Category: Internet of things

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks doing a bit of life admin including going to the post office, buying a new laptop, getting a radio repaired, returning books at the library and other 1990s activities. So I’m now ready to face the inevitable question from The West Wing. Basically, from May 12th I’m available… Continue reading What’s next?

I’m reading a lot of job descriptions and after almost 20 years of work, I often end up skimming rather than reading them because they are a cultural indicator as well as a checklist. I am looking for signs of a corporate culture between the lines and as someone who has hired, written and revisited… Continue reading How to write a job description

Enjoyed listening to this long Gabor Mate interview / i’ve somehow ended up being gifted 7 new books in the last week which includes The Beauty of Everyday Things / Interesting 2025 is coming up and i’m looking forward to it / i’ve been playing jazz with this celery salad and using almonds instead of… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #80

It’s International Women’s Day so I wanted to talk about career arcs and the stories we are told. I’ve recently decided I would like to become CEO soon. I’ve been a founder and co-founder but realised that didn’t translate into people trusting me in a CEO role. I was young and CEO roles implied a… Continue reading On the glass ceiling

  Went to see the Tirzah Garwood exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the canvases she painted from her bed while she was dying of breast cancer were a highlight / Lawyers for Nature sound interesting / learnt about St Brigid’s cross / the Royal Academy of the Arts show about Brazil’s modernist period… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #79

Marielle (I rarely called you mum to your face), I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye properly so I hope you’ll forgive me this very public letter. I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me since 1998. I met you and your husband first, one afternoon. I sat with my hands… Continue reading Nota Bene (a letter to my mother)

As a single person living in London, I suffer from the ‘single person tax‘ and I don’t think we talk about that enough in relation to design salaries. Let’s assume a junior designer role pays £35K (which incidentally is below the Skilled Worker Visa requirement). That’s £2,355.92 after tax. In Zone 3 where I live,… Continue reading The problem with design salaries

I decided to go cold turkey on micro-blogging. I’ve had a Twitter account since November 2006 and at some point owned 12 different accounts. I stopped last month. I don’t know for how long but I’ve gone back to ‘big writing’, ie. working on the second edition of Smarter Homes which I owe myself (and… Continue reading On socially distancing from microblogging

I joined TPXimpact a year ago this week which means I should probably look back and think about what I’ve learnt so far. Working with a hybrid team slows everything down because it slows down how you build trust. I made sure to visit all our various offices at least every few months to try… Continue reading A year in

I’ve been hiring people for almost 20 years. These are some questions I think we should ask more often: What grinds your gears in the design industry? Tell me about a time when you had to give difficult feedback someone Tell me about a time when you encountered an ethically murky situation. What did you… Continue reading 10 questions we should all be asking designers