Insights
Thinking out loud.
Articles, frameworks, and honest conversations about AI transformation in education. From someone who builds, not just advises.
Featured
The Grace Period Is Over: What Higher Education Must Actually Do About AI in 2026
Nick McIntosh's diagnosis is clear: higher education's AI gap is undeniable. But diagnosis isn't treatment. After 20+ years in education technology, here's what institutions must do this quarter, not this decade.
8 January 2026
What Aviation Learnt (That Your AI Strategy Hasn't)
In 1935, a plane crash killed two pilots because the aircraft was 'too complicated for one person to fly.' The solution wasn't to make planes simpler. It was to build systems that made complexity manageable. AI is at the same inflection point.
7 January 2026
The Budget You Already Have (You Just Don't Know It Yet)
What if I told you there's tens of thousands of dollars hiding in your Azure bill? And what if that money could fund your transformation instead of disappearing back to Finance?
7 January 2026
Air Cover: The Leadership Skill Nobody Teaches
Your job as a leader isn't to manage your team. It's to protect them from the organisation.
6 January 2026
The Carrot, Not the Stick: How to Build Capability and Bring Everyone Along for the Journey
Fear gets attention. Hope gets action. Here's how to transform your organisation without leaving anyone behind.
6 January 2026
The Consultant Has Been Here Three Years
At what point do we admit this isn't a project—it's a dependency?
6 January 2026
When Did "We Can Build That" Become a Radical Idea?
Ten years ago, someone would propose building something and the room would discuss how. Now the room laughs.
6 January 2026
The $2 Million Platform Nobody Uses
Every enterprise has one. Usually more than one. How did this happen?
6 January 2026
Your Best Developers Are Updating Their LinkedIn Profiles
They're not telling you why in exit interviews. They're telling each other on Slack.
5 January 2026
The Meeting Where Ideas Go to Die
Every organisation has them. The rooms where good ideas enter and never leave.
5 January 2026
Stop Renting Software You Could Own
Why your Capex/Opex framework is costing you a fortune in the AI era.
4 January 2026
The End of 'Technical' vs 'Non-Technical'
Why every knowledge worker needs a new skill tree for the AI era.
4 January 2026
The Real Skill These Teens Learnt Wasn't Coding
How AI tools accidentally teach the meta-skills that schools have struggled to develop for decades.
31 December 2025
A 13-Year-Old Can Now Build What Your IT Department Quotes 6 Months For
The uncomfortable implications of democratised development for enterprise technology organisations.
31 December 2025
Vibe Coding Is a Terrible Name for Something Revolutionary
Why underselling the biggest democratisation of technical capability since spreadsheets is a strategic mistake.
31 December 2025
The Vibe Coding Spectrum: When to Close Your Eyes and When to Look
The CEO of a $29 billion AI coding company just warned that vibe coding builds 'shaky foundations.' He's right. But that doesn't mean you should stop.
25 December 2024
Meta's PMs Are Building Apps Without Engineers. What's Your Excuse?
Product managers at one of the world's largest tech companies are shipping prototypes directly to Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, your organisation is still writing requirements documents.
20 December 2024
Your Innovation Lab Is Theatre. Here's What Actually Works.
The beanbags, the whiteboards, the 'fail fast' posters. None of it matters if nothing ships.
20 December 2024
The FlightX Playbook: How to Build Your Own Disruption Team
A practical guide for universities and edtech companies that want to out-experiment their way to relevance.
20 December 2024
Stop. Start. Keep.
A framework for teams that want to build capability instead of buying dependency.
20 December 2024
Why Australian Universities Need a Head of Failure
The sector faces an existential threat. The response so far? Committees, principles, and caution. It's not enough.
17 December 2024
The Vendor Is Not Your Friend
They're not evil. They're just not aligned with your success. Understanding the difference could save your organisation.
17 December 2024
Strategic Imagination: The Skill That Separates Builders from Bystanders
In an era of AI disruption, the ability to envision and act on alternative futures isn't optional. It's survival.
17 December 2024
The "We're Waiting for AI to Mature" Trap
The most expensive words in technology right now. Why waiting for AI to mature is costing you more than early adoption ever could.
17 December 2024
The Biggest Cost Is the Decision You Haven't Made Yet
In a world moving at AI speed, indecision isn't caution. It's suicide. Why decision speed matters more than decision quality.
16 December 2024
The Consultant Industrial Complex
They need you to stay broken. That's the business model. Why the consulting industry optimises for dependency instead of solutions.
16 December 2024
Your IT Department Is a Procurement Office
When all you do is buy and integrate, you've stopped being a technology function. How IT departments became procurement offices, and what to do about it.
16 December 2024
Capability Over Dependency: A Manifesto
The organisations that thrive will be the ones that can solve their own problems. Everyone else will be at the mercy of those who can.
9 December 2024
Building Isn't Coding. It's Thinking in Systems.
The skill that matters isn't writing code. It's understanding how things connect.
10 December 2024
AI Should Make Learning Harder, Not Easier
The entire EdTech industry has it backwards. Friction isn't the enemy of learning, it's the point.
8 December 2024
Universities Won't Be Replaced by AI. They'll Become Its Foundation. (Or They'll Disappear.)
The choice isn't whether to change. It's whether to lead or be bypassed entirely.
7 December 2024
Your Competition Is a Two-Person Team You've Never Heard Of
While you're watching incumbents, someone in a spare bedroom is building the thing that makes you irrelevant.
11 December 2024
Why Are You Letting People Who Know Two-Fifths of F*%k All About AI Determine Your Future?
The people making your AI decisions have never built anything with AI. That should terrify you.
13 December 2024
Your SaaS Renewal Is Coming Up. Before You Sign, Try Building It Yourself.
The worst case? Your team learns new skills and you write better requirements. The best case? You never sign that contract again.
12 December 2024
Your SaaS Strategy Is a Slow-Motion Surrender
If you're outsourcing capability to save risk, you're buying a ticket to irrelevance. A provocation for leaders who think 'buy, don't build' is the safe choice.
6 December 2024
The New Risk Equation
The 'safe' choice isn't safe anymore. Staying dependent is now the biggest risk you can take.
5 December 2024
Why Would Anyone Pay $50K for a Lecture When Claude Is Free?
The question every university should be terrified to answer. A reckoning is coming for higher education.
3 December 2024
Your Software Isn't a Competitive Advantage. It's a Stalemate.
When everyone uses the same tools, nobody wins. That's by design. A provocation about SaaS economics and real differentiation.
2 December 2024
Vibe Coding Will Get Someone Killed
49 researchers just published a warning. The industry isn't listening. A critical look at AI-generated code and professional responsibility.
1 December 2024
AI Made Coding Easy. That's Not the Hard Part Anymore.
The skills that made you valuable last year might be the wrong skills entirely. Understanding the shift from implementation to thinking.
30 November 2024
The Dangerous Myth of the AI Sous-Chef
The metaphor is comforting. The reality is terrifying. Why the popular AI sous-chef analogy masks abdication of responsibility.
29 November 2024
Stop Hiring Coders. Start Hiring Thinkers.
Your job descriptions are optimised for a world that no longer exists. The skills inversion and what to hire for now.
28 November 2024
The CrowdStrike Lesson: What Happens When System 1 Runs Wild
July 19, 2024. A single update. 8.5 million machines. $5.4 billion in damages. And a preview of what's coming with AI.
27 November 2024
All Articles
The Grace Period Is Over: What Higher Education Must Actually Do About AI in 2026
Nick McIntosh's diagnosis is clear: higher education's AI gap is undeniable. But diagnosis isn't treatment. After 20+ years in education technology, here's what institutions must do this quarter, not this decade.
What Aviation Learnt (That Your AI Strategy Hasn't)
In 1935, a plane crash killed two pilots because the aircraft was 'too complicated for one person to fly.' The solution wasn't to make planes simpler. It was to build systems that made complexity manageable. AI is at the same inflection point.
The Budget You Already Have (You Just Don't Know It Yet)
What if I told you there's tens of thousands of dollars hiding in your Azure bill? And what if that money could fund your transformation instead of disappearing back to Finance?
Air Cover: The Leadership Skill Nobody Teaches
Your job as a leader isn't to manage your team. It's to protect them from the organisation.
The Carrot, Not the Stick: How to Build Capability and Bring Everyone Along for the Journey
Fear gets attention. Hope gets action. Here's how to transform your organisation without leaving anyone behind.
The Consultant Has Been Here Three Years
At what point do we admit this isn't a project—it's a dependency?
When Did "We Can Build That" Become a Radical Idea?
Ten years ago, someone would propose building something and the room would discuss how. Now the room laughs.
The $2 Million Platform Nobody Uses
Every enterprise has one. Usually more than one. How did this happen?
Your Best Developers Are Updating Their LinkedIn Profiles
They're not telling you why in exit interviews. They're telling each other on Slack.
The Meeting Where Ideas Go to Die
Every organisation has them. The rooms where good ideas enter and never leave.
Stop Renting Software You Could Own
Why your Capex/Opex framework is costing you a fortune in the AI era.
The End of 'Technical' vs 'Non-Technical'
Why every knowledge worker needs a new skill tree for the AI era.
The Real Skill These Teens Learnt Wasn't Coding
How AI tools accidentally teach the meta-skills that schools have struggled to develop for decades.
A 13-Year-Old Can Now Build What Your IT Department Quotes 6 Months For
The uncomfortable implications of democratised development for enterprise technology organisations.
Vibe Coding Is a Terrible Name for Something Revolutionary
Why underselling the biggest democratisation of technical capability since spreadsheets is a strategic mistake.
The Vibe Coding Spectrum: When to Close Your Eyes and When to Look
The CEO of a $29 billion AI coding company just warned that vibe coding builds 'shaky foundations.' He's right. But that doesn't mean you should stop.
Meta's PMs Are Building Apps Without Engineers. What's Your Excuse?
Product managers at one of the world's largest tech companies are shipping prototypes directly to Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, your organisation is still writing requirements documents.
Your Innovation Lab Is Theatre. Here's What Actually Works.
The beanbags, the whiteboards, the 'fail fast' posters. None of it matters if nothing ships.
The FlightX Playbook: How to Build Your Own Disruption Team
A practical guide for universities and edtech companies that want to out-experiment their way to relevance.
Stop. Start. Keep.
A framework for teams that want to build capability instead of buying dependency.
Why Australian Universities Need a Head of Failure
The sector faces an existential threat. The response so far? Committees, principles, and caution. It's not enough.
The Vendor Is Not Your Friend
They're not evil. They're just not aligned with your success. Understanding the difference could save your organisation.
Strategic Imagination: The Skill That Separates Builders from Bystanders
In an era of AI disruption, the ability to envision and act on alternative futures isn't optional. It's survival.
The "We're Waiting for AI to Mature" Trap
The most expensive words in technology right now. Why waiting for AI to mature is costing you more than early adoption ever could.
The Biggest Cost Is the Decision You Haven't Made Yet
In a world moving at AI speed, indecision isn't caution. It's suicide. Why decision speed matters more than decision quality.
The Consultant Industrial Complex
They need you to stay broken. That's the business model. Why the consulting industry optimises for dependency instead of solutions.
Your IT Department Is a Procurement Office
When all you do is buy and integrate, you've stopped being a technology function. How IT departments became procurement offices, and what to do about it.
Capability Over Dependency: A Manifesto
The organisations that thrive will be the ones that can solve their own problems. Everyone else will be at the mercy of those who can.
Building Isn't Coding. It's Thinking in Systems.
The skill that matters isn't writing code. It's understanding how things connect.
AI Should Make Learning Harder, Not Easier
The entire EdTech industry has it backwards. Friction isn't the enemy of learning, it's the point.
Universities Won't Be Replaced by AI. They'll Become Its Foundation. (Or They'll Disappear.)
The choice isn't whether to change. It's whether to lead or be bypassed entirely.
Your Competition Is a Two-Person Team You've Never Heard Of
While you're watching incumbents, someone in a spare bedroom is building the thing that makes you irrelevant.
Why Are You Letting People Who Know Two-Fifths of F*%k All About AI Determine Your Future?
The people making your AI decisions have never built anything with AI. That should terrify you.
Your SaaS Renewal Is Coming Up. Before You Sign, Try Building It Yourself.
The worst case? Your team learns new skills and you write better requirements. The best case? You never sign that contract again.
Your SaaS Strategy Is a Slow-Motion Surrender
If you're outsourcing capability to save risk, you're buying a ticket to irrelevance. A provocation for leaders who think 'buy, don't build' is the safe choice.
The New Risk Equation
The 'safe' choice isn't safe anymore. Staying dependent is now the biggest risk you can take.
I Built My Own Competitive Advantage in a Weekend. Then I Turned It Into a Business.
How frustration with generic software led to Guest Loop, and what it taught me about what SaaS should actually be.
Why Would Anyone Pay $50K for a Lecture When Claude Is Free?
The question every university should be terrified to answer. A reckoning is coming for higher education.
Your Software Isn't a Competitive Advantage. It's a Stalemate.
When everyone uses the same tools, nobody wins. That's by design. A provocation about SaaS economics and real differentiation.
Vibe Coding Will Get Someone Killed
49 researchers just published a warning. The industry isn't listening. A critical look at AI-generated code and professional responsibility.
AI Made Coding Easy. That's Not the Hard Part Anymore.
The skills that made you valuable last year might be the wrong skills entirely. Understanding the shift from implementation to thinking.
The Dangerous Myth of the AI Sous-Chef
The metaphor is comforting. The reality is terrifying. Why the popular AI sous-chef analogy masks abdication of responsibility.
Stop Hiring Coders. Start Hiring Thinkers.
Your job descriptions are optimised for a world that no longer exists. The skills inversion and what to hire for now.
The CrowdStrike Lesson: What Happens When System 1 Runs Wild
July 19, 2024. A single update. 8.5 million machines. $5.4 billion in damages. And a preview of what's coming with AI.
Why I'm Building Ink Wise: The Problem No One Wants to Admit
Contracts are where risk lives, and no one actually reads them. Here's why that's a bigger problem than you think.
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