Powerful structures for product-driven organisations
I've talked before about my amazing Maths professor at Bristol university, Dr Mayberry, and in particular about his dissection of the phrase 'every nice girl loves a sailor'. Is it: "For each nice girl, For each sailor, the nice girl loves the sailor", or perhaps "For each nice girl, there exists a sailor, such that… Continue reading Every nice girl
I remember heading up the stairs at the Ace Hotel in New York City (one of the finer things about that fine city) and, stumbling - almost literally - over this: I think I took a photo at the time but I can't find it now. And this one is better anyhow. Turns out the… Continue reading Optimism
Anyone who is a bit of a smart arse, like me, will recognise the quote above. It's from Winston Churchill and it is about Democracy. You would be forgiven for thinking the full quote is 'Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others', as that is how the punchline is usually… Continue reading The worst form of government
A side effect of the digital revolution has been the closing of the perceived gap between product thinking and communications thinking. Not always with desirable results. Watching these worlds collide has long been a fascination for me, as they are such distinctly different approaches, require such different skills and temperament and are typical bought by… Continue reading Two tribes
I've always been a fan of Lean. Most recently Lean Startup has been very influential on me, as it has been on many others. On my desk sits an unread copy of Lean Analytics, and now, I see we have also got 'lean strategy', meaning not the strategy of using lean techniques, but rather the… Continue reading Lean blog post
The Broken Window theory of criminology was popularised in Malcolm Gladwell's 2002 book, The Tipping Point. The theory says that urban environments where vandalism and dereliction are present redefine social norms (reducing the pride people take in their communities) and leading to greater crime. In Gladwell's book, he highlights the effect of Giuliani's zero tolerance… Continue reading Broken Windows
Why is this image so powerful? Even before the caption is read and the context explained, it has a very strong visual resonance. Obama is obviously an historical figure, a phenomenal orator, a symbol of humanity and intellect. With his image comes a huge amount of that recollection and meaning: the victory speech after… Continue reading Meaning
'Needs' is a brilliant word. Five letters long and yet it means so many different things to so many different people; can encompass a huge range of planning challenges and can, perhaps, lead us to some interesting thinking about how to make things people really love, and to communicate things in a way which will… Continue reading Needs
"Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God. It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life I can listen to music and it makes such a difference." The quote above from the great American Novelist, Kurt Vonnegut is made more compelling by Vonnegut being, at times, humanist,… Continue reading Music
This wonderful clip from Mad Men on Amelia's blog started me thinking again about Kodak, both a case study of success and failure in product innovation, and - now - a cautionary tale for businesses facing change. But what, if anything, can we actually learn from it? One of the best studies of the primacy… Continue reading Kodak moments
Leading product 