Corissa recently re-learned to drive and noticed links between the stresses on the road and the stresses in the office. So we talked it through. We touch on the difference between complicated and complex, and between uncertainty and risk. When do you follow the rules in the highway code, and when do you muddle through and figure it out on the way? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Short little punchy one today: we bumped into one of our dad friends, who told us a lovely story about a parenting moment that was also a great example of emergent strategy and exaptation (radical repurposing). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom and Corissa discuss the OMF framework for project planning, focusing on prioritizing opportunity and method over format. They explore creating value over aesthetics, balancing brand reputation and customer acquisition, and the importance of designing effective experiments. The conversation delves into Amy Hoy's efficient product launch approach and the need for experimental rigor in testing.

Exploring the challenges of building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and how it often leads to a 'death spiral'. Discussing common conditions that trap teams in this cycle, the fear of shipping imperfect products, and the importance of real customer feedback. Highlighting strategies for transforming company dynamics, navigating gaslighting, and shifting focus to customer progress for successful product development.

HALF WAY TO DO 100 THING!One night, Corissa messaged Tom:"It’s often unhelpful to get trapped in simple stories, but how do you know when to trust your gut? Our instincts aren’t always wrong. And pushed too far, obsessing over telling lots of different stories (overthinking??) could also become a trap in its own right?"Today, we tell some stories, and we talk about how to get untrapped.Overthinking vs underthinking. Rumination vs experimentation. Gut instinct vs rational consideration. When are you telling too many stories? When are you not telling enough? We talk through this question, and share ideas for how you can escape from all the traps. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In SWOT analysis, you list your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.Maybe you love it? Maybe you hate it? We've been in the second camp for a long time, but it was worth revisiting our thinking about the method. If it's so terrible, how come it's so enduring? Maybe there's some good in it? Or maybe our concerns and criticisms are warranted.Strap in as we walk and talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of this simplistic strategy 2 by 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one's definitely designer-centric. And it's pretty hard to explain without visuals, but we give it a good go.Tom talks about the shift that conceptual models enabled for him. When he was a younger designer, he often struggled to articulate design decisions, struggled to defend elements of the design that were crucial for things to be coherent, and constantly butted up against technical architecture that made it weirdly hard to design easy-to-use software. Once he figured out how to make and socialise a conceptual model, and then evolve the design around it, everything got way easier.We talk through what a conceptual model helps you do if you're designing a software product or service, how you can use them to diagnose tricky problems, and share some references to help you get started.References:OOUX by Sophia V PraterUX Magic by Daniel RosenbergDomain Driven DesignElements of Product Design by Jamie Mill Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this one, we talk about complexity in parenthood and in business. In both cases, there are plenty of people willing to sell you "the way" in their book. And there are millions of books that disagree, so anyone can cherry pick one that fits what they would like to be true. This is what you get when you try to treat a complex, dispositional system as if it were ordered and causal. And it's why so many of the efforts to determine what is the "best" way to parent, or run a business, or live a good life, end up inconclusive, contradictory and confusing. We talk about how we cope with all this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover the power of constraints in fostering creativity, from design to Lindy Hop. Explore using constraints for behavioral change and maximizing efficiency in project management. Delve into the influence of constraints on behaviors in society and organizational structures. Learn how constraints can be both limiting and enabling in various contexts.

Our jumping off point today was a video from YouTuber Caroline Winkler about making friends as an adult. She instructs us to tell ourselves that when someone doesn't want to be your friend, it's always something practical in their life: they're too busy, they're about to move away, things like that. And it left us wondering: but what if it IS you? We've all met people we didn't like. What if you're a person someone doesn't like?But hey – perhaps it's helpful to hold on to the delusion that it's never about you? What we call "distribution" is a painfully slow, ambiguous investment. Maybe we need some delusion to carry on when it feels like a slog? Maybe that's healthy? But then how will you know if it is in fact you?We unpack more stories that might be going on when we can't seem to find friends or customers. Whether you're trying to make bookish friends at a gabba rave, or trying to find customers for your achingly cool new startup, this one's for you x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.