Part of the answer to this is what @vaughn.bsky.social calls amorphous consulting. I have been consulting for 30 years and I find the better defined the client brief, the less I want to do the work. Working on unknowns and uncertainty is where I add most value.

Leverage not productivity How can AI be a tool to increase leverage? Answering this question is the key to unlocking new opportunities and disruption in professional services, healthcare and education.

Leverage not productivity - How can AI be a tool to increase leverage? Answering this question is the key to unlocking new opportunities and disruption in professional services, healthcare and education.
kennyfraser.substack.com/p/leverage-n...

Sometimes ideally happens - not often

Surely the latter

Grab bag (Week 15/2025) Mixing metaphors; a fine paste; describing consulting; workshop economics; experimenting well; alt-farming; wet sandwich logic.

In this wk's newsletter — I figure out how to explain consulting work that solves not-yet-named problems.

Also:
– experiments gone wrong (and how to make them go right)
– fixing gov’t strategy
– ditch-digging as org design
– protocol in Southeast Asia

uncertaintymindset.substack.com/p/gbw1525

This reminded me of your piece on amorphous consulting which I love. I don't think AI is a great tool for this kind of exploration just yet but the link from exploring ideas to AI tools that can deliver the outcomes is interesting.

I would rather have 10 paying customers than 100 free users.

But I’d rather have 1000 free users, 10 of which converted to paid.

Because: more traction and the potential to convert more.

If you do “free,” don’t forget its purpose.

GitHub security alert digest Several vulnerabilities with "critical severity" are listed

"It's easy to build apps with AI"

Here's what nobody is talking about: software accrues bugs, security warnings, and outdated dependencies.

Every app you deploy is going to require ongoing maintenance.

Who is going to do that?

Are folks going to trust AIs to do this maintenance automatically?

FWIW, my rules about running:

→ Not every day has to be a New Personal Best.
→ Don’t time it.
→ Some days you walk a bit, some you don’t.
→ Better to be healthy and do this for many more years, than to strain and get injured.
→ This is supposed to be fun.

The Agents Are Coming. Winter Is Not. Why brute force isn’t everything and why there might be a golden era ahead for AI startups

Good summary of where we are. The opportunity for startups in AI is expanding rapidly. Specifically for B2B, integrating new tech in the enterprise is hard. Agents may make this harder in the early days. Great points from @Christof Janz

medium.com/point-nine-n...

Denise D'Elia on LinkedIn: #triscribe #sunstonecommunication #inclusiveleadership… Welcome to the Women in Business Post In a groundbreaking start to the year, The Women in Business Post features its first of the year man ally interviewee:…

My first venture into the podcast world as a guest on the Women in Business Podcast hosted by Denise D'Elia - I enjoyed talking about the dynamics of leadership and inclusion as seen through the lens of a mainly female executive team - Appointedd.

www.linkedin.com/posts/denise...

Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']:

Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.

Big sky It's hard to make predictions, especially about the past. So my outlook for 2025 is full of questions to explore, not expectations.

Will #GenAi truly disrupt healthcare? There is no service industry where the need for technology tools to improve delivery is greater. But will this be allowed to happen?
open.substack.com/pub/kennyfra...

Tsundoku (積ん読) — Japanese — acquiring books and letting them pile up without reading them.

I read 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 of them… but yeah, it me.

(Is there a similar word for `npm` dependencies? 😂)

Big sky It's hard to make predictions, especially about the past. So my outlook for 2025 is full of questions to explore, not expectations.

It's hard to make predictions, especially about the past. So my outlook for 2025 is full of questions to explore, not expectations.
open.substack.com/pub/kennyfra...

Veiled in morning mist Some point in time observations about GenAI. What is it, how much is being invested, where is the value now and which industries face disruption?

My year end hashtag#AI stocktake: Veiled in the morning mist

Current startup activity and the focus of much investment tells us there are some industries where GenAI is expected to drive major disruption: Healthcare, Education, Professional services

kennyfraser.substack.com/p/veiled-in-...

I wrote a blog post titled "What's happening with founders over 40?" that ended up on Hacker News.

I got a lot of comments and reactions to the piece, so I thought I'd respond to those in this podcast:

justin.transistor.fm/episodes/too...

Here's a little video sample:

I am a founder and I am 62. Learning to manage your energy is my big lesson now. Sleep, exercise, nutrition AND work - you need to think about the complete equation.

Business Advice Plagued by Survivor Bias Advice from “successful entrepreneurs” might be unreliable due to Survivor Bias. What’s real, and what’s random?

Picking the winners after the race doesn't tell you how to bet beforehand.

Remember that when reading business success stories.

Does this apply to my stories and advice too?

Yes:

Dornoch always looks after our guests!

Thanks for resharing - I am biased being a member at Royal Dornoch but yes plenty of good chances

Auctions for golf rounds on some great courses here:
- Augusta Country Club
- Gleneagles
- Royal Birkdale
- Royal Dornoch
- Turnberry
- Prestwick
- Renaissance
- Sunningdale
- Portmarnock
- Royal St George
- Robert Trent Jones

Stirling Golf Auction 2024 | Powered by Givergy Bid on exclusive money can't buy items & experiences with University of Stirling. Enter into one of our charity auctions, prize draws or buy exclusive

A shameless sales pitch. The University of Stirling is running a fundraiser for their high performance golf team. There are a bunch of great prizes eg the unique opportunity for a training day with Dean Robertson, GB&I Walker Cup Captain.

Please support if you can
uk.givergy.com/StirlingGolf...

Thoughts and some great questions from Benedict Evans 2025 annual presentation. Everyone in tech should read this.https://open.substack.com/pub/kennyfraser/p/reading-ai-eats-the-world?r=8s18&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The AI slowdown is irrelevant The pace of AI change is not unprecedented. Real change will be slower than people think for well understood reasons. Learn from past experience and make sure its change for the better.

The #AI slowdown is irrelevant: The pace of AI change is not unprecedented. Real change will be slower than people think for well understood reasons. Learn from past experience and make sure its change for the better.

open.substack.com/pub/kennyfra...

Congratulations to the team at NHCT winner of Improving the In-patient Care of People with Parkinson's BIHA awards. Proud that Triscribe data helped support this project. Shows that better data about medicines usage combined with great #NHS people makes a real difference to patients

Totally agree with this - you can add separatism in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to the list of things that drug us down here in the UK. Love to know about anyone who has good ideas how we address this - doesn’t feel like our new Government has a clear plan?

Totally agree with this - you can add separatism in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to the list of things that drug us down here in the UK. Love to know about anyone who has good ideas how we address this - doesn’t feel like our new Government has a clear plan