Tag: emergence

What you only notice when everything quietens down

This is my final post for the year. Some things we notice because we are looking for them. I have lost my keys; I look around the house,…

Better than a New Year’s resolution

I used to like making New Year’s resolutions. My resolution to stop eating chocolate digestives in my old job at Expedition Engineering lasted 3.5 years. My resolution to…

Design decisions – who decides?

Design is full of decisions. Which client? Which supplier? Which materials? What location? Whether to build or not to build? Which idea best suits the brief? Shall I…

You don’t say very much

One of my favourite moments in Barbara Kingsolver’s book Flight Behaviour is when one character says to a scientist at dinner, ‘you don’t talk much, do you’. The…

Taking time to find the right fit

In yesterday’s post, I explored the difference between kinetic and thermodynamic products in chemistry. The analogy was about allowing change to unfold more slowly, giving the system a…

Never mind the aurochs

…here’s the Tauros. I read last week that Aurochs were the third heaviest mammals to wander Europe, after woolly mammoths and their sartorial companions, woolly rhinoceroses. Aurochs were…

What’s holding the current situation in place?

Design is about making change. Our aim is to turn an existing situation into a better situation. Sometimes that might be about designing a new thing. But other…

Losing edge (on the disadvantages of scale)

In my last few posts I’ve been exploring the relationship between the scale of design team and the connection with the places they are working with. Today I’ll…

340-degree vision

I read on a fact sheet that guinea pigs have 340-degree vision. On a horizontal plane they can see almost all around. Imagine! Their only blind spots are…