Solving the Moving Sofa Problem

Clara and I were walking down the street last week—as one tends to do when requiring bi-pedalled locomotion to a specific location without encountering a powered vehicle of some sort—when we noticed a large truck depositing a small shower of rocks and other debris on the side of the road after what could best be described as an ill-advised,...

I apologise in advance both for the topic, and my disjointed thoughts here. But it’s something that’s been knawing at me for years, and especially again in light of recent events. My impression from reading a lot on history, and witnessing it first hand, is that push factors play into motivations and identity as much as pull factors. Take...

Long-term readers know I love ALDI. With a few rare misses, the German discount supermarket chain has stuff as good as the others, at better prices, and in a well-designed environment that doesn’t trigger anxiety like the blaring lights and music of Colesworth. I wrote more about the enduring appeal of Aldi back in June last year. But I hadn’t...

Yesterday I wrote how people generally don’t care how something works, they only want a solution to their IT problems. Jason of NotJustBikes was joined by Reece from RM Transit to discuss a similar idea. Edited for brevity: Jason: In the Netherlands, the planning seems to be a lot more high level and strategic. “This is the overarching goal that...

I judge the process of cancelling a service against how easy it was to register with the company in the first place. It’s amazing how many companies fail when judged against this! Okay, it’s not amazing at all, it’s entirely routine. Which is frustrating. If you can register online, you must be able to cancel online. If you can register without a...