Short notes before I start the week.

Not much to say on Extract which wasn’t covered in Friday’s weeknote, and please do check out Fabia’s design history too.

My main reflection on the work is that there’s a need to establish an operating model between the two teams. How our work flows, how we work together, how information flows and how we create value. There are ambitions to build ‘a feature in a day’ which is admirable, but it’s not clear whether that includes the steps required to prove value and utility, that user needs are being met.

This can all be worked out. It’s just about getting on the same page about plans and how we work. We’re moving really fast but need to do some extra explaining.

Ripples

On Thursday I went to Ripples in Bristol (used to be called Agile in the City). Had a really great day including hanging out with Emily, meeting Oli properly, catching up with ex-GDS colleagues, and of course chatting with my main man Jukesie.

It was a day focused on the socio-technical side of work, the systems and human relations that make the work work.

Linda Rising spoke about how social perceptiveness has shown to be a major factor in the success and productivity of teams. You can hire a bunch of intelligent people but that’s not enough, they have to work together well. Social perceptiveness, equal participation and a level of empathy are the ingredients for psychologically safe environments where people can apply a growth mindset.

Jim Benson was new to me, I hadn’t come across him before, but his work was really fascinating. He said lots of work is built on good intentions but also bad behaviours, and he’s written a book called The Collaboration Equation. He focuses on the operating system around the work, how people communicate and share information, plus the value stream for making things. There was also talk of ‘obeyas’, a seeing room for Lean teams. It was really interesting that his methods came from software teams but had been used by construction workers…

Finally, Emily spoke about communities of practice and how excellent they can be. Really important spaces, in my opinion.

Oil told me about a Gemini gem he’d created to test the metrics, measures and indicators people come up with against my principles for metrics, measures and indicators. Got me thinking about little AI experts I could create based on my own work.

After some fun pub chat, I went for dinner at Marmo with some close friends. Top quality grub, the gnocchi was amazing.

Train home was less than good. A police incident in Swindon delayed us for an hour and we had to switch trains. I’d left the house at 5 a.m. that morning and didn’t get home until half-past midnight. Knackering, but a great day.

Harvest

We watched Harvest, a film by Athina Rachel Tsangari based on the Jim Crace book. The cinematography and the colour palettes are fabulous, and story is excellent too. There was a line about maps in it that raised my eyebrows, I need to rewatch that scene and write it down. psd would love it.

Bugonia

Also caught Bugonia in the cinema, it’s absolutely hilarious. Really well done, both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are excellent.

Emily Kam Kngwarray

Popped into Tate Modern for this exhibition of work by Aboriginal artist Emily Kam Kngwarray. Reminded me that we learned about Aboriginal art in Year 5 or Year 6 at school, which brought back a lot of memories.

The colours were wonderful here too, but also the textures. You could see the stories in the paintings and the batiks, the walking routes around the Northern Territory of Australia. Check it out.

Bookmarks

• Finding outcomes for non-deterministic systems, 3 mins. Jeff Gothelf speaking truth. AI features make product outputs unpredictable and variable. To measure success, focus on behavioral metrics plus user feedback to know if an AI product is truly valuable.
• Would your home have been under a motorway?, 13 mins. In the 1960s, London planned huge motorways called the Ringways that would have destroyed many neighbourhoods and parks. All to deal with people buying more and more cars, apparently. Glad this never happened.
• So you want to be a strategist? I’m not sure it means what you think it means!, 3 mins. A few choice quotes from Andy Budd: true strategy work is rare, often messy, and done alongside many other tasks. It usually involves small efforts over time, not a clear, separate role or big, perfect plans.
• Are bubbles good, actually?, 5 mins
• US stocks slide as investors fret over high valuations for AI companies, 2 mins
• Palantir shares slide after Michael Burry reveals bet against stock, 3 mins
• When AI breaks: systems that learn faster, 4 mins
• Experts find flaws in hundreds of tests that check AI safety and effectiveness, 3 mins
• AI Isn’t Killing Product Discovery — It’s Making It Essential, 4 mins
• Bóthar, 2 mins