Last week the small but influential software company, Basecamp, made some internal policy changes. You can read their (much-amended) public announcement, as well as some well-informed background and a follow-up. … Continue reading Society inside companies
In recent days a number of high-profile US corporations have publicly criticised lawmakers in the US state of Georgia for implementing voting laws that particularly penalise voters of colour. The … Continue reading Companies taking a stand is basic humanity
I’m a big fan of openness and transparency; hiding things creates extra work, and showing others what’s going on in our world can allow them to help us, or at … Continue reading Tweaking the variables of transparency
No doubt you, like me, were horrified by the killing of George Floyd. And maybe also by the killing of Trayvon Martin. And also Stephen Lawrence, and many others I … Continue reading We are responsible for the world we want
I’ve been by turns amused and horrified by discussions recently of the proposed WeWork floatation, and the apparent hubris running through it. WeWork runs co-working spaces with the kind of … Continue reading Leadership and continuity
I was having a discussion with someone recently about using open source software and making an organisation’s own software open source. The most significant example of this that I’ve had … Continue reading When an organisation’s software is open source
Some time ago I wrote about the error of slavishly following “best practice” without asking why. And I was reminded of this again the other day when a friend forwarded … Continue reading An example of the errors of “best practice”
I’ve said before that the word “maturity” raises my hackles, and in particular when people talk about their organisation needing to be “mature”. This is not the only word that … Continue reading What does it mean to be a mature organisation?
I’ve always seen strategic decision-making as consisting of a large element of guesswork. It’s educated guesswork, but it’s very much taking a punt on what we want to achieve based … Continue reading Balancing strategic guesswork with tactical evidence
The other day I was listening to BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed, which on this occasion focused on “Platform capitalism”. This is the world of Uber, AirBnB, and TaskRabbit, in … Continue reading Feedback happens, whether we respond or not
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