Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Yank on the bandit one more time baby! It’s a trope of the Silicon Valley approach to try to engineer away the need for human relationships. Almost like they don’t really like humans or something. 050
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 23/01/2026It isn't possible to be scolded, or even distracted, into happiness. The more fully you accept and love your child no matter what their experience is and how they feel about it, the more capacity for happiness they will have. This goes for you as well as for your children. 010
Reposted by Tom KerwinHazel Weakly @hazelweakly.me · 06/01/2026A few years ago, I read an article from @johncutle.fish and @tomdkerwin.bsky.social on how leaders navigate uncertainty and ambiguity. It inspired me to write my answers down to a new section of questions every few years. This is part two! It's been fun to look back and see my thinking maturehazelweakly.meObservations of Leadership (Part Two) | Hazel WeaklyHey again! Welcome back to part two of me reflecting on the past few quarters and writing down my answers to John Cutler and Tom Kerwin’s questions on how... 1184
Reposted by Tom KerwinPavel @spavel.bsky.social · 05/01/2026Thanks to @erikahall.bsky.social @amyhoy.bsky.social @camerontw.bsky.social @dougrabow.bsky.social @tomdkerwin.bsky.social @edzitron.com @goodspeed.bsky.social @acuity.design @allenholub.bsky.social for the writing that made it into this milestone issue of the Picnic! 081
Reposted by Tom KerwinPavel @spavel.bsky.social · 05/01/2026VCs fund companies who get on the latest hype train. But when the product doesn't solve any real problems, showing "progress" is impossible! So a lot of people are going to come back to the office this week and set goals based on what activity is easiest to measure, rather than what is important.productpicnic.beehiiv.comYour metrics are an avoidance strategyBeing able to quantify outcomes doesn't make them meaningful. Moving past artificial metrics requires building shared intention with colleagues. 2509
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 09/11/2025Also I enjoy the game of trying to guess who’s piece you’re going to link to before I click the link. Today, I guessed @hiredthought.bsky.social right away :) 120
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 04/10/2025One company lost 30 points of NPS in a single day. Not because customers were unhappy. Not because the product changed. Not because anything in the real world was different. So what actually happened? And why did they cover it up? reach.crownandreach.com/posts/lies-d...reach.crownandreach.comLies, damn lies and metrics 020
Reposted by Tom KerwinBen Sauer @bensauer.net · 25/09/2025Putting an idea out there that just occurred to me while chatting about 'The Thick of It' with @tomdkerwin.bsky.social - I think the UK needs a 'Silicon Valley' type satire. A British startup trying to be ambitious, but hampered by insecurities and class differences. 021
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 07/09/2025Loving the gang you’ve gathered together in that piece. 120
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 07/09/2025I will pay for that crime against our topographic forebears Thank you for sharing despite the eyeball assault 010
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 11/08/2025Sucks being in the timeline where Randall and Waternoose got away with it 000
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 07/05/2025I feel the horror vibrating from that quoted post! 000
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 18/04/2025Personalization feels like it should easy ‘cos humans are good at messy context. So why is AI p13n so crap? AI struggles because human tastes aren’t neat. We cluster weirdly, and small differences matter a lot at the edges. Popular stuff is easy to recommend. Matching your weird is impossible. 000
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 01/03/2025Realised that just mirrors the way you looked at differentiation from company and consumer viewpoints. Overall, your point makes sense and seems robust compared with the common wishful thinking about differentiation 010
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 01/03/2025Love the time series graphs and clarification One question I was left with: distinctiveness. Surely I could create a 100% distinctive product almost instantly. What grows over time - isn’t that more recognition in the consumer base? I might be misunderstanding a technical term. 210
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 20/02/2025Queued! The Hawk Tuah arc feels quintessentially 2024 120
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 17/02/2025I loved it. A decadent treat for the eardrums. Can we dare to hope for some more soon?? 000
Reposted by Tom KerwinStefan Czerniawski @pubstr.at · 27/01/2025I wrote this on this day ten years ago. It has become a necessary ritual to share it again each year and to remember for those who no longer can.privatetactician.comOn not going to AuschwitzIt is thirty years since I didn’t go to Auschwitz. The memory of not going has never left me. In 1985, I was living in Kraków, just 40 miles on the slow stopping train from Oświęcim. I could … 27827
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 23/01/2025glad I have finally collected all circumstances in a big box. There were loads of the buggers 010
Reposted by Tom KerwinRobbie Hudson @roberthudson.bsky.social · 09/01/2025Tall Tales, Tue 28th Jan: All star cast featuring @garethmedwards.bsky.social @johnfinnemore.bsky.social @alxfrnkln.bsky.social @rosalieminnitt.bsky.social Susannah Pearse, North London Tavern, 8pm, £5 Lovely to see you there, email us: www.listenandoften.com/talltaleslistenandoften.comTall Tales and the Broadcast System — Listen & OftenTall Tales is bi-monthly comedy night which has seen the first drafts of various Radio 4 shows ( Warhorses of Letters , Before They Were Famous , Some Hay in a Manger ), stories which went onto... 154
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 11/12/2024Complexity is not your enemy, bud Needless complicatedness is. And there’s no complicatedness quite as sad and ruinous as that which attempts to wring the soul out of messy, generative, ambiguous, human complexity. 060
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024Love that, and the rowing analogy Similar in partner dance - good technique is powerful with way less effort, but most people get stuck on powerful-with-effort. Also yeah: Hustle bros 010
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024Fair - the understandable tendency to do more of what’s already selling is frequently proven wrong by weird left field ideas 000
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024… but this is also a factor of the kinds of books and talks that lots of people want to buy 100
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024… it’s also a rolling series of small shocks as you realise how many of the books are extensively made up, or are a “what I think we should’ve done” reaction to past frustrations. See also conference talks. 100
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024This explains much Perhaps we need fewer Grand Unified Theories and more Tiny Wonky Praxis 100
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024… that emerged from shipping lots at various companies. I suspect the sheer number of stakeholders and dependencies at big tech companies make all this stuff 100X harder than at small companies, which are 100X harder than solo shipping 110
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/12/2024Great article Particularly liked “You should constantly ask yourself “can I ship right this second?” If not, what would have to change for me to be able to ship something?” I’ve been thinking about that a lot as I was building out a course to share Multiverse Mapping. It rhymes with the principles 110
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 05/12/2024Builder: what do you think of this product idea? AI: I think it’s a very interesting idea, delving into data visualisation Builder: great and world you buy it? AI: It’s hard to say, but I might not Builder: No, I think you would buy it AI: yes, you’re right, I would buy it. Builder: thanks! 010
Reposted by Tom KerwinTom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/05/2023Still the best cover ever And probably the best thing on the internet The cuts “introducing the band” at the end 👨🍳😘 youtu.be/pmfHHLfbjNQ 001
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 29/11/2024Wanna see the exact moment when Duke Ellington stopped giving a toss about tune naming? 000
Reposted by Tom KerwinJustin Garrison @justingarrison.com · 15/11/2023This is the most accurate image AI has ever generated 5624841097
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 21/06/2023Always more social always more media! Welcome! Excited for your new book x 010
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 17/05/2023I feel this! It’s like there are entrenched battle lines fighting over nuances of meaning of existing names, but we could just have more names. Ursula le Guin knew about the power of names 010
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 16/05/2023Art deco style Lindy Hop painting for a dance studio. 000
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/05/2023These lil guys are awesome - in the sense that they are TERRIFYING 010
Tom Kerwin @tomdkerwin.bsky.social · 06/05/2023Today I have a genuine reason to use my woodworking router Yay? 100