Tag: Value
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Entropy, Kintsugi and Antifragility
“The laws of thermodynamics were developed by nineteenth-century scientists to describe relationships between heat and mechanical energy. The second law of thermodynamics is based on the observation that many physical processes appear irreversible: Although these processes may theoretically be able to proceed forward or backward, when we observe them, they only go one way. Once a…
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Antifragile Metrics
For some time I’ve been thinking about metrics for antifragility. I first came across Troy Magennis’s framework: the ‘Six Dimensions of Team Performance” (perhaps worth reading first) and remember thinking at the time that his framework was fairly close to describing an antifragile system already. I thought I’d have a go at modifying it and…
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Comparing value – (and what’s value?)
I posted a poll on LinkedIn a couple weeks ago. It didn’t garner much response, but the results were nonetheless interesting. I was curious to know what people consider to be value. But to do this, I wanted to take money out of the equation and instead use an asset that most have or aspire…
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Stopping some fishing increases overall catches
This was an interesting title I spotted in the Economist the other day! Instantly, I thought it was a relevant metaphor for some of our own work-related issues, so I posted a message on our internal work channel asking what it could be an metaphor for. One of the designers responded that it sounds like…
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The Swedish Fishmonger’s Formula
We were walking around Stockholm on a cold and windy autumnal day, when we chanced upon a fishmonger’s near the harbour side, overlooking the water. I opened the door and it went ping and I walked in. I looked at all the fresh fish and artisan produce from the coastal regions of the Baltic, Atlantic…
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How Good Pricing Built Hamlet’s Castle
This is a short story about the history of value and pricing. Between the shores of modern day Denmark and Sweden, there is a slim body of water only a couple of miles wide. Hundreds of years ago, merchant ships sailed to and fro between the Baltic Sea and North sea, carrying their cargo to…
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An Exchange of Value
Last night, I spent the evening looking around my grandmother’s house to see what I could keep for nostalgic reasons and (don’t tell anyone) but I was also rooting around to see if I could find some booty that has some value. In a week or so the whole lot is going to get chucked.…
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A lesson from Richard Wagner and a carpet
This is a story about a carpet I bought and how it led me, by pure chance, to a beautiful insight from one of Richard Wagner’s operas which gave me a paradigm shift in terms of my approach to work and life. But first, the story about the carpet: Recently, we were in Oman over…