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Essays


Being Happy, or How to Probably Be a Pragmatic Leader

April 1, 2025

An exploration of how perspective and zoom levels affect leadership and happiness, arguing that effective leadership requires mastering the art of shifting focus between different levels of detail.

Critical Systems Revisited

March 20, 2025

A reflection on why critical systems often fail while consumer platforms remain reliable, exploring the impact of organizational structure and company culture on system resilience.

Teaching in context works, or why the best learning is when you think you aren't being taught

January 15, 2025

An exploration of how contextual learning and creative engagement could transform education, using the evolution of spell-checking as a lens to understand deeper truths about how we learn.

Cutting boards need feet, or why being a purist and pragmatic are mutually exclusive

January 1, 2025

An exploration of the tension between purism and pragmatism through the lens of cutting board design, and why sometimes compromising on ideals leads to better outcomes.

Why I'm not donating to your charity, or my personal philosophy on how to ethically run companies.

December 25, 2024

An exploration of charity models, business ethics, and why the traditional charity approach might not be the most effective way to create lasting positive change.

Strategically placed footer text because UX research says you'll trust me more

Probably the most over-engineered footer you'll see todayCrafted with ❤️ from Townsville(because apparently that makes it more authentic)

* Studies show footers with hearts increase conversion by 0% but we do it anyway