I write these notes to reflect, remember (because I don't), compare scars with fellow digital pros, and for public accountability. Read more here.
Hello you.
Time for another update from the inner sanctum of the 4th greatest cinema in the world and (whether you want it or not) my late-forties life.
This bumper edition covers 17 Feb to 15 March. Sorry Gregorian calendar fans, I’m just doing these when I can.
Work work work
Four good things, two bad things, and a moan.
Good thing
I finally wrote a paper that’s at once a mist-clearing strategic diagnostic of the BFI’s digital, data and tech challenges, and a proposal to tackle them with requisite rigour and energy through a new top-level executive committee. Long overdue, but arguably all the better for distilling more accumulated knowledge.
Bad thing
I wrote it at the weekend, the only way to get it done. Having also spent the prior weekend on a thing I shouldn’t need to babysit, but am having to.
Good thing
The reconfigured Exec team continues to be loads better than the one before. We’re having brave discussions about difficult things without conflict-avoidance or defensiveness as we face down the next wave of economic downturn and budget challenge.
Good thing
The work my teams are doing is stunning. I see it through their sprint notes and show and tells and I’m frequently in awe of the clever, thoughtful work happening in our small, embattled department.
Like: a complex system rebuild to transform how we syndicate video to multiple owned and 3rd party streaming destinations. Like: figuring out untold complexities to make our cinema programme intuitive and booking feel seamless across platforms while we’re also in the middle of re-procuring the backend. Plus smart thinking galore in IT and cyber.
Output-wise, we’re about to launch a new shop, new archive video service and new cinemas service. On BFI Player, we’re planning clever little experiments to iterate on the web redesign while also improving our TV apps as we move from Easel to Accedo One.
Bad thing
One product release got scuppered by issues beyond our control. We’re rallying for a new release date but it was a v v frustrating moment for hard-working cross-org teams.🤬
Good thing
A general sense of mist-clearing progress on many fronts. Progress on a logic model for digital goals in the strategy. Progress on buy-in on for bold change. Progress thinking through next steps on AI, with valuable support from Ash. Progress exploring, then decisively shelving, an upskilling partnership with Multiverse.
The moan
I do feel gaslit a lot of the time by the gulf between the change I’m supposed to deliver versus resource limitations and the lack of commitment to a meaningful digital paradigm shift. I’ve written Jerry Maguire-style mission statements for 4 years to little avail because, at the end of the day, the money and leadership headspace simply isn’t there. Working within the constraints of this sector sometimes feels like I’m stagnating, too, just bringing stuff up to basic levels with no room to experiment and innovate.
BUT… I’m determined, and feeling more emboldened than ever by the undeniable imperative for change. The BFI is cool AF, I’m incredibly lucky to have this job and there’s lots to enjoy. Making things decent here is satisfying, important work. Plus AI might mean we can do more with what we have, there are ways to get funding we haven’t exhausted yet, and the case for support is strong.
Breast endeavours
I don’t do a lot of work for charity, but I do like to talk about it.
I got asked (by Claire) to join an innovation lab for Breast Cancer Now. It was a great example of how to seek external advice well – food for thought for me on making better use of BFI’s digital advisors.
BCN shared an emerging digital service strategy, and unsurprisingly AI is a big part of it. My input was that investment in an owned channel chatbot might fall foul of people forming habits around their chatbots of choice as stuff rapidly evolves, seeking support from multiple providers (on multiple parts of their life) at once, not going to providers one by one. So the focus should be on content strategy/design for owned channels, first and foremost; and on peer community spaces with experts on hand as the unique value-add. Precisely the sort of advice I don’t take myself (I flipping love making owned web products, me).
Not all work work work
Half term happened. It involved furniture and room swaps.
I took son 1 to Warwick for offer holder day. It might be the place.
Unexpected leadership lessons via Netflix:
- Tyra being a dick to Jay Manuel on the ANTM expose. Don’t be like Tyra.
- The touchy-feely principal of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber saying “don’t mistake my kindness for weakness” on F1 Drive to Survive. Do be like Jonathan Wheatley.
I’ve happened upon a fruit tea that tastes like Taboo. Remember Taboo? It was my bottle of choice to take to parties in my early teens. Mad times. Mad Dog 20/20 times. I think we had more fun than today’s teens. But also vomited more often.
With today’s young adults it’s all air fryers and ket. Based on this evidence of a shared kitchen in Warwick uni halls of residence:
It’s been a phenomenal month for eggs and coffee in delightful cafes. Electric Cafe, Kaffeine, Caffe Tropea, Roasted Bean, Delaunay Counter.
A plug for a friend: buy tickets for Interesting 2026, which is this.
The robot tatt is complete. Here it is.
Linky time
Lots of clever people saying clever things about AI
- Harry Metcalfe in The Spectator at the Desk:“For developers and product teams, the good news is that the primary challenge of software development has never been “building the thing”: it’s deciding what thing to build in the first place. This is a problem we will have forever, and there’s an enormous amount of value to add, and meaning to be found, in tackling it.”
- Robin Sloan (via Hugh) in Flood Fill vs the Magic Circle: “[AI agents] will trade profound superpowers in digital space for crushing handicaps on our turf. Action will become clumsy and costly, with slow feedback loops, easily stymied. The paper will jam, over and over again.”
- Jason Kitkat in Some Thoughts on AI: “I worry we’re just too easily impressed by the apparent fluency with which LLMs are conversing with us. We, certainly in the UK, tend to have strong biases towards good talkers.”
- Ben Welby in The Future of (Public Sector) Product Management in a Vibe Coded World:“In a vibe-coded world, building gets cheaper. Confidence doesn’t. We can make things real faster than before, but the cost of being wrong hasn’t fallen.”
- Martha Lane-Fox in The Price of Initiative Just Collapsed: “When the cost of trying falls, the number of attempts rises. More prototypes, more internal tools, more strange little experiments that used to die in the “too hard / too expensive / not worth it” stage. The optimistic version of the future is a broadening of agency: more people able to act on their ideas, not just talk about them.”
- Casey Newton and Kevin Roose on the Hard Fork podcast:“Either AI is a bubble… or everything else is a bubble”.
- Prof James Archbold, a lecturer in AI at Warwick offer holder day, talked about Searle’s Chinese Room which I hadn’t heard of before. Basically: a machine convincingly conversing in Mandarin doesn’t only not understand Mandarin, it can’t ever.
- Jeff Gothelf in How Much AI Can Replace You: “Automation is no longer the bottleneck, judgment is” and “Work isn’t just economic. It’s identity. It’s a community. It’s purpose in people’s lives.”
- Simon Willison in Writing Code is Cheap Now:“Delivering new code has dropped in price to almost free… but delivering good code remains significantly more expensive than that.”
- My friend Trisha who I caught up with last week: “None of your engineers should still be hand coding by the end of this year” and “Rethink where to focus your user centred design capability in a world where you no longer have to mitigate the high costs of building things”.
Meanwhile Tom Loosemore is worth following as he experiments with code bots on his blog and LinkedIn.
Other links I have liked
- Lenny’s newsletter via Trisha
- What Seven Years at Airbnb Taught Me About Building a Business (old, new to me)
- How to be a better collaborator by Will
- Digital products and services are getting worse – but the trend can be reversed
- How to create an intranet by Lizzie at the V&A
- How to Know the Difference Between Plans and Wishes for the Future
- Strategic Portfolio Management Meets Product-Centricity
- The Three Juggling Acts (Strategic, Lazy, and Survival)
- X: Why are you still here? By Hugh
Cultural highlights
🎬 Project Hail Mary ⭐⭐⭐⭐ a fun time, does the book proud
🎬 Ex Machina ⭐⭐⭐⭐ rewatched to show the kids
🎬 Hereditary ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ditto
🎬 From Beyond ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ditto
🎬 Little Trouble Girls ⭐⭐⭐ (on BFI Player)
🎬 Odyssey ⭐⭐⭐ (on BFI Player)
🎬 The Bride! 💩WTF
📺 Him & Her S3 and S4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📺 F1 Drive to Survive S8 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📺 Rhythm + Flow ⭐⭐⭐
🎧 K2 by Squarepusher ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ real drums, real bass, real good
🎧 Plague Music by KAVARI ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎧 Trilogie de la Mort by Eliane Radigue ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (wow)
🎧 dataplex by Ryoji Ikeda ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎧 Play Me by Kim Gordon ⭐⭐⭐⭐ stream of Kimsciousness
🕹️ Dave the Diver on Switch 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A page turner despite thin plot
📖 Anniebot by Carragh M O’Brien (currently reading)
Distractions
- Succulent Chinese meal internet phenomenon I am late to
- Terminator II with farts see also The Matrix one
- “It’s abundantly clear that these guys are on the frontlines of whatever this is”
- Nothing phones and earphones drool
- Cascadle daily puzzle
Phew, that was a long one. Laters!
