All at Sea

Summer is over and with year-end festivities still to start we are in that bit of a lull as the nights (and weather) draw in.

Despite the descending gloom it also seems the perfect time to get away, a bit of a change before the holiday season starts and as a result, I’ve just got back from a week diving.

This was my first live-aboard dive trip, purely boat-based. Bobbing about on the Red Sea, no land, for a week it was 5 days of four meals a day, not being able to stay awake past 9 pm, and having to face up to the dreaded words: it’s a marine toilet (those who know, know and those who don’t I am not explaining!)… oh yes, and we did some diving too.

Truth be told, it was a great trip—turtles, fishes, and a lot of history with plenty of wrecks in what is a very busy marine shipping route.

However, now I am back and as with all new experiences, a few new things to think about.

Meeting New People.

It was fantastic to get out and spend some time with new people. People I didn’t really know and to have the opportunity to get to know them better.

Most of us spend most of our time in our daily lives talking with the same people, friends, family and colleagues. This is our comfort zone and we tend to know them well. Yes, we also get out to external meetings, events and conferences, but even then we typically share similar backgrounds, jobs and outlook on life.

What was interesting last week, was being able to break this mould and chat with people who live in completely different circles. Yes, there was a common interest (diving) but outside of this, we all came from different perspectives.

This made me realise just how easily we can slip into living in our own echo chamber of views (even when we think we are not).

Like the old-fashioned definition of ‘a community’, last week was different and thoroughly refreshing.

Know When to Stop

Diving can be pretty tiring at the best of times, and with four dives a day, by the end of the week, I was getting pretty exhausted. Maybe there is a point when you get used to it, but I was nowhere near that! (running for the bus this week, I’ve definitely felt fitter mind you – which is good)

Towards the end of the trip, as my tiredness grew, I started to notice mistakes creeping in. Feeling cold, struggling to get fins off, wet suit on, let alone getting up the ladder to get out of the water.

Getting ready for a dive, a chain of events culminated in me pinching my finger in the weight belt buckle, resulting in a dramatic flush of red across the deck. (it looked more dramatic than it actually was).

Now bleeding from an injury is never good, especially at sea. It is not so much that Jaws may be out there (and would be ‘chumming’ the water) but a very real risk of infection that is the immediate concern.

Yet, realising I made a mistake through being tired, my bigger concern was other future potential errors that could await me if I continued… some of which could have much more serious consequences. So I decided to call it a day, stop diving, and just rest… of course, within 24 hours, feeling better I bounced back.

This really made me realise how performance is related to being fresh and rested.

Yes, it is sometimes good to push to get something done, but the more tired you are the harder it is to do something well. Knowing when to stop is key

Mobile Connectivity

Undoubtedly our smartphones are a marvel of the modern world, increasingly we are always connected. However for the first few days, bobbing about on the water, in the middle of nowhere, we had no mobile signal—none at all. It is a pretty rare event these days.

Of course, with no connectivity we all reverted to the old ways of interacting… chatting, making each other tea (the odd biscuit, and strangely Twinkies!) and reading books.

It was all very nice really. Even the anxiety of not knowing what was going on in the rest of the world started to fade as it continued.

Then, as soon as we ventured closer to land we ‘connected’.

Phones lit up with notifications, dumping emails and WhatsApp messages that all “needed” a reply.

The change of mood and dynamics on the boat was stark.

The conversation stopped as we all caught up on messages. Yes, still sitting in a group but engrossed in our phones rather than chatting.

I don’t know how we get this balance right, but it really doesn’t feel like we have it right at the moment… missing out on the information around us, due to the information in our phone… missing out on the community around us due to the community on our phone… somehow the priority need rebalancing.

Back reality

So, some reflections and things to think about now I am back in the world of work.

  • Meet new people. Expanding horizons and getting out of the bubble more.
  • Knowing when to stop. Stopping to avoid mistakes—it can be costly in the long run – rest can make a big difference.
  • Get off the phone. Interact with the world around you—it’s far more interesting.

Back to it this week, somewhat refreshed and hopefully with a spring in my step. It was good to get out, and it’s great to be back.

Have a great week, everyone!

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Where’s my Cheese?

There was big news this last week in case you missed it. No, it was not the budget, it was that nearly £300,000 of cheddar cheese was stolen by fraudsters.

It seemed this was the leading story on all the talk radio shows I had on whilst running errands, last weekend.

Still, it made a nice change from all the anxiety-laden discussion about the budget mind you, which was finally delivered mid-week after about 3 months of talking about it…. anyway back to cheese.

It turns out that a huge delivery of cheddar cheese was delivered by the company to whom they thought was a wholesaler, but in fact was a fraudster.

Obviously, this was a big deal and the dairy is now out of pocket and by the sounds of it struggling with cash flow too.

Even Jamie Oliver got involved… asking us all to watch out for any cheese and help track down the culprits…. it was all very Wallace and Gromit at this point.

Outside of any immediate concern I had about my ham and cheese toasty supply chain (it is secure btw), and consciously avoiding any cheese-related puns out of respect for those involved, it did prompt some more serious questions. Namely

  1. What due diligence was done setting up the account?
  2. What controls were in place as part of the credit control process? (limits, signoffs etc)
  3. Had they never met or been to the location before? (and was this a case of impersonation)
  4. Were they insured?

Now I don’t know the details of the case and so cannot really comment, although no doubt it is being investigated internally as to what happened.

However, what it did underline was in what seems to be our increasingly digitally-orientated fast-paced world, we still need to have some of the traditional basic controls to protect ourselves.

As we all rush to the bright light of digital, it is all very exciting, but let’s make sure we don’t trip on the way.

Every so often, we need to take a moment to step back, have a look and make sure the process still works.

This was undoubtedly a tough experience for the dairy, Neal’s yard, who have a great selection of cheese btw. I just hope that the publicity from the event, and Jamie’s plea has driven more customers to them to help cover the loss… Sometimes the world works in strange ways like this and I wish them well.

Good news update – there seems to be progress on the case

Box clever

The other story that caught my eye this week was a piece around boxes. In particular Apple boxes (the computers, not Granny Smiths!).

It turns out that Steve Jobs was obsessed with the unboxing experience and believed this created an emotional connection between the consumer and the product. He spent millions on it apparently.

Of course, anyone who owns an Apple product (I do), especially if you bought it new, will know just what a delicious event the unpacking experience is.

For me, it comes back to quality, real, thought-through quality.

You can tell when thought has been put into it and when it is more than just a commodity. More often than not we are happy to pay a premium for it.

An Apple a day…

These days so much of the recent discussion on AI or digital seems to be about speed or cost. Responding faster, adding more features or simply providing something cheaper.

However, as these two experiences illustrate, we also need to be careful this does not become a false economy, costing us more in the long run, being a race to the bottom or continually squeezing margins.

This is why we still value handmade goods so much, despite all the technology around us. We appreciate a quality product or premium service as much as we ever have done.


So this is my thought for the weekend. How can I create that upgrade, thinking in a premium-class manner?

After all, it is not necessarily all about doing more, but being smart, thinking, maybe even slowing down a little to take it in that can help… and maybe some of the old ways of doing things are not that bad afterall, not that bad at all.

Have a good weekend everyone.

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Embracing thinking… carefully

All of a sudden it seems to be events season (yes there is an event season). I have been on the road quite a bit recently, and away from the office.

Whenever this happens what always strikes me is just how inefficient all this travelling is.

At your desk, it seems easy to keep up with all the tasks, but step away, once you are stuck on a train or in a live presentation and the whole routine falls apart…

However let’s face facts, you just cannot get through the same volume of work…!

These days it certainly feels like there is a lot of pressure to be busy.  Getting lots of things done, ticked off on the to do sheet, feels good.  We like it and we like it when those around us at busy too. If there is an email we need to respond quickly, if something needs to be done we get to it straight away… speed sometimes seems more important than accuracy.

Many years ago Albert Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions”…

Our modern-day equivalent seems to be more “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 10 minutes responding with quick solutions, 10 minutes bouncing ideas off colleagues on the local WhatsApp group checking what I said was correct followed by 20 minutes sketching out initial implementations followed by a further 30 minutes ‘ironing out’ issues so it sort of works” (it does not add to 60min I know!)… I blame social media.

I feel all of this need for speed leaves little room for considered thinking and decision-making. With a premium on responding quickly, rather than responding accurately, this can be problematic.

Fortunately, at the end of some of my recent journeys, I have been lucky enough to listen to some great speakers.  Some of these have been from more academic pursuits and it struck me how thinking things through carefully can really help in building innovative great solutions.  It does however take some time and with all of the chatter of the day to day, in the office, this is something that is all too easy not to do… especially when that next deadline is due.

Yet, watching SpaceX ‘catch’ their rocket last week, it really brought it home.  Spending the time to think and plan can build some amazing things.  It was indeed an impressive sight…and for those not aware the machine is huge… for example this photo here.

https://x.com/MarcusHouse/status/1846683558070603951

These achievements are of course more than just one person, a great team, and it is not just a one-off. 

Just take a look at the evolution of their rocket engines for example… again, this is impressive, both in terms of specialisation and simplification (and no doubt cost and reliability).

https://twitter.com/EvaFoxU/status/1819650208734548303/photo/1

… and it turns out the thinking process they use is fascinating.  Yes this sent me down a rabbit hole… pointers from Elon Musk

  • Make requirements less dumb.  Requirements are often too generic. This is a reason for failure. Take time to plan, test and really understand any assumptions.
  • Delete the parts of the process.  Delete to the point your need to add stuff back in.  If you are not having to add stuff back in you have not deleted enough.
  • Simplify or optimise the design. Take a holistic view simplify what is needed, make sure you are optimising only processes that are needed.
  • Accelerate cycle time. But, make sure you are moving in the right direction first.
  • Automate. Again make sure it is actually needed.

Throughout there is this focused emphasis on thinking through the problem (often from first principles) and then slowly, deliberately taking action, each step, once correct, building on the next. 

It doesn’t sound like rushing around.  It does sound an awful lot like deliberate, careful, compounding activity to build amazing things.

So now back in the office… with all busy activity back underway… it is something to reflect on.

How to build small, smart steps that build on each other… be less busy, more deliberate and get a bigger result.

It sounds like I may need another trip and time out of the office to think about it… 

… well it is event season!

Have a good week everyone.

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