Writing

Notes on agentic systems, emerging technology, and the decisions leaders face next. Longer pieces also live on The Next Now. Subscribe via RSS.

  1. The agentic org chart is two people deep Most companies are still drawing the wrong org chart for work that has already changed. What replaces it is smaller, faster, and unsettling to middle management for a reason. 5 min read · Agentic systems Work Strategy
  2. Strategy is what's left when code and design become free When the cost of making anything collapses, the value moves to knowing what's worth making. That is the entire argument for strategy as a first-class discipline again. 5 min read · Strategy Agentic systems Design
  3. An OpenClaw explanation your parents can understand "OpenClaw is probably the single most important piece of software ever built" - Jensen Huang (CEO of Nvidia). 3 min read · Agentic systems Consumer tech Future
  4. Console market thesis: Valve is a bigger threat to PlayStation than Xbox ever was Microsoft is in the process of euthanising Xbox (more on that later) and Sony’s PlayStation business should be far more focused on Valve than Redmond. As someone nostalgic for Sony's gaming brand; someone who still has… 8 min read · Games Strategy Consumer tech
  5. Screens don't damage brains. What's on them does. A study from 2019 is doing the rounds again - this time recycled by Australia's Network 10 with the headline "Chilling Warning For Parents As MRI Scans Show Phones Are Damaging Kids' Brains." 3 min read · Consumer tech The internet
  6. The internet is going back in time, and that’s a good thing With drastic changes sweeping across networks including Twitter and Reddit, the social web as we know it appears to be coming to an end. Most recently, Twitter has limited how many Tweets you can scroll through in your… 3 min read · The internet
  7. How GPT-4 will bring "Her"​ to life Cinema has long been a source of inspiration for technological advancements. Visionaries like Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg have presented us with countless depictions of futuristic societies, many of which have… 2 min read · Agentic systems Future Consumer tech
  8. The Next Now: First Trump, now Murdoch, banned from Facebook One might joke that another major source of misinformation has just been banned from Facebook: Murdoch’s Australian news media empire. Others might say it with a plain face. Can you blame them? The dumpster fire of… 4 min read · The internet Privacy
  9. The Next Now: the internet vs the mega rich If you’re reading this newsletter, you’ve probably at least caught wind of GameStop’s (NYSE: GME) stock hitting $347, rising from $17 just a week ago. Before we talk about the implications of this, let’s look at how we… 6 min read · The internet Future
  10. The Next Now: silicon, superpowers, and the suppression of globalisation China's time-to-rise has just been compressed. Overtaking the USA as the world's global economic superpower - clearly, instead of arguably - may now be just years away, instead of decades, for two key reasons: 2 min read · Future Consumer tech
  11. The Next Now: Privacy and China ##TikTok's looming ban could spell the start of the end of the internet as we know it. Launched by Beijing-based company Bytedance in 2018, the app claims 800 million monthly active users, with about 1.6 million… 3 min read · Privacy The internet
  12. It's time to rethink your tablet strategy Now is the time to come to terms with the fact that tablet's not a part of our mobile future. They’re a part of our PC past and you should be thinking about any plans you have for them through that lens. 3 min read · Mobile Consumer tech Strategy
  13. The Next Now: work from home forever + esports mainstream moment I've decided to open up a half-decade running monthly digest amongst peers to my broader network. A digest about what? About emerging technology and trends as they relate to the future of business, culture, and society.… 4 min read · Work Esports Games
  14. What cloud gaming is, and why it’s not the future of esports There is little doubt that cloud will amplify access to AAA gameplay and boost the total number of gamers around the globe significantly. In many ways, we can think about cloud game streaming as the democratisation of… 3 min read · Esports Games
  15. Designing better experiences for Blockchain (and everything else) Over 20 years of designing interfaces, experiences, and businesses, I’ve iteratively expanded upon and refined a single document - proudly carried from the building of one team to the next, lessons learned and in hand.… 6 min read · Design Blockchain
  16. Tales of a Bitcoin Debate Sitting down beside Leah Callon-Butler at Pause Fest last week, together we would defend the world's most famous cryptocurrency in a debate titled "Is Bitcoin a Fraud?" Opposite us, a team of bankers: Gordon Rennie… 2 min read · Blockchain
  17. Taking advantage of our unknown future At a recent conference run by the Australian Chamber of Industry (ACCI) and Business SA, I spoke to a room filled with both established and aspiring entrepreneurs. A lot of ground was covered, from how autonomous… 5 min read · Future Strategy
  18. The future of human experience I recently spoke about the future of technology and experience on a panel hosted by David Di Sipio, accompanied by the brilliant Ben Gilmore and Will Egan. Here are highlights from my conversation with the host, the… 6 min read · Future Design
  19. A blockchain explanation your parents could understand It's happening in an increasingly frequent manner: "Jamie, explain this blockchain stuff to me. I've read a bunch of articles and I'm no wiser." The problem with most blockchain explainers is that they provide more… 8 min read · Blockchain
  20. The future of work, and our ultimate end I like to think about the future. A lot. Both our immediate future so I can make better business decisions, and our distant one so I can make better decisions about what business to be involved in. An incredibly hot… 6 min read · Future Work
  21. More sleep + less work = better business results All too often, workplaces have a toxic culture that expects less sleep + more work = better business results. The opposite equation is one I talk about often – from conference stages to company board rooms – which may… 5 min read · Work
  22. Progress, for whom? An open letter to innovation leaders If you’re involved in technology and are reading this article on Medium, it’s likely that you sit in a generally liberal, progressive, moderate, diverse, optimistic, affluent metropolis — the likes of Melbourne, Silicon… 6 min read · Future Work
  23. Resisting a mobile future is futile It’s clear that the smartphone is far from finished unseating devices with bigger screens. PC shipments fell a record 10.6% in Q4 2015, despite continued predictions of a PC rebound from analysts. With it, the iPad and… 4 min read · Mobile Strategy
  24. Your business will be disrupted by autonomous vehicles Engaged in conversation with colleagues about the future of transport today, I got talking about the impact that autonomous vehicles will have on the advertising industry. If that seems like a strange leap to make, bear… 5 min read · Future Strategy
  25. Mobile advertising is about to be fundamentally disrupted When discussing emerging trends in mobile device use recently, I was asked what the future might look like and what changes might pose the greatest threats to existing business models. The industry that sprung… 5 min read · Mobile Strategy
  26. Our virtual reality future starts with the Gear VR Delivered via a US forwarding address, my Samsung Gear VR arrived in Melbourne yesterday. With great anticipation, I flashed my Telstra Note 4 with Virgin’s firmware and proceeded to get lost in unfamiliar worlds for… 3 min read · VR Consumer tech
  27. The Bottom Line Value of Design There has been an ever-brightening spotlight put on design and its business value over the past decade. That attention has been earmarked by the sweeping successes of companies who invest in it. I’m not talking about… 5 min read · Design Strategy
  28. What UX isn’t There’s still many common misconceptions about what user experience design (UX, UXD) is amidst many of the companies that need and want to invest in it. 2 min read · Design