship Fast Now. We Fix It Later.”

There is a persistent myth in modern IT and product organisations: that rushing a delivery without proper acceptance criteria is a valid trade-off in the name of speed.
5 min read
12
Dec
The Product Oracle: When Intuition Replaces Discipline

The Product Oracle: When Intuition Replaces Discipline

There is a recurring organisational pathology that hides behind the language of product leadership, customer focus, and business alignment. It
5 min read