Writing
Working notes on why organizations break in the same four ways, and what the systems literature says about it.
Index11 entries
- 03September 8, 202610 min
Two Fields That Never Talked to Each Other, Converging on the Same Physics
Two lineages that never cited each other — Ashby, Conway, Brooks, and Beer's systems theory, and Scott Page's complexity science — converge on the same mechanisms.
Read → - 04September 8, 20265 min
Complex Isn't Complicated — And That Distinction Is Costing You
Complicated systems have parts; complex systems have parts that adapt — and that's why documentation alone stops working once a RevOps process scales.
Read → - 05September 8, 20265 min
Diversity, Deconstructed
"Diversity" isn't one thing — Scott Page breaks it into four distinct measures, and most "too much" or "too little" arguments are really about different ones.
Read → - 06September 8, 20265 min
What Shows Up Without Anyone Designing It
Half of what keeps a scaling RevOps org functioning was never designed by anyone — it emerged bottom-up, the way structure does in complex systems.
Read → - 07September 8, 20265 min
Why Some Things Should Never Fully Ship
Dancing landscapes don't call for giving up — they call for an ongoing explore/exploit discipline most RevOps orgs never build, borrowed from metallurgy.
Read → - 08September 8, 20265 min
The Small Event That Wasn't Actually Small
Cascading failures don't need an attacker — highly connected systems can quietly organize into a shape where an ordinary event triggers collapse on its own.
Read → - 09September 8, 20266 min
Harnessing What You Can't Control
A complex system can't be controlled the way a complicated one can — the real skill is recognizing it accurately and responding to match.
Read → - 10September 8, 20265 min
The Interesting In-Between
Good complexity doesn't come from maximizing integration and data, or minimizing for simplicity — it lives in the middle Page calls the interesting in-between.
Read → - 11September 8, 20264 min
Three Landscapes: Fuji, Rugged, and Dancing
Scott Page's landscape metaphor for solvability — Mount Fuji, rugged, and dancing terrain — and why each shape calls for a different strategy.
Read → - 02August 6, 20264 min
A Field-Tested Stakeholder Communication Matrix
Detail level should track decision-making need, not seniority — a six-tier communication matrix for systems integration and subscription management engagements.
Read → - 01August 4, 20265 min
"I Want to Make Processes More Efficient" — What That Actually Means
Operations is variety management, not efficiency work — four systems laws (Ashby, Conway, Brooks, Reverse Conway) that make an ambiguous job definable.
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