John W Lewis

John W Lewis

Thinking, Understanding, and System modelling

  • Simply social

    Where are you looking? When innovations appear, it can be hard to see their potential benefits … especially if you are looking in the wrong place! That seems to be the case in this superbly simple story, told to me by Aren Grimshaw when we met up last week.

  • We like differently

    It is a very simple idea: we like differently. And a wide range of consequences flow from it. You and I like different things. Also you and I like or dislike the same things for different reasons and to a different extent. A significant hurdle to understanding this is the difficulty we frequently have in…

  • Sleep models applied to jet lag

    Are you having problems with “jet lag” as a result of your galivanting around the world? Are you falling asleep or waking up, or both, at odd times after zipping westward or, often worse, eastward across time zones? Many people do and having a model for the workings of sleep can provide a basis for…

  • To innovate or not to innovate? That is not the question!

    Sooner or later continuous improvement, by any individual or organisation, runs out of steam. Marching up the slope ahead of us makes sense as an effective way to move onwards and upwards, until we reach the summit. But the summit of what? Most likely it is not the summit, it is just a summit. There…

  • Opportunities: how can we look for them?

    We are all looking for opportunities, aren’t we? Or do we focus mainly on problems? How often have you heard that every problem is an opportunity? Is this true? So what is the difference between a problem and an opportunity? Opportunities and problems are opposites. Usually, we do things because we can see the benefit of…

  • Do now, or do later?

    Whenever you think of something, do you always do it immediately? It’s wonderful when you can, because you don’t need to remember anything. You can play around and improvise on a whim. It’s fun, interesting and might lead anywhere; and if the things that trigger those thoughts are well organised, then it is likely to…

  • Any riots in the clouds?

    Earlier this week, I overheard an interesting and unusual support call being handled at a company which provides business systems. On the face of it, you might enjoy this topical little story, but it might also get you thinking, as it did me, about some rather more substantial issues. This customer was calling because he…

  • Communicating context and meaning

    Recently, Mark Jennings posed an important question: “Do words mean the same to say as to hear?” Much of this subject is, I believe, quite well understood by people involved in communication theory and, particularly, in organizational communication. There are experts on this subject: the person from whom I have learnt most of the following…

  • Social++

    The Google+ service is potentially interesting, but is it just Wave all over again? As I begin to use it, it feels like facebook, which is quite limited. And it’s nowhere near as useful as Twitter.

  • “Service design” is what exactly?

    The term “service design” seems to have been cropping up in a variety of contexts recently. This sounds interesting, possibly useful and, perhaps even, ground breaking. However, based on initial investigation, I am non-plussed and increasingly sceptical.