Ed Dowding

Month: December 2017

Exponential organisations

Here are my notes from Exponential Organisations, a book recommended to me this weekend by a VC in Paris. Have a “massively transformative purpose (MTP)”  (ie a worthwhile mission) Don’t plan more than 1 year ahead. Measure your metrics. Acronym alert: the first letters of the next 5 characteristics make up the word SCALE. Staff on ...

This town ain’t big enough for the both of us – or .. oh. wait yes it is!

In my silver-lining head, this is how it goes: 1. Israel and Palestine fight for decades. Nothing seems to change. 2. Trump makes a bold and antagonising move. 3. Other side realises this is the end game. 4. Some negotiations about logistics. 5. Everyone who wants Jerusalem as a capital decides to share it. 6. ...

Dowding’s law of services

Dowding’s law of services: the value of advice is inversely proportional to its cost. The quality of execution of that advice is directly proportional to its cost. ie professionals will tell you the right answer for (almost) free because doing it well is the hard part.

Procedural language: The importance of going through the motions.

In the film Arrival, the aliens basically see time as another dimension – there are no surprises for them since they see it all laid out in front of them. (Kurt Vonnegut does the same thing with the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse Five.) This is why they can write semasiographically because the whole idea is fully formed ...