Your IT team demands a new password every fortnight. Your staff have a Post-it note.

Every time someone tries to make a system more secure, the system gets less secure.

Tom and Corissa roam from hospital proximity sensors to vibe-coded spreadsheets, and find the same story playing out everywhere: different incentives, predictable workarounds, and a cycle that will keep going long after the technology changes.

• Why the most dangerous thing about a security measure might be how annoying it is
• Geoff the tinkerer, his idiosyncratic Excel spreadsheet, and what might happen when he gets access to an AI coding tool
• "A pandemonium of stochastic parrots" — what frontier engineering teams are actually learning about agent swarms (and it's not what the headlines say)
• The DevOps precedent: what happened to the person whose whole career was named-server maintenance, and how that rhymes with now
• Why your entire product sprint team might look, from the CEO's perspective, like a very slow LLM
• The one thing we can reliably predict about how AI will change organisations — even if everything else is uncertain

For anyone trying to figure out where to place their bets — on career, on technology, on their team — when the only honest answer is that nobody knows.

Links & references

• Simon Wardley (and his models for how technology and practice co-evolve)
• Clayton Christensen (Innovator's Dilemma, disruption theory)
• Episode 134: Geoff's shadow spreadsheet sprawl https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/696fea603738e9e7d196e2f5
• Episode 127: The unbundling and bundling of jobs https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/6920570d4105c9a02176f2bc

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In this one, Tom and Corissa try to make sense of it — not by picking a side, but by honing some questions. Their lens is: bounded applicability. Some tools are good for some things. Nothing is good for everything. The hard part is knowing which is which.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Tom’s first proper foray into Claude Code, a surprisingly useful Python script it produced in 15 minutes
• A practical rubric: the questions to ask before you let an AI mess with your stuff
• The developer who reviewed and approved every chunk of code and then came back a week later to find chaos
• The architect’s clever marketing stunt that was already broken by the time anyone tried it
• Why the surface sheen of coherence stops you thinking critically
• Dave Snowden’s quietly devastating observation about what we’re actually doing when we accept AI outputs
• Vibe-coded accounting software ... a brief thought experiment

This one's for anyone trying to navigate the hype — in any direction — without losing their critical faculties in the process.

Links & references

• Theodore Sturgeon — science fiction writer; originator of Sturgeon’s Law (90% of everything is crap)
• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Dave Snowden, cited via Corissa’s recollection of a LinkedIn post about AI
• Episode 039: Bounded Applicability — the concept underpinning this episode’s diagnostic framework

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In this one, we use our own dance teaching as a live case study in kill, pivot, commit decisions: two years of tweaks, probes, and exhausted options before one unexpected forcing function finally made the decision for them.

• Why the real problem is often visible — but no one can look at it straight on
• The difference between a panicked pivot and one that feels like settling (the good kind)
• How "problems grow to the size they need to" before you can act — and what that costs in the meantime
• The invisible organisational boundaries that make the logical option impossible
• Why loyalty to early customers makes the necessary pivot harder than it should be
• The Transactional Analysis trap that turns your friends into an audience for a problem you don't actually want solved
• Fat Duck or McDonald's — and why the middle is the worst place to be

For anyone who's been doing the sensible thing for long enough to suspect the sensible thing isn't working.

Links & References

• Luca Dellanna's 100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late https://luca-dellanna.com/books
• Eric Berne's Games People Play, including "Why Don't You — Yes But" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_People_Play_(book)
• Adam Mastroianni's Experimental History https://www.experimental-history.com/p/two-stupid-facts-that-rule-the-world

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Following on from episode 136, Tom and Corissa pick up a listener thread about strategy being a zero-sum status game at the company level — then take a sharp left turn into why most people are stuck in exactly the wrong zone for doing anything useful with uncertainty.

The conversation weaves together Lindy Hop, improv theatre, Pitch Provocations, and a fairly bleak observation about time — into something unexpectedly practical.

• The barbell approach to play: why chronic 6/7 stress is actually the worst place to be for innovation, and what the 0 and 10 extremes have in common
• Why "just be more playful" is almost as useless as "just be more strategic" — and practical stuff you can do instead
• Uncertainty bubbles: how to artificially impose the right kind of pressure so that different things can emerge
• Front-loading the nightmare — and why Pitch Provocations deliberately generates high-signal feedback when everything is still wrong
• The hidden cost of over-investing before you've tested: stress that balloons, sunk costs, and projects that polish the wrong thing
• Why improv, Lindy Hop, and safe-to-fail experiments are the same muscle — and how to build it somewhere low-stakes first
• Strategy as fractal: you don't need "strategy" in your job title to be doing more of it right now

For anyone who suspects the rules they're playing by are made up — and wants somewhere safe to test that hypothesis.

Drop us a line: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References and links:

• Episode 136: When they tell you to 'be more strategic' (but not what that actually means) https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/698de53934f221647e8927ea
• Donald Cox – friend of Tentacles who shared the point that there's only a little strategy at any one time at the company level
• Viktor Frankl — Man's Search for Meaning
• Dave Snowden — stress, innovation, and exaptation
• Memento Mori
• Internal locus of control
• Pitch Provocations method (episodes 007–009 for intro)
• Uncertainty bubbles — Crown & Reach concept, find out more when we share at https://reach.crownandreach.com
• Multiverse Mapping — https://multiversemapping.com
• Angie Lina — improv teacher and strategy/sense-making practitioner, former LSE Lindy Hop student

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Sometimes it's genuine - they see you working hard on the wrong things and want to help you refocus. Sometimes it's politics - they need you to read between the lines they can't legally spell out. And sometimes it's just offloading risk. The problem? You're supposed to figure out which story is true, and then what to do about it, with no guidance and zero training budget.

In this episode, we walk (literally - five-months-pregnant Corissa sets the pace) through the murky reality of being told to level up without a map. We explore why "strategic" is a suitcase word people pack with whatever they like, how to decode what's actually being prioritised vs. what's officially important, and a simple framework you can use today to start getting better signal from your manager.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why "be more strategic" often secretly means "be more politically savvy" (and what to do about that)
• The official game vs. the real game - and how to play both without burning out
• Signal > Stories > Options: how telling yourself different stories unlocks different actions
• Context, Proposition, Triggers (CPT) - a back-briefing technique that helps you test assumptions and get clearer direction
• Why diligent people can get penalised for doing exactly what the organisation says it wants
• When half-arsing the official work is actually the strategic move

This one's for anyone who's doing good work, getting mixed signals, and wondering why their effort isn't translating into recognition or progress.

Drop us a line with your own "be more strategic" stories: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References and linky goodness:

• John Grant (labour market researcher, Cynefin Slack community member)
• Dave Snowden
• Stealing the Corner Office by Brendan Reid
• Signal > Stories > Options framework (Crown & Reach) https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/signals-stories-options
• Context, Proposition, Triggers (CPT) https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/mini-pitches
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Pitch Provocations method (referenced, episodes 007-009): https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Cynefin Co's upcoming training (covers all seven frameworks including Estuarine Mapping) https://thecynefin.co/product/masterclass-7-frameworks-uk-2026-2/

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They're all wrestling with the sense that eventually, things will settle down, right? That the chaos is only temporary. That once this transformation/restructure/market shift is done, we can finally get back to business as usual.

In this one, with plenty of traditional traffic noise and some moments of getting lost, we start off with the Stewart Lee gig we went to last night, move through organisational transformation war stories, and end up at Estuarine Mapping – a method for navigating strategy when your substrate keeps shifting beneath you.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the most dangerous person in the room is the one waiting for certainty to return
• The CEO confession that reveals what most executives are actually thinking during transformation
• What happens when you're getting your product (show, strategy, service, ...) ready in the way that normally works ... but the context keeps changing
• Substrate, salt marshes, and granite cliffs: why your strategic estuary has different pace layers (and how to tell them apart)
• The counterintuitive move that matters way more than better planning
• Why accepting that things won't settle is weirdly when things can start to shift for you

This one's for anyone who's ready to stop waiting for things to calm down already.

References

• Ben Sauer https://bensauer.net/
• Stewart Lee https://www.stewartlee.co.uk/
• Dishoom https://www.dishoom.com/
• Estuarine Mapping https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/a-trip-into-the-estuary

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In this episode, we feel our way through the murky territory of protocols—from life-saving surgical checklists to shadow IT empires built by people like Geoff, who just want to get their jobs done without asking permission. What we discovered: protocols aren't the enemy. Neither are the people who break them. You need both, and—whether you like it or not—you're going to get both anyway.

Fascinations:

• Why giving someone just enough control over how they wash dishes is a vital part of management
• The novel "tracer dye" method for tracking shadow IT (and why Geoff will quickly find a way around it)
• How a 19th-century doctor was ejected from the medical community for [gasp!] suggesting surgeons wash their hands
• How expert oil rig workers can land helicopters in storms through tacit knowledge no checklist could capture
• The difference between a checklist, a flow chart, and knowing when neither will save you
• How social norms function as soft protocols (and why London Tube etiquette is more fragile than you think)

This one's for anyone who's ever tried to bring order to chaos — and for anyone resisting someone else's attempt to do the same.

Links and references

• Venkatesh Rao – "Summer of Protocols" / protocolization concept
• Vaughn Tan – "boring tiny tools" concept https://vaughntan.org/bttparadigm
• Ignaz Semmelweis – 19th-century physician who pioneered handwashing
• Atul Gawande – Author of The Checklist Manifesto
• Dave Snowden – Cynefin framework / oil rig helicopter story
• Gary Klein – Expert intuition and pattern recognition
• Procrustes – Greek mythology (innkeeper with the "one-size-fits-all" bed)
• Chick sexing – Example of tacit knowledge that can't be articulated
• Social protocols – Norms like cheek-kissing customs across cultures
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) / Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) – Technical protocol examples

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But instead of quitting, we found an octopus, embraced distinctiveness over differentiation, and built something we're actually excited about.

In this year-in-review, we trace a tangled thread from near-shutdown to genuine transformation, exploring what worked (uncertainty bubbles, relationship-driven growth, really good sandwiches) and what didn't (cold outreach, content marketing as a silver bullet, biscuits). Along the way, we workshop potential themes for 2026: bubbles, relationships, or possibly giant fluffy hats.

Including but not limited to:

• Why Byron Sharp's evidence-based marketing vindicated our octopus obsession (distinctiveness > differentiation)
• The brutal realisation: thought leadership doesn't automatically convert to clients ... so what does?
• "The only thing worse than having a struggling business is having a successful business that you hate running"
• How our iterative approach to website messaging revealed insights no "big bang rebrand" could surface
• "Uncertainty bubbles" - presenting external certainty while protecting internal space for emergence
• Why we'll never do much cold outreach, even though it works for others, and what we're doing instead
• The hot seat moment that changed Tom's career: when someone just picked up the phone instead of planning

This one's for anyone building something that doesn't quite fit the playbook, wondering whether there's a way to grow without becoming someone you don't recognise.

Links and references:

• Byron Sharp (marketing researcher, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute)
• Dolly Parton: "Figure out who you are and then do it on purpose"
• Adrian Tchaikovsky (author, Children of Ruin - source of crown & reach octopus metaphor)
• Ehrenberg-Bass Institute (evidence-based marketing research)
• Distinctiveness vs differentiation (branding principle)
• Uncertainty bubbles (concept from Tom's Deel masterclass)
• Safe-to-fail probes (complexity/Cynefin principle)
• 4U Framework: Unpack, Undergo and Unfold Uncertainty
• Granularity, disintermediation and iteration (our hidden facilitation principles)
• Innovation Tactics (Tom's Pip Decks card deck - 50+ methods) https://collabs.shop/yxzsjg
• Decking metaphor episode (our previous year-in-review)

What's your theme for the year? Did anything in this episode trigger a thought for you? tentacles@crownandreach.com

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In this one, we tackle a deceptively simple question from friend-of-Tentacles Matti about behavioural scientists, voting SMS messages, and which Cynefin domain they're playing in. This spirals into a wonderfully messy exploration of why simulation has limits, why "safe to fail" needs better words, and what ice hockey can teach us about working in uncertainty.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the person who thinks they can predict things in complexity is the most wrong of all
• An ice hockey metaphor that might finally make Cynefin dynamics click (featuring goosebumps, but not just because it's cold)
• How Multiverse Mapping deploys simulation for coherence testing, not fortune telling
• The liminal zone between complicated and complex – and why most "experiments" live there
• Why you can't measure a system without changing it
• The profound difference between "conditions and consequences" vs "cause and effect" thinking
• Why "poking reality" might be better than probes, scouts, or bets (or why we still can't decide)

This one's for anyone who's tired of treating complex human behaviour like it's a physics problem – and anyone who's wondered why their "experiments" keep failing even though the logic seemed sound.

Links and references:

• Matti J Heino (posed the question about voting SMS)
• Dave Snowden (Cynefin framework, Ritual Dissent)
• Jen Briselli (ice hockey player and fellow complexity wonk) https://medium.com/topology-insight/head-up-feet-moving-b56e60867190
• Wayne Gretzky (Canadian hockey player, "skate where the puck is going" quote)
• Ursula Le Guin (author, Earthsea series, concept of "true names")
• Sun Tzu (conditions and consequences thinking)
• Cynefin Dynamics https://cynefin.io/wiki/Cynefin_Dynamics
• Liminal Cynefin https://cynefin.io/wiki/Cynefin_Domains
• Tom's bounded applicability diagram https://triggerstrategy.com/pitch-provocations
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Matthew principle / Matthew Effect ("to him that has riches, more will come")
• Schrodinger's cat / superposition
• Episode 131: Safe to Fail Boops: A Pragmatic Critique of Business Experimentation (mentioned as previous episode)
• Why Does the Pedlar Sing? (on advertising, branding, and fame)

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Tom and Corissa explore what can happen when you stack "reversible" experiments until the whole system collapses—from Facebook's slow degradation to an apocryphal Tesco story where undoing an experiment didn't fix what got broken.

Along the way: sand pile criticality that can't be predicted, seaside penny waterfalls that cascade unpredictably, and why "safe-to-fail probes" might need a rebrand (spoiler: aliens).

Including but not limited to:

● The grain of sand you can't predict—and why that matters for your business experiments

● When Subway cancelled unlimited salad and what it has in common with private equity acquisitions

● The Tesco experiment that broke the camel's back

● Throwing gravel from a boat in a storm

● Three of the requirements for truly safe-to-fail experiments (and why most companies miss all three)

● Boops vs. probes: finding language for experimentation that doesn't sound like something unpleasant that happens during an alien abduction

This one goes out to all our friends who suspect their "data-driven" culture is just pretending to control things it can't.

References:

● Jeff Bezos (Come on Jeff, get 'em!) – two-way door decisions concept

● Heraclitus – "you can't step in the same river twice"

● Sand pile and criticality (mathematical concept)

● The Sorites Paradox – when does some sand become a pile of sand?

● Enshittification – term and concept from Cory Doctorow

● Rory Sutherland – restaurant story about private equity "meaner" portions

● Tesco AB testing story (flagged as potentially apocryphal)

● Dave Snowden – Cynefin framework and safe-to-fail probes

● Path dependency (mentioned as topic of previous episode)

● North Star metrics

● Andrew Anderson – obliquely referenced in context of experimentation https://testingdiscipline.com/

Questions, stories, or better names for "safe-to-fail boops"? Email us: tentacles@crownandreach.com

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But what if it goes deeper than salary? What if it's about identity itself?

In this one, we explore why clear explanations often increase resistance, how an interior designer accidentally solved the change management problem, and what executive data analysis reveals when everyone plots different insights from the same numbers.

From expert panels to Pimlico plumbers, we feel our way through the murky challenge of introducing ideas that threaten people's fundamental worldview – and discover that experience beats explanation every time.

We get into:

• The Sinclair Effect: when understanding threatens identity (not just salary)
• Why simplifying your explanation can actually make your ideas MORE threatening
• The executive data exercise that exposed beautiful chaos (everyone saw something different)
• The Winkler Constraint: how Caroline Winkler transformed her viewers' rooms with only three purchases allowed – and why
• How expertise shows up best under tight limitations
• The plumber parallel and why end customers don't care which wrench you use
• Leading with theory vs. leading with experience (and Tom's early mistakes)
• Opening portals vs planting flags, and the role of jamming
• Why the saying "consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" can hurt your career (ask us how we know)
• How to give people what they want while accidentally also giving them what they need (but without being manipulative about it)

"You can't just not give people what they want. Then you are a blocker."

References & links

• Upton Sinclair - "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it"
• Jen Briselli and Kyle Godbey's "Field notes from the swamp" https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL89SttTTcPTGDdRlcQTcEqz4Ra9z2w0le&si=FC6O6zfbLCzykKm8
• Cynefin framework / complexity science (Dave Snowden)
• Caroline Winkler - YouTube interior designer https://youtu.be/ZvHM_VCybN0?si=CIPObJld8IM4Mc-X
• Venkatesh Rao - "Portals and flags" concept https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/25/portals-and-flags/
• Eleanor Roosevelt - (possibly apocryphal) "Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds"
• Pivot Triggers (Crown & Reach)

When have you fallen over by leading with theory? When have you enabled an experience that let things shift by themselves? Drop us a line: tentacles@crownandreach.com

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In this one, we wade into the murky distinction between polished agency deliverables and raw, messy data exposure. From a bank that knew what it wanted (and just needed to show due diligence) to clients who fundamentally changed direction after reading customer transcripts, we explore when different approaches can actually work.

Along the way we talk about how the iconic Rowan Atkinson Barclaycard campaign (UK only, we think) had absolutely nothing to do with the original brief – and how frequently that's the story of projects and innovation. We also mention AI because that's still a thing, and we reference "decision-based evidence-making" and how it's more common than you might think.

This one's for anyone who's sat through a glossy presentation questioning whether the conveniently self-serving story is justified, and for anyone who's tried to synthesise insights for others and been left wondering why it doesn't seem to make a dent.

Including but not limited to:

● How a beloved Barclaycard ad campaign was thrown together in a last minute panic after the pitched idea fell apart

● Gary Klein's chef's kiss definition of insight: "an unexpected jump to a new story you can't unsee"

● The cost of pre-packaged, pre-masticated insights – if it's too easy to swallow there's no chewing needed

● Why you can't know what counts as an insight in someone else's company

● Decision-based evidence-making vs. evidence-based decision-making

● The intense 7 hours of workshopping that "changed everything" for our client

● How we use AI to clean transcripts (take out the ums and ahs) but not to generate insights ... because it can't

● Why "disintermediation" might be the most important move in strategic research, though it's not an easy one to pull off

● When glossy agency work actually serves the purpose perfectly

● The opportunity cost that isn't about money, and why senior teams avoid the hard work

Links & references

• Book "Why Does the Pedlar Sing?" by Paul Feldwick (advertising/creativity)
• Gary Klein – insight definition
• Jonathan Korman – "decision-based evidence making" quip (though we think he credits someone else)
• Genchi Genbutsu – Toyota principle of "go and see"
• Pitch Provocations – our research method, message us for more!
• Multiverse Mapping – our mapping method
• 4U Framework – our meta-methodology

Questions, stories, or strongly-held opinions about research methods? Pop us a message: tentacles@crownandreach.com

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So... what now?

This is the impossible bind facing many executives right now. And spoiler: trying to brute-force it is exactly how you end up as the expendable experiment in someone else's portfolio.

Drawing lessons from electricity infrastructure booms, a hapless lettuce entrepreneur, Tom Chi's plasticine prototypes, and our own white-knuckle cash crisis earlier this year, we explore what actually works when resources are scarce, pressure is high, and the path forward is genuinely uncertain.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Complexity of abundance vs complexity of scarcity: why portfolio strategies collapse when you run out of eggs to put in baskets
• The electricity/steam substrate shift: why you can't just "add AI" to your existing factory layout and expect magic
• Why some execs are being set up as expendable experiments in someone else's portfolio ... and how to spot if you're one of them
• Our own near-death cash flow moment, and why we didn't buy any of the blueprints that promised us a solution
• Watchful waiting: the counterintuitive move that actually worked when all we wanted to do was panic
• Why the lettuce man was right but early, which is functionally the same as being wrong
• Tom Chi and the art of radical cheapness: testing Google Glass with plasticine, wire, and half a day
• The oblique AI productivity hack where you get productivity ... but not by trying to be productive
• How to make experiments so cheap that you can afford to throw most of them away
• Testing your core assumptions vs your peripheral ones—why people protect their existential beliefs
• The dangerous middle ground: trying to get early adopter benefits without an early adopter resource cushion
• Why substrate change happens through billions of individual choices, not top-down mandates
• JP Castlin's bind: when your assumptions don't match reality, you can try to change your assumptions or you can try to change reality. Choose wisely.

"If you're really at the point where you've got no resources left, you have to focus on survival first. You can't do transformation when you're in survival mode."

References:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (the lettuce carriage story)
• Shape Up by Ryan Singer / Basecamp (fat marker sketches)
• Dave Snowden - Cynefin framework https://cynefin.io/wiki/Cynefin
• Imre Lakatos - philosopher (research programs: core vs peripheral assumptions)
• JP Castlin https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com
• Tom Chi - Google Glass rapid prototyping https://youtu.be/d5_h1VuwD6g
• Rob Snyder - PULL framework, AI note-taker example https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/nobody-wants-ai
• John Cutler & Tom's article about leading in ambiguity https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-274-how-capable-leaders-navigate
• Uncertainty bubbles / The Double Game (deliberate vs emergent strategy)
• Opportunity Method Format (OMF) https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/052-omf-opportunity-method-format
• Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• 4U framework: Unpack, Undergo, Unfold - https://crownandreach.com/#resources
• Obliquity by John Kay
• The Founder (McDonald's kitchen scene) https://youtu.be/F-7cjdtrQ9Y
• Minority Report (gesture interface scenes)
• Episode on Founder Mode / Brat Summer https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/073-brat-summer-for-billionaires
• Episodes 007-009: Pitch Provocations: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

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As festive redundancy season rolls around (you've noticed the seasonal pattern too, right?), we explore how the boundaries around professional roles have been blurring and melting, and what that means for anyone who feels like their job identity is slipping away.

Using the corollary of music – from vinyl singles through to algorithmic playlists — we map that to knowledge work. How do patterns of democratisation, "AI", and evolving business models play into what a job even is?

And we look at how these cycles always create new opportunities from the mess. The big question is how to reposition yourself if the ground keeps shifting.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

● The bundling and unbundling pattern: from singles to albums to MP3s to playlists, and how it applies to your career right now

● "Mandatory entrepreneurship" and the pressure to become self-employed even when you'd rather just do good work (hat tip Lex Roman)

● How roles like designer, engineer, and product manager are blurring beyond recognition

● Why jack-of-all-trades is hot again (and what that means for specialists)

● Democratisation that scales quality vs. democratisation that cuts costs

● How to joyfully remix your own job: what do you actually like doing and what would you happily leave behind?

● Henrik Karlsson's musician story: what your role "ought" to mean vs. what you actually want to do

● Practical strategies for increasing your luck surface area (without becoming a hustle bro)

● The grieving process that comes with career rebirth

For anyone who's wondering why their carefully-built expertise suddenly feels less solid than it used to, and what the heck is next.

References:

• John Harvey Jones - The Troubleshooter - at Morgan Cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtDA714SdgQ
• Henrik Karlsson's musician friend https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/constraints
• Episode 043: Do 100 Thing https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/043-do-100-thing
• Visakan Veerasamy's Do 100 Thing https://www.visakanv.com/blog/do100things/
• Mandatory entrepreneurship concept from Lex Roman https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lexroman_were-you-forced-to-become-an-entrepreneur-activity-7371539212074004480-8Z7R
• "There's only two ways to make money in business: One is to bundle; the other is unbundle." - Jim Barksdale, former Netscape CEO
• Corissa's Ultrabangers playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3FFiwdRsFjMXYvye4lbzE4?si=9242add1c657441c

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In this episode, we dig into the surprising limitations of LLMs that most people don't seem to be talking about. Not the obvious media fluff about hallucinations or training data or taking everyone's jobs, but the deeper constraint: they can't reorient.

We start with our experiment using an LLM to critique one of our client discovery calls, which led to an observation about what's missing. We talk about what happens when AI conducts research interviews, why care home robots are increasing the workload they're supposed to decrease, and the crucial difference between "reading all the books" and actually understanding what matters.

This isn't anti-AI. It's about being clear about what these tools can and can't do, and why that matters for anyone doing customer research, strategy work, or trying to understand real human problems.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the AI critique of Tom's sales call was technically brilliant but fundamentally unhelpful
• Boyd's OODA loop and the missing "orientation" capability in LLMs
• What happened when someone showed up to a research call... with an AI interviewer
• The emotion gap: why LLMs can't follow the rich seams of energy in a conversation
• Why LLMs don't know when to pivot and when to push
• Japanese care home robots that create more work than they save, and the babysitting idiots effect
• Venkatesh Rao's "it's read all the books" theory of LLM usefulness (and when it actually works)
• How our "expert panel" AI prompt is useful for critique—if you keep your critical thinking switched on
• Why pattern-matching to words isn't the same as understanding context
• You heard it here second? Active inference models: the next wave beyond LLMs?

If you'd like a copy of our experimental "expert panel of dissenters" prompt, email us at tentacles@crownandreach.com and remember the risk: it requires your critical thinking.

References

• Ben Ford ("Commando Dev") on No Way Out Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/agentic-ai-thinks-like-boyd-the-ooda-upgrade-llms-cant-touch/id1663685759?i=1000734032438
• Venkatesh Rao https://substack.com/@contraptions
• John Boyd's OODA Loop and Snowmobiling
• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/p/the-only-one-writing-and-ai
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent - https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent

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A. Exactly when it's least available!

Not a joke. Just true. This time we look at the patterns of peak uncertainty: those make-or-break moments when an organisation desperately wants a clear plan but is operating in conditions where rigid plans are most likely to fail.

We bang on about our Go to Market Sprint offering and the uncertainty-native methods behind it, especially Pitch Provocations. The fun of being deliberately wrong to discover what might actually be right.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• The peak uncertainty paradox: why the moment you most want a clear plan is when plans work least
• Three patterns of peak uncertainty (and why all consultants wish they'd been called earlier)
• Pitch Provocations: testing with words on a page to surface hidden market constraints
• Why "I know it when I see it" is both valid intuition and a political safety net
• The art of being deliberately wrong in the right way
• How to make the mess explicit (and why that's actually helpful)
• The vision chasm revisited ... and why emerging direction beats fixed vision
• Why teams get stuck waiting for clarity while leadership waits for signals
• The cucumber gets pickled more than the brine gets cucumbered ... plus reading labels from outside the jar
• Meeting teams where they already are instead of trying to change how they work

"We're not gonna persuade people to work in a different way. We're gonna meet you where you are... and do the bit that you don't wanna do."

References:

• Pitch Provocations method (episodes 007-009 for introduction): https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Episode 061: Tumbling into the Vision Chasm: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/061-tumbling-into-the-vision-chasm
• The "Four U" model: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Crown & Reach's Go to Market Sprint – email hello@crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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Something, it turns out.

We start with Corissa's baffling post office experience (like in any good panto, the button is behind you!) and we tumble into the world of Norman Doors, affordances, and why bad design persists even when everyone knows it's bad.

We turn the lens on our own home, where knuckle-scraping door handles have been annoying us (and our guests) for 3 years. Why haven't we fixed them? And what does that tell us about organisational decision-making?

This one's about the hidden complexity in "obvious" problems, the seesaw between pain and cost, and why sometimes the best solution is the one you didn't consider at first.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why adding more signs doesn't fix bad design
• The economic systems that create Norman Doors in the first place
• How we got trapped thinking we had only two solutions (spoiler: there were more)
• The seesaw principle: pain of current situation vs. cost of the fix
• Why visitors (to your home or product) spike your awareness of problems you've learned to ignore
• Manufacturing constraints vs. relaxing stories to see more options
• The "replace just the worst handles" strategy and why mismatched might actually work
• When to burn the boats (or remove all the door handles) to force a resolution

All in all, a v v Crown & Reach conversation about design, constraints, and decision-making. Recorded while walking, naturally.

References:

• Norman Doors (Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things)
• Affordances and signifiers in design
• Chesterton's Fence principle
• Platform Incentive Gravity – episode 122 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/68bc47099a81ed86f1aeafa1

Tell us about your knuckle scraping doors and bodged remote controls - tentacles@crownandreach.com

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We dissect our Pitch Provocations method and package it up as a Go To Market Sprint that compresses 12 months of market learning into 3 weeks.

We use a real agency case study to work out how to explain what we do (and realise we forgot to check how the story ended). This is strategy consulting behind the scenes: the wrestling match between method names and outcomes, the challenge of writing your own testimonials, and the uncomfortable question of whether "go-to-market" really means anything much to anyone.

Plus: an unexpected musical interlude courtesy of a mobility scooter with a sound system.

Some of the stuff we talk about:

• How good ideas turn into millstones and what can break the cycle
• Why traditional market research creates reports nobody acts on (and what works instead)
• The 12-month learning compression: how Pitch Provocations actually delivers on this promise
• Micro-projects vs. mega-builds: throwaway experiments that people actually want to do
• Customer interviews as enjoyable therapy sessions (both sides enjoy them)
• Why Go To Market means different things to a startup founder vs. a corporate messaging lead
• The estate agent's gambit: give away an 80-page instruction manual and see who still hires you
• How to get teams generating their own ideas instead of nodding politely at yours
• You can't write the ending of a case study if you don't know how it actually turned out
• Common sense thresholds: when does a micro-project stop being micro in your context?

The bit about us being bad at this:

We struggle in real-time with packaging our own work, forget to follow up on crucial details, and can't quite nail whether we're selling a method or a result. It's real, it's rambling, and if you've ever tried to explain what you do for a living, you'll recognise the feeling.

For consultants packaging expertise, product teams sick of "build first, ask later," and anyone who suspects their next big project might quietly become the thing everyone dreads discussing.

References:

• Pitch Provocations (Crown & Reach) - intro in episodes 007-009: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Multiverse Mapping - https://multiversemapping.com
• The "4U" framework: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty
• Ritual Dissent (Dave Snowden) - https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Innovation Tactics deck (Pip Decks) - https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics

Contact:

tentacles@crownandreach.com

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Tom's teenagers declare Roblox dead, overrun by "slop games" where 200 million people "play" by opening the game and walking away. Meanwhile, the rich, creative games they actually love are withering with tiny player counts.

We explore how platform economics create a gravitational pull toward the lowest common denominator—and what this reveals about meaning, metrics, and the hollowing out of engagement across all digital spaces.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the most popular Roblox game rewards you for pressing zero keys
• The bike rental study that perfectly explains platform incentive gravity
• How gamification strips meaning in service of metrics
• Why Tom's teenagers are already jumping ship to find actual creativity
• The connection between AFK mechanics, auto-clickers, and social media engagement
• Trail Makers vs. slop games: what actually captivates vs. what just accumulates hours
• Whether this connects to a broader meaning-making crisis
• How to recognise when you're trapped in someone else's incentive structure

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From LinkedIn rants to airfield-based barbecue ... we talk about why adaptation beats detailed planning.

When your carefully planned day out becomes a disaster, do you stick to the plan or pivot? We start with LinkedIn beef about scrappy MVPs, detour through a failed town visit with a toddler, and end up at an airfield watching planes while eating incredible brisket.

This meandering conversation explores the tension between wanting to craft something properly and needing to experiment your way forward - whether you're building products, planning holidays, or figuring out your next career move.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why demanding a perfect brief upfront can be a career-limiting move
• The false choice between "scrappy rubbish" and "proper quality"
• How 1% of ideas actually work (so why invest everything in detailed plans?)
• The three routes to getting unstuck: power, influence, or acceptance
• Why external forcing functions are needed to kill zombie projects
• When to follow the itinerary vs when to throw seeds and see what grows
• The sliding scale from planned group tours to "book a flight and figure it out"
• How high stakes + high novelty requires a different kind of planning
• Why you can't read the label from inside the bottle

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Turns out it reveals something profound about how our brains work—and why getting your team aligned on a vision might be the wrong goal entirely.

We dive into the viral dress phenomenon and explore what it teaches us about prediction, perception, and the challenge of alignment in organisations. From Andy Clark's "Experience Machine" to the bunny-duck illusion, we explore why our brains are prediction engines rather than cameras, and how this changes everything about strategy.

Some stuff we talk about:

• Why your brain sends four times more signals outward than it receives inward (and what this means for finding your keys)
• The real difference between the dress debate and the bunny-duck illusion
• How the dress reveals the fundamental problem with forcing everyone to see the same vision
• JP Castlin's three requirements for effective aspirations: precise, ambiguous, and fractal
• Why zooming out beats analysing pixels when you're stuck in disagreement
• The via negativa approach: sometimes it's easier to agree on where you DON'T want to go
• Storyboarding to envision behaviours not features

This one's for anyone who's ever wondered why smart people can look at the same thing and see completely different realities. And anyone who's tired of vision statements that sound like expensive wishes.

Drop us a line: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• "The Experience Machine" by Andy Clark https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313594/the-experience-machine-by-clark-andy/9780141990583
• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/
• The dress (white/gold vs black/blue) https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/
• Bunny-ducking: https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/bunny-ducking
• Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• Pitch Provocations

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In this one we feel our way through the murky reality of AI tools—reaching our tentacles beyond all the silt that's been stirred up in the hype and panic. We think we've found some interesting nooks and crannies.

We kick off with yet another "oops, used AI without checking" message that we received, then we share thoughts triggered by our own experiments with LLM-powered ritual dissent (as mentioned in the previous podcast – email tentacles@crownandreach.com if you'd like a copy of the prompt).

Then we explore where tools like LLMs could be genuinely helpful versus when they're simply expensive confusion generators, with reference to some interesting experiments we've seen on our travels.

• Effective at the extremes in the role of a tutor: when you're an expert OR a complete beginner, not somewhere in the middle
• The "random number generator" theory of LLMs as a trigger for concepts, ideas and processes you already know
• Potential for designing LLM interactions that don't dumb you down
• Why high-fidelity outputs are no longer a good proxy for high-quality thinking – the decades-long descent into polished incoherence
• Bag of words theory: LLMs necessarily can't generate coherence, only fluency
• Real examples of where AI can save time (e.g. risk assessment templates) vs. where it fails (e.g. original strategy or thinking)
• How to avoid the "vibe-coded prototype" trap in both design and thinking (and possibly why most people still won't, even though it's technically easier than ever).

References

• Gerald Weinberg's classic "Secrets of Consulting" https://archive.org/details/secretsofconsult0000wein
• Hazel Weakly's excellent piece on AI https://hazelweakly.me/blog/stop-building-ai-tools-backwards/
• Vaughn Tan's paper prototype that scaffolds critical thinking with LLMs https://vaughntan.org/aiux
• Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At – the firebrand pointing out the nakedity of the emperor https://www.wheresyoured.at
• Pavel Samsonov's solid critique https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/human-in-the-loop-is-a-thought-terminating-cliche
• Philip Morgan ... couldn't find where he wrote about aspects of risk capacity, but he's here: https://philipmorganconsulting.com/
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Our method Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• Our method Pitch Provocations (old episodes 007-009 for a rough intro) https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Class action lawsuit against Anthropic re: training data https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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In this one, we're doing it, we're stepping into the world of AI adoption. I mean, surely someone should start talking about this AI thing?

Ahem.

We talk about why a bunch of what companies are doing with AI is ruinous efficiency theatre – and what they oughta learn from a hapless lettuce entrepreneur out of classic novel East of Eden.

We explore the parallels between infrastructure booms (railroads then, AI now), why 70% of companies see zero efficiency gains from AI, and how to avoid becoming the laughing stock of your industry.

• The "lettuce man paradox" - when you're right but early, you're wrong
• How 20% of bees ignore the waggle dance (and why you should too)
• The antifragile barbell strategy: boring investments + wild experiments
• Tom's "expert panel of dissenters" AI prompt that will tear your ideas apart (in the best way)
• Why setting up a fence around a playground is more important than setting up goals and objectives
• Container ships, steel plants, graphics chips and compute: what to do with what gets left behind after boom-bust cycles

References:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent method https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Ken Stanley's Myth of the Objective (playground thinking) https://youtu.be/VDuF4onPmuE?si=4vEfNLBIZyaDvB4h
• Strathern's reframing of Goodhart's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
• Adam Mastroianni (of Experimental History) Bag of words, have mercy on us https://www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-words-have-mercy-on-us
• Episode 044: The one with the bees https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/044-the-one-with-the-bees

For a copy of Tom's prompt, or with questions, comments, historical corrections or love notes, ping us at tentacles@crownandreach.com

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We feel our way through the murky waters of organisational priorities – from our own dance school advertising disasters to years of consulting war stories.

We talk through why even successful initiatives get shut down, how to influence up without planting flags, and what executives are really thinking when they say "not now."

• Why the person who thinks they can "see the whole elephant" is the most wrong of all (the trap that keeps smart people stumbling around in the dark)
• The hidden costs that aren't money ... and why they're quietly stifling your brilliant ideas
• The counterintuitive secret behind being more influential
• How Facebook begged us to double our ad budget – and we walked away
• The "hygiene factor" false belief that's a career killer (spoiler: your value isn't measured the same way as web hosting, unless you're a web host)
• What executives and cranky toddlers have in common ... plus the simple (but not easy) move that actually works on both
• How to validate someone's perspective without the performative nonsense everyone can smell a mile away
• Why brilliant experimentation programs get brutally killed off (it's not because they don't work)

"The only person who's definitely wrong is the person who thinks they can step back and get a holistic view of the elephant."

References

• Venkatesh Rao – "Portals and flags" https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/25/portals-and-flags/
• Venkatesh Rao – Don't Build a Hill To Die On from Art of Gig https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2022/11/17/the-art-of-gig-books/
• The "Four U" model: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty https://crownandreach.com/#resources
• Crown and Reach "Pitch Provocations" method – email us at tentacles@crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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We start with a tale from the Biodome, and then try to connect the lessons to growth, resilience, and the need for stress.

• Why trees in paradise kept toppling over ... and why the same well-meaning mistake topples new products and services
• Why the "moat of low status" that separates you from your dreams might be the most important territory you'll ever cross
• The brutal truth about startup accelerators: how surrounding yourself with "supportive" peers can prevent your best ideas from germinating
• The delicate art of stress-testing your fragile creations without accidentally killing them
• Why your toddler's meltdowns reveal the same psychological trap that keeps adults stuck forever
• The 2,000-year-old mental trick that transforms paralysing anxiety into rocket fuel
• The gardener's dilemma: when coddling your ideas makes them weak ... and when exposure kills them outright

Recorded on Bournemouth Beach with the sound of actual wind and waves - because sometimes the best conversations happen when you're slightly uncomfortable.

Share your thoughts and questions with us: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• Biosphere 2 experiment (Oracle, Arizona, 1987-1991) - lack of wind stress prevented the development of "stress wood" - a different cellular structure that makes trees stronger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2
• "Shitty first draft" concept: https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/demolish-your-creative-block-with-graham-linehan-and-the-power-of-the-sfd-3841abe8a4fb
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Fear-setting (Stoic practice) as popularised by Tim Ferriss: https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-setting/
• Antifragility as popularised by Nassim Taleb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragility
• Laura Klein's talk where she mentions Task Rabbit for actual rabbits: https://youtu.be/gbArObiU1Y0?si=m16794EohdbngxsC
• Sasha Chapin, who coined "the moat of low status": https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/the-moat-of-low-status-68a

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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A lot of people think strategy happens in boardrooms with flip charts and important people saying momentous things.

In this episode we argue that you're doing strategy when you decide what to do with your next three hours. (It's very strategic of you to spend 22 minutes listening).

We introduce the strategy ladder — or is it a cargo net? — a way to think about how your influence can scale from individual hours to organisational quarters, without you needing to set up shop in a glass-walled war room.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why strategy definitions are contradictory and often just marketing
• Why "strategic" often just means "more expensive"
• Hidden hierarchy games and what they mean for influence in the workplace
• The difference between real strategy and expensive to-do lists
• How to be less unstrategic with your next 1-3 hours (and why that matters)
• The two scales that strategy operates on: time and people
• Why you can't set SMART goals on things outside your control
• Environment design vs willpower: the biscuit shelf principle
• Mouse-wiggling surveillance and the intrinsic motivation alternative
• Why other people don't want their behaviour changed (spoiler: it's none of your damn business)

This one's for anyone who's tired of feeling like strategy is happening somewhere else.

If you've got a better metaphor than a cargo net, or great examples of Monday morning strategic thinking, drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com (& if you've tried before and got a bounce notification, please try again – we fixed it!)

References

• John Cutler's "1s and 3s" time horizons concept: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-1453-1s-and-3s
• Experimental History's Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs? https://www.experimental-history.com/p/repost-excuse-me-but-why-are-you
• Theory X vs Theory Y management approaches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
• Reddit thread about Eat That Frog: https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/108tgov/eat_that_frog/

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We recorded it while wandering through the woods, complete with a crumbling walkway and the occasional navigational hiccough.

Some stuff we talked about

• Tom was sweating bullets the whole time, but thankfully it didn't come across
• How do we remember to do more of the zooming out? That's when everything clicks!
• How to "close the game" properly (shoutout Dave Gray)
• Why some experiments need an overnight digestion period
• The challenge of delivering insights on a schedule vs. letting them emerge naturally
• How to turn your expertise into live content (even when you're terrified)
• The difference between safe, prefabricated examples and real-world messiness
• Why "interesting things are interesting if you're interested in them" might be our most profound insight yet

This is what strategy work actually looks like - not the polished case studies, but the real, messy, human process of figuring things out together.

AND we're looking for volunteer #2. Could that be you? Drop us a message: hello@crownandreach.com

References

• Pragati Sinha (session participant): https://www.linkedin.com/in/pragatisinha/
• Katia Tkachenko 👋 (who suggested Twitch streaming 3 years ago)
• Dave Gray's "Gamestorming" book https://gamestorming.com/
• Rob Snyder's PULL framework https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/the-pull-framework
• Multiverse Mapping method/course https://multiversemapping.com
• Innovation Tactics deck https://collabs.shop/yxzsjg
• Can I ship a new business idea in an hour? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Kma97f9v4

Contact:

• tentacles@crownandreach.com
• crownandreach.com

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When uncertainty feels impossible, most teams freeze. In this episode Tom and Corissa unpack a three-phase cycle that's powered by getting it wrong first.

They unpack their "Unpack, Unleash, Unfold" framework through real examples - from a messy logo redesign to a heart rate variability app that nobody could figure out how to use.

We also float across the vision chasm between leadership and teams and realise it isn't a bug, it's a feature.

Plus: how embracing deliberate wrongness can accelerate breakthrough.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why your detailed vision might be holding you back
• The logo redesign that's a very simple example of how unpack, unleash, unfold works
• How a month-long breathing challenge took 3 or 4 unfoldings to get to, and is now revealing hidden product insights
• Markets are terrible at knowing what they want but brilliant at reacting to options
• The curse of knowledge that kills every internal product demo
• Building bridges over the vision chasm (or knowing when not to bother)
• Why some people thrive in uncertainty while others need linear processes

Plus: An (another) introduction to "pitch provocations" - their method for being deliberately wrong in exactly the right way.

Perfect for product teams, strategists, and anyone trying to build something meaningful in an uncertain world.

If you have questions, stories to share, or ideas for a better name for "unleash" (maybe "understudy" or "undergo") – drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• Episode 112: Unpacking, unleashing and unfolding part 1 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/685ffe34081ac1df5d8cb371
• Article: Bunny Ducking – part 3 of the vision chasm series https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/bunny-ducking
• Innovation Tactics by Pip Decks https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Pitch Provocations card (front | back)
• Episode 007: Pitch Provocations part 1 https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

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In this episode, we cast our tentacles over three critical but overlooked manoeuvres: unpacking, unleashing and unfolding. (NB. we only explicitly label unpacking and unfolding in the podcast).

Referencing articles by the brilliant Adam Mastroianni and Henrik Karlsson, we explore how these deeply related but very different movements can transform everything from product development to life decisions.

From buying sheds to breathing apps, in this episode we reveal the meta-pattern behind all our most effective methods.

Including:

• The "university professor test" that reveals career misconceptions in seconds
• Why your brain's shortcuts are both essential and dangerous
• The difference between scripted iteration (polishing toward a known goal) and unfolding iteration (discovering ideas you couldn't have had before)
• Unpacking and unfolding applied to a heart rate variability bio-feedback app (say that fast 10 times)
• Why sitting with stress and strain can ready you for breakthrough ideas
• Why becoming your own customer reveals more than months of analytics
• How dance teaching principles apply to app design and product development
• The data-driven catch-22 that traps many a digital product team
• One simple practice that changes how you see everything

Get in touch and share your stories of unpacking, unleashing and unfolding: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• Unpacking: Adam Mastroianni's Face It: you're a crazy person https://www.experimental-history.com/p/face-it-youre-a-crazy-person
• Unfolding: Henrik Karlsson's Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design process https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/unfolding
• Jennifer Garvey Berger of Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-garvey-berger-7b4a264/
• Ben Jesson of Conversion Rate Experts https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjesson/
• Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com/
• Signals > Stories > Options https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/signals-stories-options

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Tom's Pip Decks deck, Innovation Tactics, contains a popular card called Seeds vs Soil. At time of writing, the concepts of gardening were purely theoretical to him. But now we've dipped our toes into the complex world of home horticulture, we thought we'd revisit the tactic, and share some stories of failure, "fine" soil and fennel.

This became a springboard for a dive into how people—especially those without positional power—can get unstuck and make progress inside complex, boggy organisations. A riff on experimentation, disappointment, and the quiet joy when a seedling pokes its little green head up.

Hear us wrestle with:

• When to invest in soil prep—and when to just throw seeds down and see what grows
• Why half-baked experiments are a good way to tune your appetite for risk
• The three routes to career progress: power, influence, and acceptance
• How to gently test ideas at work without stepping on toes (too hard)
• Tromboncino squash, borage porridge, and general botanical misadventures

References:

• Innovation Tactics from Pip Decks https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework https://cynefin.io/wiki/Cynefin
• Especially the linear construction of Cynefin: https://cynefin.io/wiki/Linear_construction_of_Cynefin
• Episode 103: Competence, control and consequences https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/103-competence-control-and-consequences (original concept from Scott Berkun's Why Design Is Hard)
• Episode 048: Conceptual Models https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/048-conceptual-models
• Episode 038: Creativity, innovation and a flawed coffee machine https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9307
• Watchful Waiting from Tom's article with John Cutler https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-274-how-capable-leaders-navigate?open=false#%C2%A7patience-and-self-repair
• Seeds vs Soil (tactic in Pip Decks) [ front | back ]
• Alex Komoroske's viral deck Coordination Headwinds: how organisations are like slime molds https://komoroske.com/slime-mold/
• Alex on Lenny's podcast talking more about gardening: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unconventional-product-advice-alex-komoroske

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It's one of our experimental working-out-loud conversations, that's sometimes insightful and sometimes ridiculous.

• Can you compress 12 months of strategic learning into 3 weeks?
• Why most “market research” just creates more ideas, not clarity
• The political awkwardness of selling "painkillers not vitamins" in B2B
• Taste vs Tool belts – how do you tell the difference between someone with good "product taste" and an overconfident asshole?
• What AI can (and can’t) do for folks who want to develop their product taste
• How we’re testing ways to explain Pitch Provocations to make it easier to sell
• Why “doing all the things” is seductive but self-defeating
• Why watching someone’s face is better than any survey.

If you’ve ever struggled to explain your work, or wondered if AI is making everything worse—this one’s for you.

As mentioned in the episode, we're currently putting Pitch Provocations through itself, which means we're looking for thoughtful humans to react to a handful of our rough, probably-wrong pitches.

If you're C-suite or C-suite adjacent and you're curious about what we do (or just want a peek behind the scenes), drop us a line at tentacles@crownandreach.com. You'll help us learn—and we’ll share the playbook with you so you can steal the method.

References

• Rob Snyder's PULL framework: https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/the-pull-framework
• We talked about "Taste" in https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-airbnb
• The Reach Newsletter: https://reach.crownandreach.com/
• Lake Wobegon Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon#The_Lake_Wobegon_effect

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We took a break from rebrand logistics and wandered up and down the road talking about how people and teams judge ideas.

Teams often close the filter way too tightly for fear of having no filter at all. We talk about the hidden risks of focus and brainstorms, why coherence matters more than consensus, and how our Pitch Provocations method helps teams safely test the uncomfortable stuff.

You can now reach us at tentacles@crownandreach.com. Thanks for walking with us x

In this episode:

• Why “there are no bad ideas!” is a well-meaning lie, and what to do instead
• The coherence trick, and using it to find your boundaries
• How to spot hidden stupidity in apparently safe ideas
• What most orgs get wrong about experimentation
• A practical method for killing pet ideas without hurting feelings

References

• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis, home of the article that sparked the episode https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/
• Andrew Anderson's “You make more money when you’re wrong” idea https://cxl.com/blog/5-tactics-to-changing-how-your-organization-thinks-about-optimization/
• Pitch Provocations – Crown & Reach's lightweight testing method. Also explored way back in episode 07 https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

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This micro-episode is a dramatic reading of the resulting auto-transcript. We think it's a deeply serious and often moving window into the age of AI.

No notes.

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In this episode of Tentacles, we read out a note from Henrik Karlsson about the fear and freedom and unfolding in first drafts.

We see how this links with journaling, testing app loops, multiverse mapping, design sprints, and what poultry farming can teach us about intuition.

Learning in public, making peace with mess, and pulling the gold back out of garbage.

• Why your first draft should go straight in the bin — and with joy
• How product teams get trapped in “perfect plans” and miss the real work
• What chick sexing can teach us about tacit knowledge and intuition
• How to test your new business idea with words and a Sharpie
• The subtle trap of fear disguised as “planning”
• Why your best intro might be hidden halfway down the page
• A reframe of user testing that makes it feel less like judgment and more like treasure hunting

References

• Henrik Karlsson https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz, especially the essay Looking for Alice https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/looking-for-alice
• Sasha Chapin essay https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/if-you-have-writers-block-maybe-you
• Multiverse Mapping, a visual collaborative process for mapping and stress-testing strategic intent https://multiversemapping.com/
• Design Sprints, originally from Google Ventures, covered in the book Sprint by Jake Knapp
• 750 Words 750words.com, a site for daily stream-of-consciousness journaling
• Design Testing Methods like transcribing live interviews, paper prototyping with Sharpies, copy-first testing
• “Write drunk, edit sober” often misattributed to Hemingway
• Chick sexing, the practice of identifying baby chicken gender, often cited in intuition training
• Hard Test, Easy Life https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/stop-polishing-turd-products-with
• Pivot Triggers, Crown & Reach’s approach to structured learning from unexpected results
• Innovation Tactics Pip Deck https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics

Find out more about our work at crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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• Why most "customer interviews" are secretly fear-dressed-as-research
• The difference between designing with someone vs for someone
• How to spot when your idea is turning into a Katamari Damacy chaos ball
• The simple mental shift that helps avoid product bloat
• What the “hard test, easy life” mantra looks like in practice
• Why your slick UX might be hiding a terrifying mess
• A 48-hour rule to force real-world contact before you overthink it

References:

• Multiverse Mapping, our framework for co-evolving ideas with real-world signals https://multiversemapping.com/
• David Ogilvy “People don’t think what they feel, don’t say what they think, and don’t do what they say.”
• Katamari Damacy – surreal PlayStation game where you roll a ball that picks up stuff and grows absurdly large [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamari_Damacy]
• Figma vs Adobe Illustrator, as a metaphor for building lightweight, use-first tools vs bloated, fully featured ones
• Curse of Knowledge, the cognitive bias where experts struggle to imagine what it’s like not to know something
• Noah Kagan’s 48-hour challenge – get a paying customer within 48 hours of an idea. From Million Dollar Weekend https://noahkagan.com/mdwbook/
• Hard Test, Easy Life https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/stop-polishing-turd-products-with
• Innovation Tactics Pip Deck https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Safe-to-fail probes – idea from Dave Snowden https://cynefin.io/wiki/Safe_to_fail_probes

Find out more about our work at crownandreach.com/

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Two years ago we picked the company name Trigger Strategy Group in a last-minute scramble for our first client project. The name has, shall we say, one or two issues. (On the upside, it was a perfect example of Hard Test Easy Life: if you can make something work despite its flaws, you know you might be onto something.) But it was about time we gave things some proper thought.

• How naming a company in 20 minutes can haunt you for 2 years
• The surprising violence baked into “trigger strategy” (thanks, game theory)
• The difference between command, control, and cephalopods
• What bees, psychiatric hospitals, and chatGPT have in common

In short, our company is now called Crown & Reach, and our podcast is called Tentacles.

Why? To find out, you'll have to listen...

References:

• Hard Test Easy Life https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/stop-polishing-turd-products-with
• Innovation Tactics Pip Deck https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Dave Kang's Octopus Life https://davekang.substack.com/
• Taylorism - Frederick Taylor’s scientific management model
• Coherent Heterogeneity, a concept from complexity thinking https://cynefin.io/wiki/Common_fallacies
• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith
• Crown & Reach Website https://crownandreach.com/

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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