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Foundations

19
May
Law 6: Local Optimisation Breaks Global Performance

Law 6: Local Optimisation Breaks Global Performance

The system does not care how efficient each part becomes. It only rewards the extent to which inputs convert into outcomes that customers value and the business can monetise.
7 min read
18
May
Monday Myth: Everyone Can Have a Dream Job in IT

Monday Myth: Everyone Can Have a Dream Job in IT

For more than two decades, the technology industry has sold one of the most seductive narratives in modern economic life.
8 min read
17
May
Friday Fun : The Alchemists of Modern IT

Friday Fun : The Alchemists of Modern IT

When organisations stop searching for magic and start practising chemistry, performance becomes reproducible.
4 min read
14
May
Law 5 — Systems Optimise for What They Reward and Tolerate

Law 5 — Systems Optimise for What They Reward and Tolerate

The principle explains why companies drift away from their stated ideals, why toxic cultures emerge despite sincere intentions and why institutions often reproduce patterns that nobody would openly defend
8 min read
13
May
Living in the Past or How Negative Conservatism Kills Companies

Living in the Past or How Negative Conservatism Kills Companies

Every enduring system faces the same challenge: distinguish between timeless principles and temporary manifestations of success.
5 min read
12
May
Law 4 — Delayed Feedback Compounds Failure

Law 4 — Delayed Feedback Compounds Failure

The longer the loop, the higher the cost. In engineering, physics, biology, and business, feedback governs adaptation. Modern organisations routinely violate this principle.
7 min read
11
May
Monday Myth: You Cannot Declare a Start-up Nation into Existence

Monday Myth: You Cannot Declare a Start-up Nation into Existence

When the expression "Start-up Nation" entered the political vocabulary, it carried an attractive and ambitious vision. The phrase suggested a France that would embrace entrepreneurship, risk-taking, speed, and innovation. The aspiration was legitimate. The assumption behind it was flawed.
4 min read
10
May
Friday Fun: The IT Department as a Medieval Kingdom

Friday Fun: The IT Department as a Medieval Kingdom

Modern IT departments often claim to operate like high-performance engineering organisations. Most actually resemble medieval kingdoms. Not metaphorically. Structurally.
4 min read
07
May
Law 3 — Dependencies Tax Flow

Law 3 — Dependencies Tax Flow

Law 1 established that unused delivery has no reality. Law 2 showed that complexity naturally accumulates unless systems actively remove it. Law 3 explores one of the primary mechanisms through which entropy damages execution: dependencies.
7 min read
06
May
When Leadership Lets the System Drift

When Leadership Lets the System Drift

Observe the delivery system of almost any organisation under strain. Boards remain full, work continues to move, and a significant proportion of items hover in a perpetual state of “almost done”.
6 min read