iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

One thing I've learned over the last two years is to be brutally intellectually honest with myself. Am I actually enjoying this, or am I just pretending to? What an honour to have been able to go on that journey with Tom as my friend and occasional coach. I can't wait to see where we are next year.

000

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

...straight after the Mostly Working Summit, a free whole morning event at Monzo in London. Think great firesides and round table discussion with up to 100 other designers. Check out mostlyworking(dot)co for more.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

We're also wrapping up consulting and paid workshops, with our last one on the afternoon of the 22nd October...

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

So we're turning Near Future into just our weekly podcast, and merging it with Tom and Simon's brilliant (and cutely named) monthly event series 'Mostly Working'. The name is also going. No more 'Near Future', just Mostly Working across the board.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

Finally, Tom and I realised that the most fun we could possibly have was to just keep hanging out, sharing ideas and building something together. It just didn't need to be our whole thing.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

We (my family) also moved back to London. It's funny what becomes clear only with a new perspective, but almost immediately I had an itch to go and work in a team - not lead one - for the first time in years.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

Over the course of the last few months, a lot has changed. First of all, however hard we tried, the conversations we were having felt like we were selling training. There was a clear market, but it wasn't really what either of us wanted to do.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

Six months ago Tom and I decided to have a go at making Near Future (or Hack Weeks, as it was then known) into 'our main thing'. A new name, a new mission around enabling craft-focused teams to do amazing work. A new CRM (well, we built our own, obviously).

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 29/09/2026

Breaking: news from Near Future towers this week. We're evolving again.

101

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/07/2026

If you don't have that capability today, you need to look around for the people who might be most excited to build it, and empower them to do so. A fun and low risk way to get started is with Tom and I on the 13th August. Early bird ends on Friday! nearfuture.works/build

nearfuture.works

Build Your Own Design Tools — Near Future

A hands-on half-day workshop where you’ll build a real design tool from scratch.

010

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/07/2026

They might be visual tools, but may also be tools to build and distribute skills and best practices, unlock consistency for both humans and agents and better collaborate with other teams.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/07/2026

We're seeing new tools spring up everywhere - sure, from newly minted and funded startups but also from operators within teams solving their own problems.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/07/2026

Just a few days left of early bird for our 'Build Your Own tools' AI workshop. As Tom and I speak to more design leaders at AI-forward companies, the pattern is clear. You need an internal tool-making capability.

110

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 08/05/2026

This is a function of generation being free, but curation and judgement actually getting far more expensive. Putting AI in the middle of your process, whether that's writing, design, building etc. is great. But AI being the last thing that touches what you're working on? Might be too much.

010

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 08/05/2026

It's pretty easy to spot AI slop actually. It usually looks like 'too much'. Too much animation Too many words Too much code Too many pages Too much enthusiasm

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

SO. If you or someone you know is looking to level up a team on AI, just let us know. We’re really excited to help. Email me at jonny (at) nearfuture.works and let's get started.

nearfuture.works

Near Future

000

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

• Focused build projects in partnership with internal teams • Working with leaders directly on their personal AI confidence • And yes, still those team workshops and hack days to get everyone up-skilling and feeling more confident.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

Some example of what we’ve done over the last year: • Embedded partnerships as fractional Heads of AI • Hired Heads of AI and AI-focused employees for clients • AI maturity sprints to help leaders know where to focus people and resources

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

We’re now looking for folks that need support with both practical and strategic aspects of their organisations into the AI era, whether for single session or a longer term relationship.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

And with the new name comes a deepening of our belief: that this extraordinary technology will continue to shape how we all work together, but the process of discovering and navigating that symbiosis still requires humans at its core.

110

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

It became pretty clear in late 2025 that Hack Weeks didn't feel like the right name. So we've now updated our name to one that ties us less to hacking…in err, a week. However it took an embarrassingly long time to decide on a new one. But we got there. We're now 'Near Future'.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

So we evolved. With a new focus on design and product-led organisations, we’ve now worked with founders and teams at fast growing scale-ups and household names on their AI adoption programs — from building directly with employees to working with leadership on their goals.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 20/04/2026

Finally: Hack Weeks is evolving. This time last year Tom and I started running 4 day hack weeks for anyone that wanted to learn more about and build with AI. People learned. But so did we. We saw how not just individuals but whole teams needed support with this change.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 31/03/2026

12:30: Lunch and demos/learn: ask questions of the group, practice a pitch, discuss shared challenges over lunch (we'll work out lunch options on the day) 1:30-5pm: more co-working. We may organise some break outs on specific topics if there's appetite (if anyone wants to run one, just shout!)

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 31/03/2026

10am: Coffee and Pastries (thanks Department!) with the wider Campfield community 11am: Co-working. Bring your laptop and your company, and let's sit side by side.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 31/03/2026

For northern tech founders, recovering founders and future founders building the foundations of the businesses right now, this is an opportunity to sit shoulder to shoulder, share our agentic workflows, GTM hacks and fundraising struggles and generally keep each other company as we work for the day.

210

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 31/03/2026

Found Up North is back! This time we're on a F.U.N day out on 27th April, working together for a whole day at Department Campfield, in the heart of Manchester.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 12/02/2026

We're seeing it already with tools like Pencil and Agentation. And it's just the start. The era of one monolithic design tool is ending. What comes next looks more like the developer ecosystem: hundreds of choices, open standards, composable tooling.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 12/02/2026

Redlining tools, visual canvases, component inspectors — not as features in someone else's SaaS, but as modular packages layered on top of your actual production code.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 12/02/2026

So what replaces Figma? Not another platform. Dependencies. Design tools are starting to look like NPM packages you install into your codebase.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 12/02/2026

AI coding tools are letting designers work directly in code. The bottleneck in product teams is shifting upstream. And maintaining two sources of truth - one in Figma, one in the codebase - is becoming indefensible overhead.

121

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 12/02/2026

Figma has ~90% market share today. And it's dying. Not because of a single 'Figma killer' (I don't believe one will exist), but because the category itself is dissolving.

120

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

So here’s my ask: if this sounds interesting, please do validate my decision to launch so quickly by placing a Christmas coffee order! (You can also buy gift cards). Get it in by tomorrow night and I’ll guarantee pre Christmas delivery. Order at buzzcutcoffee.com

buzzcutcoffee.com

Buzz Cut Coffee

Low Caffeine coffee for all the taste and half the shake

010

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

The real work starts next year as I find out what the market’s like for this. But in the mean time I’d love to sling some beans this week.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

Well. 40kg of roasted beans arrived today, and I think what we’ve put together is pretty special. Smooth, chocolatey medium roast that goes like anything in our home espresso machine, tastes like the real deal but isn’t punishing me despite an extensive tasting this morning.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

Today: Coffee, packaging and other printed stuff arrived. Tasted (a lot), took (bad) pictures, asked Nano Banana for better ones. Website live.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

Monday: Confirmed coffee order, signed up for Shopify, settled on name and brand (not perfect but time wasn’t on my side) Tuesday: picked a theme for the website. Designed packaging and sent to print. Wednesday: Tested website, set up subscriptions

110

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

The only problem was I had no name, no website, no brand, no packaging. No clue. Cue a monster sprint to pull together a coffee subscription business in 6 days to beat Christmas delivery. Here’s how it went. Weekend: started working on brand, look and feel. Worked with supplier on coffee.

120

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

Until last week, when I emailed probably my 10th coffee roaster, asking whether they would help. They said yes! And what’s more, with a quick enough turnaround time to be able to make Christmas delivery.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

But the mixing bowl technique wasn't going to work long term, and as I mentioned this to others I'd hear their stories of similar hacks. So began a journey of developing my own blend. A couple of months of very stop start - and ultimately no - progress.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

It worked! And for a while (until I fessed up) my wife didn't even notice I'd swapped the beans in the coffee machine.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

But after the third cup things start getting weird, and if I have a coffee past about 2pm it affects my sleep. So I got to thinking, what if I could get a premium coffee hit without the full whack of caffeine? So a few months ago I started mixing half caff and half decaf. In a big bowl.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 18/12/2025

I just launched a half caff coffee brand in under a week. Why? I like to have 4-5 cups of coffee a day. I like the ritual, and I don't like having to switch to tea.

130

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 10/11/2025

Kae Tempest was absolutely spellbinding tonight. 90 minutes, non stop. Couldn't look away. And he didn't even play my favourite track!

020

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 22/10/2025

But let's be honest, when Atlas is at feature parity with the hot young things of the browser world, (which seeing how fast they ship, will probably be next week), can anything stop it? Anyway, I wrote more about it here jonnyburch.com/browser-wars/

jonnyburch.com

Browser wars

Notes on chatGPT Atlas one day in

000

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 22/10/2025

First thoughts on Atlas, the chatGPT browser. This really blurs the lines between web browsing and chatting, with shared conversation history across both. Makes me feel a bit funny — right now I'd rather a separation of church and state.

100

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 02/09/2025

Northern founders, unite! (again) After a couple of months off while we navigated school summer holidays, wedmin, house moves and various other life events, Found Up North is back with another meetup for northern founders on 7th Oct. Grab a ticket at foundupnorth.com, see you there!

011

Jonny Burch @jonnyburch.com · 10/07/2025

Here's to liminal spaces. If you're in one, let me know. I'd be fascinated to hear more. And if you want clarity over the technology, come join our hack week next week (at hackweeks.com)

hackweeks.com

Hack Weeks - Hands-on AI sprints for non-engineers

Hands-on AI sprints for non-engineers, designed to gain practical AI knowledge.

000