Thinking

Essays on materials, markets and the machinery between them.

I write roughly twice a month. Longer pieces, not posts. Subscribe to have them by email →

Essays

Materials and constraint

What the physical world decides before anyone gets a vote.

  • The material has already decided several things for you
  • What I got wrong about efficiency

From supply to value

The mechanics of turning movement into margin.

  • Your forecast is a budget wearing a costume
  • Market access is not a marketing problem
  • The three questions a distribution network cannot answer for you

Trust as infrastructure

Standards, interoperability, provenance, and coordination between parties who have no reason to trust each other.

  • A trade corridor with no data standard is a road that isn't there
  • Who does your standard exclude?
  • Optimisation concentrates. Somebody should say so.

Decision fluency

How leadership teams actually decide, why they stall, and what can be designed.

  • A six-week decision is not a slow decision. It is the wrong one.
  • Everyone agreed, and nothing happened

Notes from the work

Short, specific field observations.

  • What a port taught me about boardrooms
  • On patience in systems that reward speed

Press & appearances

Listed as they appear.