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By monkeys

Compare if you please: Sentences that have been written in a passive voice are generally less powerful than sentences that have been written in an active voice. Active writing hits harder than passive writing. It's easy for passive writing to slip in. Here's a handy technique to help you spot passive writing in your sentences. Try adding "...by monkeys" to the end of the sentence. If it still makes sense, then there's a good chance it's passive. In the example in the sketch: "The bug will be fixed" you can tack on "...by monkeys" and all makes sense. It's passive. Passive writing is an easy way to distance ourselves and our opinions from what we're writing. Active writing takes ownership and responsibility and connects with the reader. "We'll fix the bug. Sorry about that." I love the "...by monkeys" example for spotting passive writing as it vividly shows how responsibility disappears. This super example and technique is from Monzo's excellent tone of voice guidelines. Handy for writing copy on the web, for your brand, and for everyday life. You might like the excellent Hemingway app to spot other non-Hemingway slips in your writing. I ran this post through it and cut out a lot of fluff. I also love the classic The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. More writing sketchplanations…Compare if you please: Sentences that have been written in a passive voice are generally less powerful than sentences that have been written in an active voice. Active writing hits harder than passive writing. It's easy for passive writing to slip in. Here's a handy technique to help you spot passive writing in your sentences. Try adding "...by monkeys" to the end of the sentence. If it still makes sense, then there's a good chance it's passive. In the example in the sketch: "The bug will be fixed" you can tack on "...by monkeys" and all makes sense. It's passive. Passive writing is an easy way to distance ourselves and our opinions from what we're writing. Active writing takes ownership and responsibility and connects with the reader. "We'll fix the bug. Sorry about that." I love the "...by monkeys" example for spotting passive writing as it vividly shows how responsibility disappears. This super example and technique is from Monzo's excellent tone of voice guidelines. Handy for writing copy on the web, for your brand, and for everyday life. You might like the excellent Hemingway app to spot other non-Hemingway slips in your writing. I ran this post through it and cut out a lot of fluff. I also love the classic The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. More writing sketchplanations

17 Jun 2021

T-shirts make a team

"Whatever your current T-shirt budget is, double it," said Tom Kelley in his book The Art of Innovation. He was talking about what makes 'hot teams' through his experience leading the global design company IDEO. I'm still amazed by the power of wearing the same thing to instantly unite a group. From the dressing up of bachelor and bachelorette parties, to putting on a shirt for a sports team, a demonstration, a company event, or just a night out, wearing the same thing feels good and brings people together like little else can. Order a print…"Whatever your current T-shirt budget is, double it," said Tom Kelley in his book The Art of Innovation. He was talking about what makes 'hot teams' through his experience leading the global design company IDEO. I'm still amazed by the power of wearing the same thing to instantly unite a group. From the dressing up of bachelor and bachelorette parties, to putting on a shirt for a sports team, a demonstration, a company event, or just a night out, wearing the same thing feels good and brings people together like little else can. Order a print

13 Jun 2021

Passing on an inside bend

We all know that racing drivers overtake on the inside — it's the shorter, faster route. It was only relatively recently that I found how useful it can be on a long drive, too, not for racing but for using the bend on a multilane road for easier, safer overtaking. Perhaps this scenario will resonate: after cruising at a steady speed for miles of a long journey you slowly catch up with a car traveling just a few miles an hour slower. You're not driving fast enough to zip by them, but the difference is enough to slow your steady progress on a long journey, and if you're driving near the speed limit anyway you probably don't want to accelerate much to overtake. On a multi-lane road like a motorway or freeway — not a single lane road where you'd be overtaking with reduced visibility on the corner in the opposing lane — timing your overtaking so you're on the inside of a bend and the slower car is on the outside allows you to get round the slower driver in a shorter time and without needing to travel nearly as fast. And the converse is also true: if you've timed your overtaking when approaching a bend where you'll be on the outside you'll find that you'll have to go a lot faster to get round or perhaps that your intended overtaking is actually not getting you past at all.…We all know that racing drivers overtake on the inside — it's the shorter, faster route. It was only relatively recently that I found how useful it can be on a long drive, too, not for racing but for using the bend on a multilane road for easier, safer overtaking. Perhaps this scenario will resonate: after cruising at a steady speed for miles of a long journey you slowly catch up with a car traveling just a few miles an hour slower. You're not driving fast enough to zip by them, but the difference is enough to slow your steady progress on a long journey, and if you're driving near the speed limit anyway you probably don't want to accelerate much to overtake. On a multi-lane road like a motorway or freeway — not a single lane road where you'd be overtaking with reduced visibility on the corner in the opposing lane — timing your overtaking so you're on the inside of a bend and the slower car is on the outside allows you to get round the slower driver in a shorter time and without needing to travel nearly as fast. And the converse is also true: if you've timed your overtaking when approaching a bend where you'll be on the outside you'll find that you'll have to go a lot faster to get round or perhaps that your intended overtaking is actually not getting you past at all.

6 Jun 2021

Umbrella and Funnel management style example explained: Todd Jackson's shit umbrella or shit funnel metaphor shown with on the left, the effective manager uses an umbrella to shield their team from a downpour of tasks and requests coming from all directions. This sheltered team are focussed and productive and celebrate their achievements. On the right, in place of the umbrella, the less effective manager uses a funnel as a catch-all, showering their team with actions, sending the team members running scared.

Umbrellas and funnels

A manager or leader can be an umbrella or a funnel. An umbrella shields the team from distractions, last-minute changes, and conflicting priorities, creating a protective space where they can focus and thrive. This umbrella management style ensures the team has the clarity and autonomy needed to do their work. A funnel, however, allows every request, deadline, and distraction to pour straight through, leaving the team overwhelmed and struggling to keep up. As organisations grow, the demands on a team often increase dramatically—especially in areas like product management at tech companies. Left unchecked, these demands can drain a team’s time, energy, and ability to focus on what really matters. Todd Jackson, former product manager of Gmail, captured this perfectly with the umbrella and funnel analogy: great managers act as umbrellas, shielding their teams and enabling progress. Poor managers, by contrast, become funnels that overload their teams. All of us want autonomy to choose our own actions, but none of us want to be overwhelmed. Be the umbrella. Related ideas: Push authority to information Manager time, maker time (or Manager's Schedule, Maker's Schedule)…A manager or leader can be an umbrella or a funnel. An umbrella shields the team from distractions, last-minute changes, and conflicting priorities, creating a protective space where they can focus and thrive. This umbrella management style ensures the team has the clarity and autonomy needed to do their work. A funnel, however, allows every request, deadline, and distraction to pour straight through, leaving the team overwhelmed and struggling to keep up. As organisations grow, the demands on a team often increase dramatically—especially in areas like product management at tech companies. Left unchecked, these demands can drain a team’s time, energy, and ability to focus on what really matters. Todd Jackson, former product manager of Gmail, captured this perfectly with the umbrella and funnel analogy: great managers act as umbrellas, shielding their teams and enabling progress. Poor managers, by contrast, become funnels that overload their teams. All of us want autonomy to choose our own actions, but none of us want to be overwhelmed. Be the umbrella. Related ideas: Push authority to information Manager time, maker time (or Manager's Schedule, Maker's Schedule)

30 May 2021

The curb-cut effect

The curb-cut effect illustrates how when we design to benefit disadvantaged or vulnerable groups we end up helping society as a whole. Angela Glover Blackwell explains how campaigning by students with disabilities in Berkeley in the early 1970s led to adding curb cuts to the Berkeley sidewalks to make access easier for those in wheelchairs. Yet it wasn't just people in wheelchairs that it helped. Curb cuts also made life easier for people pushing children in strollers, people using trolleys for deliveries, people pulling a suitcase, those wheeling bikes or on skateboards, and it also helps save lives by guiding people to cross at safe locations. Another example is adding closed captioning to TV that helps anyone watch in a noisy bar, a waiting room, or watching an airline safety video. Or a classic example of universal design in the OXO Good Grips range originally made to be comfortable for holding a peeler even if you have arthritis. It's also a useful analogy for "how laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all," (PolicyLink) whether that be increasing broadband access, improving public transport or taking cuts out of curbs. Here's a short, fun video of Gary Karp explaining the curb-cut effect. Thanks to my patron Quintin Balsdon for sharing it with me.…The curb-cut effect illustrates how when we design to benefit disadvantaged or vulnerable groups we end up helping society as a whole. Angela Glover Blackwell explains how campaigning by students with disabilities in Berkeley in the early 1970s led to adding curb cuts to the Berkeley sidewalks to make access easier for those in wheelchairs. Yet it wasn't just people in wheelchairs that it helped. Curb cuts also made life easier for people pushing children in strollers, people using trolleys for deliveries, people pulling a suitcase, those wheeling bikes or on skateboards, and it also helps save lives by guiding people to cross at safe locations. Another example is adding closed captioning to TV that helps anyone watch in a noisy bar, a waiting room, or watching an airline safety video. Or a classic example of universal design in the OXO Good Grips range originally made to be comfortable for holding a peeler even if you have arthritis. It's also a useful analogy for "how laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all," (PolicyLink) whether that be increasing broadband access, improving public transport or taking cuts out of curbs. Here's a short, fun video of Gary Karp explaining the curb-cut effect. Thanks to my patron Quintin Balsdon for sharing it with me.

23 May 2021

When drinking tea, just drink tea

When drinking tea, just drink tea. While I sometimes find myself drinking coffee and reading a book with a little background music, the basic idea of this Zen proverb seems sound. Stay in the moment. Don't try to do things at the same time. Focus on what you're doing. Leave the phone in the other room. Avoid continuous partial attention. This proverb has stuck with me since I first came across it in a NYT article from Michael Pollan in 2009, no longer available online. He later published a summary of much of his food wisdom in his simple, approachable book: Food Rules. Several of them I realised I'd covered in some form here as sketches: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants Shop healthy Buy smaller plates If it's not good enough for bugs, it's not good enough for you Sketch in the ligne claire art style of Tintin.…When drinking tea, just drink tea. While I sometimes find myself drinking coffee and reading a book with a little background music, the basic idea of this Zen proverb seems sound. Stay in the moment. Don't try to do things at the same time. Focus on what you're doing. Leave the phone in the other room. Avoid continuous partial attention. This proverb has stuck with me since I first came across it in a NYT article from Michael Pollan in 2009, no longer available online. He later published a summary of much of his food wisdom in his simple, approachable book: Food Rules. Several of them I realised I'd covered in some form here as sketches: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants Shop healthy Buy smaller plates If it's not good enough for bugs, it's not good enough for you Sketch in the ligne claire art style of Tintin.

16 May 2021

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