Insights and Newsletters
Thought pieces on work that works.
Short, honest writing on transformation, operating models, automation and the work that makes change stick.
Latest · Change & Adoption
We Put a Man on the Moon Before We Put Wheels on a Suitcase
Lessons in technology, design and change from a 1962 airport terminal – and why the hard part of any transformation is never the technology itself.
Read the full piece30 October 2026 · 9 min read
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Automation & AIThe Automation Business Case Starts With the Work, Not the TechnologyVendor demos promise forty per cent savings. A business case that survives the board is built the other way round – from the outcome, through the work, to the technology.29 October 2026 · 3 min readWhere the Truth Lives · Part 1 of 3The Governance Gap: Why HR and Payroll Need More Than a One-Way IntegrationSending data successfully from one system to another proves that the integration worked. It doesn't prove that the two populations remain aligned – and that distinction matters.8 October 2026 · 5 min readWhere the Truth Lives · Part 2 of 3The Shadow System – and How to Avoid ItWhy the spreadsheet on someone's desktop is telling you something your programme needs to hear20 October 2026 · 4 min readWhere the Truth Lives · Part 3 of 3Silence Isn't AgreementWhy culture decides how your shadow systems grow, and how to hear what nobody is saying26 October 2026 · 6 min read
Work Before Structure Part 1 of 4Flexibility Isn't a Gen Z Thing. It's a Human Thing.Flexibility isn't something younger generations invented. Most of us want it – and at different points in our lives, many of us need it. The data tells a different story from the stereotype.24 September 2026 · 6 min readWork Before Structure Part 2 of 4Three Days in the Office? You’re Starting With the Wrong Question.Before deciding how many days somebody should spend in an office, understand what the work is and where it is best done.28 September 2026 · 7 min readWork Before Structure Part 3 of 4If You Can't Manage Someone Remotely, Is Remote Working Really the Problem?Managers need to manage, coach and develop their people. Proximity isn't management – and remote working didn't create poor management. It just made it harder to hide.1 October 2026 · 7 min readWork Before Structure Part 4 of 4Don’t Design the Job Yet. Design the Work.Before we design the job, shouldn’t we design the work? AI, organisation design, headcount and return-to-office policy are all questions about work design – and the order matters.6 October 2026 · 7 min readAI & the future of workThe 30% Rehire ProblemYou can measure a salary. You can’t measure work you never actually mapped.5 October 2026 · 6 min readAutomation & AI · GovernanceAI and HR: A Match Made in Heaven?Agentic AI could free HR from administration and create space for more strategic work. But does HR have the process, data and systems capability to govern it well?23 September 2026 · 10 min readFractional CPO series · Part 2 of 2Do You Need a CPO - or Do You Need CPO Experience?Part 2 of the Fractional CPO series: growing and changing businesses may need experienced CPO thinking long before they need another permanent executive.22 September 2026 · 7 min readFractional CPO series · Part 1 of 2The HR Business Case Worked. The HR Model Didn't.Part 1 of the Fractional CPO series: why removing essential capability from an HR business case simply moves the cost – and usually the problem – somewhere else.17 September 2026 · 6 min readLeadership & cultureSpeaking Truth to Power: Are We Getting Better at It?Power has always changed what people are prepared to say and what those with power are prepared to hear. So what happened the last time somebody told you something you really did not want to hear?15 September 2026 · 7 min readInsight pieceBefore You Delete the Role, Do You Understand What You Are Deleting?There is growing pressure to flatten organisations, widen spans of control and release capacity through technology and AI. But before deleting a role, do we genuinely understand what that person does and the gap they will leave?14 September 2026 · 6 min readAutomation & AIAre We About to Repeat the Same Mistakes With AI?AI gives us an extraordinary opportunity to rethink how work gets done. But are we about to use the most intelligent technology we have ever had to repeat the same transformation mistakes?10 September 2026 · 8 min readAssuranceWhat a Transformation Health Check Should Really Tell YouRAG statuses tell you how the programme feels. A real health check tells you whether it will deliver.05 September 2026 · 4 min read
HR Technology & Value
22 October 2026 · 4 min read
Are We Finally Getting Better at HR Technology ROI?
Individual systems can work perfectly well while the overall process works badly. We naturally organise technology around functions – but processes and data don't respect those boundaries.
Read the full piece →Assurance
15 October 2026 · 6 min read
Ready to Go Live Isn’t the Same as Ready
By the time an HR system reaches go-live, the technology is usually the best-understood part of the programme. It has test scripts, defect logs, exit criteria and a vendor contractually obliged to fix it.
Read the full piece →Workforce Planning & Capacity
13 October 2026 · 4 min read
Maybe We Need to Bring Back the Stopwatch
We know how many people we have. Do we know how much work we have? Capacity planning turns the normal workforce question on its head.
Read the full piece →AI & the Future of Work
7 October 2026
Start With Why. Especially Now AI Can Do the What.
If AI can increasingly do the what, and even the how, is the why the part of the work that's really ours?
Read the full piece →