👁️ Thinking that we need a different collective noun. From here on in they will known as Feral Agencies.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 13, 2026
"Perfect Day" by Lou Reed
Whenever it doesn’t seem right … Lou sets me straight.
🖋️ Forgive or not to forgive. That is the question.
Rabbiting on about ‘forgiveness’. When is it time? Should we?
🖋️ If POTUS Says It - Why Can't We Report It?
Don’t click through if you are easily offended. Then again - if you are easily offended stop listening to POTUS
Which Way Forward
BUT
If you don’t know where you are going,
any road will do.
Part two of a two part article. If you want to know what part one was all about, well - that’s why we have hyperlinks.
The World Is Sensing It.
Over the past few days, a series of articles filtered to the top of my feeds, all talking about different aspects of this same structural gap that in turn coalesced around 4 questions.
1] Why do our most important assets - people, if you believe the organisational mantras - get relegated to HR?
❓ Have we hidden engagement inside a compliance system?
2] Does every organisation run on two charts - one visible, one invisible? We already know one is broken.
❓ Is the real work happening in the one nobody’s designing for?
3] What happens when you build community momentum as the primary growth engine, not the side effect?
❓ By launching another platform? OR by providing underserved networks the infrastructure they need to engage and better serve their communities.
4] What if your website isn't the problem and it's really just a symptom?
❓ Are you hiding broken strategy inside broken web infrastructure?
The Realisation
‘Systems of Record’ don’t produce engagement. They produce overhead.
Sensing Isn’t Solving.
Organisations see the gap. They meet. They talk about it. They all agree - and then they go back to their day job and wonder why it feels like pushing water uphill. The problems seem ‘wicked’ in nature.
They understand that relegating people to HR compliance systems doesn’t produce performance. They’re watching CRM vendors struggle. They know their ‘Systems of Record’ can’t be used in this new world. They are ready for ‘Systems of Engagement’.
But being ready isn’t the same as being able. The path from ‘we need this’ to ‘here’s how we do it’ needs different thinking to what got them there1.
The Business Equation Is Fundamental.
It isn't a framed manifesto for the lobby; it's the heartbeat of the business and the operating principle through which every decision filters. We aren’t just ‘thinking’ about People, Process, and Technology - we’re operationalising them in the only order that actually scales.
‘Systems of Record’ have historically often got this backwards - despite knowing better - optimising for the technology and data capture first. And then we wonder why they fail to engage. ‘Systems of Engagement’ turns it on its head: design for people, build the process around them and let the technology serve both.
Take websites. You need one, you have one.
Question - is it a cost or an investment?
I would venture that if it is built around who we are and what we want to say - in short a static digital bill board - it will be (rightly) seen as a cost. What if it was built around your business as a business growth asset? That’s how we flip it.2
We stop building systems that record people.
We start building systems that engage them.
One saves up to 100%. The other grows from 100% to - well, you tell me.
Who’s In. Who’s Watching. Who’s Building.
Over the years, many organisations have committed to this thinking - all over the world. You’d be surprised what has been done and who has put real money behind this thinking and approach.
Because here’s the thing: yes, the ‘Business Equation’ not only shows why ‘Systems of Engagement’ matter but also identifies which engagement systems?
And then - how to move from here to there?
The problem has been solved. The solutions are still assembling.
Solutions that
make invisible flows visible.
turn compliance machinery into engagement infrastructure.
let people actually see and act on what matters.
not with new tech - but better thinking.
not by replacing what you have - but building value around it.
not locking you in - but growing with you.
The conversations are happening. The commitments are real. The solutions are assembling. The question isn’t whether to pivot. It’s how fast you move.
If you’re sensing this. If you’re asking these questions. If you want to be part of building rather than watching - well ….
Many thanks for your attention. I look forward to talking.
We are building an assessment to help you get clarity, if you would like early access, drop me a line.
We remodel business data structures and extend into what a business needs to grow. We don’t rebuild the site, we extend it with features that the audience needs and at a stroke the site moves from a cost that nobody cares about and ignored because it is an overhead to a space that creates momentum by attracting visitors and engaging them.
The Rear View Mirror
The same can be said for Systems of Record.
This is the first of a two part issue. If you already know our history and are more interested in where we are going - then the next newsletter is for you.
‘They’ have their CRM. Where’s my VRM?1
Before you get too excited - sorry this is not about that - but - the question has been my North Star for a couple of decades. It’s the itch that ‘Systems of Record’ couldn’t scratch, and the reason I spent my career working as a translator in rooms where the wrong problems were being solved with clinical precision.
The Translator in the Room.
My job was simple ..
Translate.
For technologists - competing to build smarter mousetraps and needing to explain themselves to ‘the market’.
For people - realising that the real problem isn't catching mice, it's that nobody's talking about why the mice are there in the first place.
I lived in that gap. I learned to speak both languages and discovered that software companies are brilliant at “solving the wrong problem really well”.2
It was a sign of the times - but they optimised for efficiency. For capture. For storage. For control. Systems of Record, designed to document what happened yesterday so they could save money today. And they locked you in. Built moats around the data. Made you dependent. That’s where the money was - still is for some. And at the time that was the right thing to do.
But to remix a couple of metaphors - if all you have is a hammer, by the time you get to where the puck is going, the problem might not be a nail anymore.
Tomorrow's problems can’t be solved with yesterday's tools.
I also learned that you can only save up to 100% of what you have BUT on the flip side - The Business Equation makes clear that there are no such limits to growth.
These learnings contributed to the foundation of ‘John2.0’ - People First. Process Second. Technology Third. And by ‘people’ I mean all people - customers, staff, vendors, partners, members … and knowing what each person needs to ‘improve their lot’ - not what the system wants to capture and a series of ‘truths’ informed how to build these new systems.
When I left People First ‘behind’ to start PHI⑊PIN3, it was only the name that changed. The foundation, the thinking, the frameworks all remained and are in constant use and now we build solutions on those principles. Not with a new tech stack. No reinvention of the wheel. Definitely not throwing away what works and absolutely building value through a three step process.
Think carefully.
Build what’s needed now.
Stay agile for the future.
Websites appear as outcomes not as the project. Solutions emerge from solving real problems, not from feature roadmaps. We move fast, faster than most. But every piece serves a purpose. Nothing exists for its own sake.
And here’s the thing:
We make money when our customers grow, not when they’re stuck.
The sunset in the rear view is clear. Yesterday is over and tomorrow is a new day.
Will it be exactly the same as yesterday? No. So why are you doing the same thing?
Each of us has one history - and many possible futures.
Which future is all to do with the choices you make today.
Want to talk more?
Joyce Searls (yes - that Joyce) posed this question years ago in the early days of Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) thinking. It remains the most elegant articulation of the asymmetry we’re working to address.
Credit to John Caswell for this formulation. It captures something I’ve observed across two decades of watching software companies excel at doing just that.
I should write a newsletter one day explaining ‘why’ PHI⑊PIN.
🏢 Interesting to read this today, because I have been writing similar things myself - albeit from a different angle. The words will be published soon and I will return and link later.
Your website is no longer just a destination. It’s a source. It’s the canonical, structured, well-maintained origin point from which your message gets picked up, interpreted, summarized, and carried elsewhere. The better that source material is, the better it travels.
Think of it this way: Your website used to be the store. Now, it’s also the warehouse. And the warehouse needs to be organized well enough that anyone (human or machine) can find what they need, understand what it means, and carry it somewhere else without losing the plot.
💬 Tim Chambers
🔗 Websites As Canonical Sources, Not Just Destinations.
The problem of course is that to be both a warehouse and a store is a very tall order - not impossible, but certainly not easy - because you need clarity on what you’re doing and why.
The website exposes whether you have it - and if you don’t - I’ll bet a pound to a penny that your web site designer/developer won’t.
That’s why we start at the opposite end - where websites are outcomes of clear thought, strategy and data architecture.
🔗 The shared tragedy of Red Queen hiring | Seth’s Blog
Successful fishermen understand that casting an ever-wider net is not always the best way to catch the fish you need.
Hiring is Hard - like everything else. F-O-C-U-S
🔗📚 ‘Small is Beautiful’ - and a big win IMHO.
this takes a turn at the end.
💬 Mitch Wagner
Certainly does - because it fits so nicely into the emerging narrative about ‘craft’ and ‘artisans’ - and of course the Japanese would be where it would all start.
🔗 Truth, Consequences, Climate, and Demand
the only thing history loves more than a surprise party is irony.
💬 Mitch Wagner - I think.
The source was 🔗 here
🔗 How Not to Respond to Political Violence
I dunno Peggy.
- Three assassination attempts that nobody really talks about?
- Politicians living on military compounds because they are being threatened? (If I wanted to demonstrate to ‘the masses’ that the country is unsafe - I would choose to keep a few loyalists on military bases for their ‘protection’.)
👁️ Doesn’t really stack up for this bear.
🔗 Hey you, start communicating!
OK! Definitely taking on board Kev’s closing instruction …
So yeah, start communicating! 🙃
💬 Kev Quirk
And of course - because ‘everything is a remix’ - Kev’s post 🔗 was inspired by this one.
Meanwhile, also this morning 🔗 swissmiss shared this short poem.
point out the good
when you see it.in life,
in others,
in yourself.because the world
needs to remember
what kindness and
love look like.
💬 Topher Kearby
Which all goes to explain why random people out there are on the internet are going to start receiving email from me. The first one is going out in a minute. It won’t be daily. There will be a reason.
🔗 Features via Mission Alignment
When you use Micro.blog, you should never have to opt in or pay extra for something that is a core part of our mission.
💬 Manton Reece
Thank you @manton - very nice.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 12, 2026
"The New Math (What He Said)" by OSI
I was sat on a plane reading an interview with Bowie who talked about this band he'd just heard. Made a note of it, and ordered it online. Their first album arrived and this was the first track and I was IN. How could you not be?
About Those Org Charts
Towards the end of last year I had a few questions about my latest rant against org charts. I mean, we all hate them - but it would appear that some think I’ve ‘turned it up to 11’ (RIP Rob Reiner).
They aren’t wrong - because I think the problem requires to be turned up to eleven. It’s louder.
Why Most People Think Org Charts Are No Good
They Don’t Match Reality
Everyone knows the real decision-maker often isn’t the one at the top of the box. Influence ≠ title.
They Hide the Humans
Org charts reduce people to job titles and reporting lines. No context, no relationships, no nuance.
They Ignore How Work Actually Gets Done
Most collaboration is cross-functional, informal, and messy. Org charts don’t show the messy bits - just the illusion of order.
They Leave Out the Important People
Contractors, freelancers, cross-border teams, AI tools, and shadow networks? All notably absent from the chart.
They Reinforce Bureaucracy, Not Agility
Org charts suggest you need to ‘go through the chain’ but we all know that efficiency is about people reaching out to those that they know can get it done.
They’re Static in a Dynamic World
Roles change, teams form and dissolve, priorities shift while the org chart remains frozen in time.
They Signal Status, Not Value
They’re often more about who reports to whom than about who creates real impact.
They Confuse Structure with Clarity
Just because you can draw it doesn’t mean you understand it. Org charts create a false sense of understanding.
They Can Be Weaponized
Who’s in, who’s out, who moved up, who got sidelined. Org charts can fuel internal politics and turf wars.
They Don’t Help You Navigate
If you’re new to an organization and trying to figure out “who to talk to,” the org chart is usually the last thing you turn to.
Org charts have become the wallpaper of corporate life. Ubiquitous, tidy, and comfortingly hierarchical. But they’re wrong - not just in how they look, but in what they imply.
Not only that - but they have become too complicated and detailed with the ever beating drum of The Fractalisation Of Work.
… and …
They are just wrong. Always.
That said - I do fit myself into every org chart out there … I assume the role held in the ‘blue’ box …
I can so this because work may have fractionalised - but I haven’t - and work happens at boundaries.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 11, 2026
"Thank You for the Music" by ABBA
Today’s post is a sister post to this one.
My memory … sitting alone tin a large Odeon(?) cinema - South London - Streatham. I really can’t recall the movie - except the closing credits - as Wiki says:
The song also plays over the closing titles as the camera pans out from the band performing in a hut on an island in the Stockholm archipelago to views of the archipelago itself.
That is my only memory and on that day, for whatever reason found it so uplifting. Where are we now? What 47 years later - and that memory is locked. That song. Locked. Loved it then. Love it now.
Abba? Sure I have great respect for what they did. The songs they wrote and recorded - but in all honesty - never really my bag.
Except this one.
🎥 ABBA: The Movie, 1977 ★★
Abba was never my bag, so why I went to see this in the Odeon (I think) cinema in Streatham, South London - I have no idea. It was fine - until it exploded into the closing credits. All this time later - I still remember the image and the music - a movie all by itself. Only two stars - but try to find the closing credits - sound up - on a big screen - dark room. Still 🤯