Howard's Riffs
Chicken or Egg?
A touch of Grafitti wisdom
📝 Writing
This is where most of the writing lives. 650+ posts since 2016 - some about learning and creative work, some about whatever I couldn't let go of that week. A restaurant that changed fine dining, a Nintendo executive who saved the company, a Gmail interface for leaked documents...
Mindsets & Growth
The Mistake Picnic
Patrick Collison spent three hours going through every mistake in Michael Ovitz's memoir. There's something unfashionable about that. And something worth noticing.
A.I.
Taste the Soup
In 'Ratatouille', anyone can cook - but a great chef has to taste the soup. This applies to AI too. The skill now is judgment, not production.
A.I.
Three Big A.I. Bets - keynote
A 25-minute talk on the three bets every services business is already making - whether they've named them or not. Talent, model, positioning. Recorded in Paris.
Groove Theory
Groove Theory #21 - The Fourteen Hour Queue
What a '90s London music scene reveals about the audiences that actually matter
Creative Business
Boredom created Bond
Ian Fleming wrote his Bond novels at a villa with no hot water and no glass in the windows. I think I've found my equivalent.
Howard's Riffs
I'd love to work with you
Someone offered to help without showing they'd read what I sent. One detail would have been enough. Which makes it stranger when it's missing.
Howard's Riffs
The Sphere Wasn't Built for Rock Bands
A side project from an Italian techno duo is now selling out 18,000-seat venues with robotic cellos and an AI character rendered across a 16K dome.
Groove Theory
Groove Theory #20 - The Little Green Arrow
Guide or operator? Citymapper tried both. What happened matters for anyone in the advice business.
A.I.
Claude reaches for the Skills
A small shift - seemingly
A.I.
So... what happens next?
Don't ask the AI boosters. Or the doomers. Can someone else help me understand?
Learning Innovation
Don't Interrupt the Game
Two cultures. Same century. Same invention. Both driven by gamblers who refused to stop playing.
Future Of Work
Futsal
Brazil's reputation for producing incredible footballers isn't just climate or culture. It's a smaller pitch and a ball that doesn't bounce.
Groove Theory
Groove Theory #19 - Three Sets of Spiders and a Purple Foam Hand
What London 2012's experience designer knew about the moments you can't script.
Howard's Riffs
The Meta Post
What Claude Code saw after reviewing dozens of my blog posts. TL;DR: A lot.
Future Of Work
The Return of Oral Culture
Speech is becoming the skill that matters. What do we need to get better at?
A.I.
My A.I stack - February, 2026
Tools come and go. Here's where I've landed on the AI stack - for now.
Mindsets & Growth
It’s not their fault
Most feedback feels useless. But that's not on them - it's on us to extract what they really mean.