Hello, I’m James.
I’m an introvert, and for a long time I found talking to people hard. Working that out is one of the more useful things I’ve done.
Short answers, mostly. The odd joke, if the moment calls for it.
I used to turn down things I probably should have said yes to. Then I decided not to spend my life avoiding opportunities, and started treating it like fitness: something you can practise.
At work I’m curious about how organisations really operate: where the money goes, how decisions get made, why a good plan stalls. The brief is often vague. I’m fine with that, because most useful work starts there.
Technology is the other thread. I’m not a developer and I don’t pretend to be, but I like seeing what AI and automation can really do. The best way to find out is to try things, hence DRGNFLY Studios.
The case study for DRGNFLY Studiosorvisit the studio (opens in a new tab)
What I’m curious about
- How things fit together
- Money, people, decisions and information, and what happens in the gaps between them.
- AI and automation
- Where they really remove friction, and where they only add complexity.
- Building small things
- Making something end to end is the quickest way I know to find out what’s easy and what’s hard.
- How people develop and grow
- Treating habits and character as skills you can practise.
- Working with ambiguity
- Not every problem arrives well defined. I’m comfortable starting with what’s known, working out what isn’t, and adjusting as it becomes clear.
The same questions, at two sizes.
Something I noticed: the questions I ask at work and the ones I ask when building something for DRGNFLY are nearly the same. Only the size changes.
| At work | In the studio |
|---|---|
| StrategyWhat are we actually trying to do, and what are we choosing not to do? | The problemWhat is really going wrong, and is it worth fixing? |
| InvestmentWhere does the next pound or hour deliver the most value? | The choiceConfigure, connect or create: what is the smallest thing that works? |
| PeopleDo we have the capability, in the right places, when we need it? | The userWill the person using it understand it, and be able to run it without me? |
| ExecutionHow do we know the plan is happening, and what do we do when it is not? | The buildCan a first version be in front of a real person quickly? |
| PerformanceDid it work, and how would we know? | The resultDid it save the time, or remove the friction, it promised? |