Noah Fang

…by its very nature, a method is just a tool to make the practices of experts accessible to novices. But novices can't just mimic what the experts do. Experts make very complex cognitive leaps, based on lots of experience and a complete mastery of their trade. Novices can't, so just showing a novice how an expert works isn't very helpful. It may actually send the wrong message, suggesting shortcuts where there are none and discouraging them from developing their own expertise. (Deep Change by Kees Dorst)

The Enemies of Evidence-Based Approach The mythical evidence-based approach— We hear about it all the time from executives and managers. We read about it all the time in reports, briefs and talks. We merely don't see it actually happening very often. The enemy of evidence-based approach is making decisions based on authority instead of on evidence. Its archenemy is the total disregard for evidence. A Legitemacy Test…

The Enemies of Evidence-Based Approach

The mythical evidence-based approach— We hear about it all the time from executives and managers. We read about it all the time in reports, briefs and talks. We merely don't see it actually happening very often. The enemy of evidence-based approach is making…

The real test of your character is not how you deal with adversity— although that will teach you much. The real test is how you deal with power. The only cure for power is humility and the admission that your power comes from luck. The small person believes they are superior; the superior person knows they are lucky. (Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly)

Thoughts on Community Engagement Design Community engagement is not easy. It’s hard to get people to show up, harder to keep them stay involved. It’s hard to build authentic relationship, harder to build reciprocal one. It’s hard to facilitate two-way communication, harder to facilitate inclusive one. It’s hard to engage diversely, harder to do so representatively. It’s hard to establish well-organized engagement process, harder to establish adaptive one.

Thoughts on Community Engagement Design

Community engagement is not easy. It’s hard to get people to show up, harder to keep them stay involved. It’s hard to build authentic relationship, harder to build reciprocal one. It’s hard to facilitate two-way communication, harder to facilitate inclusive…

Manager, Leader and Organization Redux Manager is the organization’s worker. Leader is the workers’ organization. Organization is the mobilization of bias. Manager and leader are very different roles. Manager is "the organization’s worker"—they implement the organization's agenda. Leader is "the workers’ organization"—they rally and represent the workforce. Organization is "the mobilization of bias"—it is not neutral, but a structure designed to achieve a specific purpose.

Manager, Leader and Organization Redux

Manager is the organization’s worker. Leader is the workers’ organization. Organization is the mobilization of bias. Manager and leader are very different roles. Manager is "the organization’s worker"—they implement the organization's agenda. Leader is "the…

Sometimes it happens And sometimes it happens that you are friends and then You are not friends, And friendship has passed. And whole days are lost and among them A fountain empties itself. And sometimes it happens that you are loved and then You are not loved, And love is past. And whole days are lost and among them A fountain empties itself into the grass. And sometimes you want to speak to her and then You do not want to speak, Then the opportunity has passed Your dreams flare up, they suddenly vanish. And also it happens that there is nowhere to go and then There is somewhere to go, Then you have bypassed. And the years flare up and are gone, Quicker than a minute. So you have nothing. You wonder if these things matter and then As soon as you begin to wonder if these things matter They cease to matter, And caring is past. And a fountain empties itself into the grass. Ruan Dattou

And you want this in your life too, by the late Brian Patten:

S01E03: AI and The Next Gen Edition (October 15) Dive into an essential conversation about how artificial intelligence is reshaping youth development and workforce readiness. Featuring special guests Paula Alphonse and Linda Ferguson, along with …

ourfiresidechat.ca/2025/09/23/s...

Humility At Work Humility is like good posture—everyone can instantly spot when someone else is slouching, but you can walk around hunched over all day without noticing. We become connoisseurs of others' arrogance while our own ego quietly inflates in the background, like a slow leak in reverse. While simple in theory, true humility is complex in practice, especially in a professional environment. It's not about being timid or lacking confidence; it's about having an accurate and honest view of yourself and your place in the world.

Humility At Work

Humility is like good posture—everyone can instantly spot when someone else is slouching, but you can walk around hunched over all day without noticing. We become connoisseurs of others' arrogance while our own ego quietly inflates in the background, like a slow leak in reverse.…

When we use process and structure to fix cultural problems what we often get is more lying and cheating. Little lies become bigger lies. And the behavior becomes normalized. (The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek)

The days of my youth, as I look back on them, seem to fly away from me in a flurry of pale repetitive scraps like those morning snow storms of used tissue paper that a train passenger sees whirling in the wake of the observation car. (Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov)

Under the delusion of user-power, both use-situations and users themselves are designed to align with the designated distribution of power and agency set by the stakeholders in power, such as clients, institutions, or funding agencies. (The Corruption of Co-Design by Otto von Busch and Karl Palmas)

We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.... (The Tempest by William Shakespeare)

Most managers, to be sure, are good people; and it seems unlikely that a couple of years of pseudovocational training will spoil them. But it is foolish to imagine that they will behave well merely because they are told in business schools that they should regard themselves as professionals. (The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart)

Technical progress tends to be more tangible than design progress: it's very difficult to design the right solution, and fairly easy to technically execute many solutions. (101 Things I Learned® in Product Design School)

Refraining from asking for justification beyond managerial edict, tradition or fashion, is a key aspect of functional stupidity. It also results in the reproduction of problematic conditions and a shortage of what is sometimes referred to as 'voice' in the organization (Morrison, 2011). (A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Importantly, design thinking is primarily a North American phenomenon, and not the universally applicable, culturally neutral practice it is assumed to be by its prominent practitioners. (Design by D.J. Huppatz)

On Professional Integrity and the Duty to Dissent The true expert is not the one who knows everything, but the one who refuses to pretend they know nothing when everything is at stake.

On Professional Integrity and the Duty to Dissent

The true expert is not the one who knows everything, but the one who refuses to pretend they know nothing when everything is at stake.

The soft sciences are hard. The factors that shape human behavior are largely amorphous and likely infinite. This makes it very difficult to frame questions about people in scientific terms, identify reliable variables and controls for a study, and draw clear conclusions from the data. (101 Things | Learned® in Psychology School by Tim Bono)

Systemic design applies sensemaking skills such as visual storytelling and visual analysis, drawing out wisdom through dialogue, and knowledge translation through diagramming. (Design Journeys Through Complex Systems by Peter Jones and Kristel Van Ael)

In China, philosophy has been every educated person's concern. In the old days, if a man were educated at all, the first education he received was in philosophy. (A Short History of Chinese Philosophy by Yu-lan Fung and Derk Bodde)

Are You a Wraiter? wraiter /ˈrʌɪtə/n. One who depends more on AI than on their own writing skills in order to write. Writer who barely writes by themselves due to excessive use of AI.

Are You a Wraiter?

wraiter /ˈrʌɪtə/n. One who depends more on AI than on their own writing skills in order to write. Writer who barely writes by themselves due to excessive use of AI.

When leaders take steps to protect their own interests, particularly when those steps are taken at the expense of others, they send a message to everyone else that it is okay to do the same. (Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek)

The American welfare state is politically vulnerable because it does not rest on a sense of national community adequate to its purpose. The nationalizing project that unfolded from the Progressive era to the New Deal to the Great Society succeeded only in part. It managed to create a strong national government but failed to cultivate a shared national identity. (Democracy's Discontent by Michael J. Sandel)

Introducing OurFiresideChat.ca My friend Val and I had been thinking about doing something outside our work for quite some time. At work we helped clients on their change and transformation journey and we also created event series to raise awareness and build knowledge around digital skills, service design, and emerging technologies like AI. But we had always been missing what we wanted to but chose not to say at work: deeper thoughts.

Introducing OurFiresideChat.ca

My friend Val and I had been thinking about doing something outside our work for quite some time. At work we helped clients on their change and transformation journey and we also created event series to raise awareness and build knowledge around digital skills,…

like lectures, non-fiction books don’t work because they lack a functioning cognitive model. Instead, like lectures, they’re (accidentally, invisibly) built on a faulty idea about how people learn: transmissionism. When books *do* work, it’s generally for readers who deploy skillful metacognition to engage effectively with the book’s ideas. This kind of metacognition is unavailable to many readers and taxing for the rest. Books aren’t pulling their weight. Textbooks do more to help, but they still foist most of the metacognition onto the reader, and they ignore many important ideas about how people learn.

If someone is only misinformed, you just need to provide them with correct facts and they can become rightly informed. But misinformation persists precisely because knowingness shields a person from learning. ("Knowingness" and the Politics of Ignorance by Brian Klaas)

In the same way that Taylor supplies the metrics required for managers to gain power over pig-iron loaders and the like, Ansoff and his planners give top managers the metrics they need to control middle managers. Strategic planning is a species of rhetoric—a kind of "expert talk" —that justifies the power of top management over the middle. (The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart)

There are too many well-meaning people who know better, who override their sensibilities and play along with what they see the mainstream culture rewarding, hoping to realize their goals for success. They play mind games, trying to believe that there's no better way to manage people, or interact with them, without jeopardizing their own aspirations and success. In the end it's all about keeping your job, getting ahead, and ignoring the costs. (Good People, Bad Managers by Samuel A. Culbert)