Tentacles - the podcast from Crown & Reach

Jeff Bezos famously said not to overthink decisions you can just undo. But what if rolling back a change doesn't actually roll anything back?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 abductionThis 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

Upton Sinclair said "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." 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 threateningThe 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 whyHow expertise shows up best under tight limitationsThe plumber parallel and why end customers don't care which wrench you useLeading with theory vs. leading with experience (and Tom's early mistakes)Opening portals vs planting flags, and the role of jammingWhy 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 & linksUpton 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=FC6O6zfbLCzykKm8Cynefin framework / complexity science (Dave Snowden)Caroline Winkler - YouTube interior designer https://youtu.be/ZvHM_VCybN0?si=CIPObJld8IM4Mc-XVenkatesh 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

Can "insights" be pre-packaged? Should they be?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 workLinks & referencesBook "Why Does the Pedlar Sing?" by Paul Feldwick (advertising/creativity)Gary Klein – insight definitionJonathan 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 method4U Framework – our meta-methodologyQuestions, stories, or strongly-held opinions about research methods? Pop us a message: tentacles@crownandreach.com

You've been told you must transform your business with AI. But you have no budget for consultants, no runway for experiments, and absolutely no permission to fail.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 basketsThe electricity/steam substrate shift: why you can't just "add AI" to your existing factory layout and expect magicWhy some execs are being set up as expendable experiments in someone else's portfolio ... and how to spot if you're one of themOur own near-death cash flow moment, and why we didn't buy any of the blueprints that promised us a solutionWatchful waiting: the counterintuitive move that actually worked when all we wanted to do was panicWhy the lettuce man was right but early, which is functionally the same as being wrongTom Chi and the art of radical cheapness: testing Google Glass with plasticine, wire, and half a dayThe oblique AI productivity hack where you get productivity ... but not by trying to be productiveHow to make experiments so cheap that you can afford to throw most of them awayTesting your core assumptions vs your peripheral ones—why people protect their existential beliefsThe dangerous middle ground: trying to get early adopter benefits without an early adopter resource cushionWhy substrate change happens through billions of individual choices, not top-down mandatesJP 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/CynefinImre Lakatos - philosopher (research programs: core vs peripheral assumptions)JP Castlin https://strategyinpraxis.substack.comTom Chi - Google Glass rapid prototyping https://youtu.be/d5_h1VuwD6gRob Snyder - PULL framework, AI note-taker example https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/nobody-wants-aiJohn Cutler & Tom's article about leading in ambiguity https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-274-how-capable-leaders-navigateUncertainty bubbles / The Double Game (deliberate vs emergent strategy) Opportunity Method Format (OMF) https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/052-omf-opportunity-method-formatMultiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com4U framework: Unpack, Undergo, Unfold - https://crownandreach.com/#resourcesObliquity by John KayThe Founder (McDonald's kitchen scene) https://youtu.be/F-7cjdtrQ9YMinority Report (gesture interface scenes)Episode on Founder Mode / Brat Summer https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/073-brat-summer-for-billionairesEpisodes 007-009: Pitch Provocations: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

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