The Columns

I have a very specific memory of my early years in hospitality. I was earning next to nothing—what today we’d probably call an expense allowance rather than a salary. But…

There’s something almost Calvinist about the way Silicon Valley talks about productivity. Every repetitive task must disappear. It must be automated. As if repetition itself were a software bug waiting…

I was holding court in a self-consciously “edgy” cocktail bar recently, settling in for a few hours of conversation and what should have been effortless drinking. Instead, I found myself…

I read The PMS Era Is Ending a few days ago and it raised good points, especially around how slow PMS innovation has been historically, I believe this problem alone…

In my mind I am hearing Barbara Streisand sing that classic lament. “What’s to painful to remember, We simply choose to forget”.  I’m standing in a hotel lobby—after dragging my…

Still talking about fonts. Apparently, my typographic crusade has now evolved into something resembling a holy war—less Deus Vult, more “remove formatting” just to figure out how much a double…

I was listening to a podcast the other day—Stephen Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO—hosting one of the foundational father figures of the AI movement. The conversation took a turn that…

I’m becoming increasingly convinced that we’re building the perfect ecosystem for users who don’t actually exist. A kind of digital town square where everyone talks about integrations, connectors, and apps…

Come recent news out of Shenzhen this week had me double-checking the calendar to ensure I hadn’t slipped into a Real Steel fever dream. But it’s 2026, and China has…

A couple of years ago, a client of mine (an RMS provider I’ll keep anonymous for obvious reasons) shared what looked like the perfect success story. The system goes live.…