Improve Something Today

A reading and discussion of https://improvesomething.today/its-a-lousy-time-to-be-a-good-idea/

Includes discussion of a passage from The Game of Death by AD Nuttall for the LRB in 1992.

Two passages from the architect and writer on the fourth anniversary of his passing.

A reading of https://improvesomething.today/remembering-christopher-alexander/

A reading and discussion of this, from 2022: 5 ways to approach goal-setting. Only one is worth a damn

Readings of two passages on the subject of wooden chairs, as seen in the Wooden chair as exemplar of emptiness section of the Quote barn.

A reading of two short passages, one from The Art of Public Speaking, by John Rippingham (1814), and the other from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘The Comic’ (1875). By way of Wikipedia on the ‘sad clown paradox’ as shared on Mastodon by John Overholt.

A reading and discussion of this piece from 2023 on how to run a project premortem.

See also: Gary Klein’s 2007 HBR article introducing the method.

A reading of https://improvesomething.today/on-speeding-things-up/ followed by a brief discussion.

And oops—the post is from 3 years ago, not 2 as I mentioned in the episode. Time flies like, one supposes, sand through an hourglass.

Take good care. It’s time to pull as hard as you can towards love; it’s not playtime. (As the anonymous internet pal says.)

Making sense of ‘shifting baseline syndrome’ in the world & in the workplace.

A reading of https://improvesomething.today/vanishing-fish-boiling-frogs-the-dry-bed-of-the-sea/

A link to the 1995 ‘shifting baselines’ piece from Pauly.

Impromptu reading of https://improvesomething.today/notes-january-2026/ offered with some closing commentary.

Change management, readiness and adoption, otherwise pulling nerds across the chasm. Whatever you call it, it's important work that my guest and I are accidentally getting better at. A conversation with Devon Persing. Discussed: remote work, organizational and individual change, Muppets.

• Episode transcripts