Tentacles - the podcast from Crown & Reach

Is your very job dissolving? You're not imagining it.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 rebirthFor 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=PtDA714SdgQHenrik Karlsson's musician friend https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/constraintsEpisode 043: Do 100 Thing https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/043-do-100-thingVisakan 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 CEOCorissa's Ultrabangers playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3FFiwdRsFjMXYvye4lbzE4?si=9242add1c657441c

Tom got AI to critique his sales call. The feedback was detailed, line-by-line, technically correct... and basically useless.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 unhelpfulBoyd's OODA loop and the missing "orientation" capability in LLMsWhat happened when someone showed up to a research call... with an AI interviewerThe emotion gap: why LLMs can't follow the rich seams of energy in a conversationWhy LLMs don't know when to pivot and when to pushJapanese care home robots that create more work than they save, and the babysitting idiots effectVenkatesh 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 onWhy pattern-matching to words isn't the same as understanding contextYou 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.ReferencesBen 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=1000734032438Venkatesh Rao https://substack.com/@contraptionsJohn Boyd's OODA Loop and SnowmobilingJP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/p/the-only-one-writing-and-aiDave Snowden's Ritual Dissent - https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent

Q. When do teams want certainty the most? 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 leastThree 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 constraintsWhy "I know it when I see it" is both valid intuition and a political safety netThe art of being deliberately wrong in the right wayHow to make the mess explicit (and why that's actually helpful)The vision chasm revisited ... and why emerging direction beats fixed visionWhy teams get stuck waiting for clarity while leadership waits for signalsThe cucumber gets pickled more than the brine gets cucumbered ... plus reading labels from outside the jarMeeting 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/triggerstrategyEpisode 061: Tumbling into the Vision Chasm: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/061-tumbling-into-the-vision-chasmThe "Four U" model: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold UncertaintyMultiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.comCrown & Reach's Go to Market Sprint – email hello@crownandreach.com

What do post office doors that won't open and door handles that scrape your knuckles have to do with product strategy?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 designThe economic systems that create Norman Doors in the first placeHow we got trapped thinking we had only two solutions (spoiler: there were more)The seesaw principle: pain of current situation vs. cost of the fixWhy visitors (to your home or product) spike your awareness of problems you've learned to ignoreManufacturing constraints vs. relaxing stories to see more optionsThe "replace just the worst handles" strategy and why mismatched might actually workWhen to burn the boats (or remove all the door handles) to force a resolutionAll 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 designChesterton's Fence principlePlatform Incentive Gravity – episode 122 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/68bc47099a81ed86f1aeafa1Tell us about your knuckle scraping doors and bodged remote controls - tentacles@crownandreach.com

You've got a brilliant idea. Everyone agrees it could work. So why has it become the project nobody wants to hear about anymore?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 cycleWhy traditional market research creates reports nobody acts on (and what works instead)The 12-month learning compression: how Pitch Provocations actually delivers on this promiseMicro-projects vs. mega-builds: throwaway experiments that people actually want to doCustomer interviews as enjoyable therapy sessions (both sides enjoy them)Why Go To Market means different things to a startup founder vs. a corporate messaging leadThe estate agent's gambit: give away an 80-page instruction manual and see who still hires youHow to get teams generating their own ideas instead of nodding politely at yoursYou can't write the ending of a case study if you don't know how it actually turned outCommon 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/triggerstrategyMultiverse Mapping - https://multiversemapping.comThe "4U" framework: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold UncertaintyRitual Dissent (Dave Snowden) - https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissentInnovation Tactics deck (Pip Decks) - https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tacticsContact:tentacles@crownandreach.com

Platform incentive gravity: it's why all the rental bikes end up at the bottom of hills, and why the most "popular" game on Roblox rewards you for doing absolutely nothing.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 keysThe bike rental study that perfectly explains platform incentive gravityHow gamification strips meaning in service of metricsWhy Tom's teenagers are already jumping ship to find actual creativityThe connection between AFK mechanics, auto-clickers, and social media engagementTrail Makers vs. slop games: what actually captivates vs. what just accumulates hoursWhether this connects to a broader meaning-making crisisHow to recognise when you're trapped in someone else's incentive structure

Remember that dress? The one that had the entire internet at each other's throats about whether it was white and gold or black and blue?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 illusionHow the dress reveals the fundamental problem with forcing everyone to see the same visionJP Castlin's three requirements for effective aspirations: precise, ambiguous, and fractalWhy zooming out beats analysing pixels when you're stuck in disagreementThe via negativa approach: sometimes it's easier to agree on where you DON'T want to goStoryboarding to envision behaviours not featuresThis 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.comReferences"The Experience Machine" by Andy Clark https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313594/the-experience-machine-by-clark-andy/9780141990583JP 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-duckingMultiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.comPitch Provocations

Glittery bags of words, scatterbrained tutors, or random concept triggerers? 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 middleThe "random number generator" theory of LLMs as a trigger for concepts, ideas and processes you already knowPotential for designing LLM interactions that don't dumb you downWhy high-fidelity outputs are no longer a good proxy for high-quality thinking – the decades-long descent into polished incoherenceBag of words theory: LLMs necessarily can't generate coherence, only fluencyReal 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).ReferencesGerald Weinberg's classic "Secrets of Consulting" https://archive.org/details/secretsofconsult0000weinHazel 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/aiuxEd Zitron's Where's Your Ed At – the firebrand pointing out the nakedity of the emperor https://www.wheresyoured.atPavel Samsonov's solid critique https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/human-in-the-loop-is-a-thought-terminating-clichePhilip 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_dissentOur method Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.comOur method Pitch Provocations (old episodes 007-009 for a rough intro) https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategyClass action lawsuit against Anthropic re: training data https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/