Tom got AI to critique his sales call. The feedback was detailed, line-by-line, technically correct... and basically useless.

In this episode, we dig into the surprising limitations of LLMs that most people don't seem to be talking about. Not the obvious media fluff about hallucinations or training data or taking everyone's jobs, but the deeper constraint: they can't reorient.

We start with our experiment using an LLM to critique one of our client discovery calls, which led to an observation about what's missing. We talk about what happens when AI conducts research interviews, why care home robots are increasing the workload they're supposed to decrease, and the crucial difference between "reading all the books" and actually understanding what matters.

This isn't anti-AI. It's about being clear about what these tools can and can't do, and why that matters for anyone doing customer research, strategy work, or trying to understand real human problems.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the AI critique of Tom's sales call was technically brilliant but fundamentally unhelpful
• Boyd's OODA loop and the missing "orientation" capability in LLMs
• What happened when someone showed up to a research call... with an AI interviewer
• The emotion gap: why LLMs can't follow the rich seams of energy in a conversation
• Why LLMs don't know when to pivot and when to push
• Japanese care home robots that create more work than they save, and the babysitting idiots effect
• Venkatesh Rao's "it's read all the books" theory of LLM usefulness (and when it actually works)
• How our "expert panel" AI prompt is useful for critique—if you keep your critical thinking switched on
• Why pattern-matching to words isn't the same as understanding context
• You heard it here second? Active inference models: the next wave beyond LLMs?

If you'd like a copy of our experimental "expert panel of dissenters" prompt, email us at tentacles@crownandreach.com and remember the risk: it requires your critical thinking.

References

• Ben Ford ("Commando Dev") on No Way Out Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/agentic-ai-thinks-like-boyd-the-ooda-upgrade-llms-cant-touch/id1663685759?i=1000734032438
• Venkatesh Rao https://substack.com/@contraptions
• John Boyd's OODA Loop and Snowmobiling
• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/p/the-only-one-writing-and-ai
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent - https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent

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Q. When do teams want certainty the most?

A. Exactly when it's least available!

Not a joke. Just true. This time we look at the patterns of peak uncertainty: those make-or-break moments when an organisation desperately wants a clear plan but is operating in conditions where rigid plans are most likely to fail.

We bang on about our Go to Market Sprint offering and the uncertainty-native methods behind it, especially Pitch Provocations. The fun of being deliberately wrong to discover what might actually be right.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• The peak uncertainty paradox: why the moment you most want a clear plan is when plans work least
• Three patterns of peak uncertainty (and why all consultants wish they'd been called earlier)
• Pitch Provocations: testing with words on a page to surface hidden market constraints
• Why "I know it when I see it" is both valid intuition and a political safety net
• The art of being deliberately wrong in the right way
• How to make the mess explicit (and why that's actually helpful)
• The vision chasm revisited ... and why emerging direction beats fixed vision
• Why teams get stuck waiting for clarity while leadership waits for signals
• The cucumber gets pickled more than the brine gets cucumbered ... plus reading labels from outside the jar
• Meeting teams where they already are instead of trying to change how they work

"We're not gonna persuade people to work in a different way. We're gonna meet you where you are... and do the bit that you don't wanna do."

References:

• Pitch Provocations method (episodes 007-009 for introduction): https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Episode 061: Tumbling into the Vision Chasm: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/061-tumbling-into-the-vision-chasm
• The "Four U" model: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Crown & Reach's Go to Market Sprint – email hello@crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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What do post office doors that won't open and door handles that scrape your knuckles have to do with product strategy?

Something, it turns out.

We start with Corissa's baffling post office experience (like in any good panto, the button is behind you!) and we tumble into the world of Norman Doors, affordances, and why bad design persists even when everyone knows it's bad.

We turn the lens on our own home, where knuckle-scraping door handles have been annoying us (and our guests) for 3 years. Why haven't we fixed them? And what does that tell us about organisational decision-making?

This one's about the hidden complexity in "obvious" problems, the seesaw between pain and cost, and why sometimes the best solution is the one you didn't consider at first.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why adding more signs doesn't fix bad design
• The economic systems that create Norman Doors in the first place
• How we got trapped thinking we had only two solutions (spoiler: there were more)
• The seesaw principle: pain of current situation vs. cost of the fix
• Why visitors (to your home or product) spike your awareness of problems you've learned to ignore
• Manufacturing constraints vs. relaxing stories to see more options
• The "replace just the worst handles" strategy and why mismatched might actually work
• When to burn the boats (or remove all the door handles) to force a resolution

All in all, a v v Crown & Reach conversation about design, constraints, and decision-making. Recorded while walking, naturally.

References:

• Norman Doors (Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things)
• Affordances and signifiers in design
• Chesterton's Fence principle
• Platform Incentive Gravity – episode 122 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/68bc47099a81ed86f1aeafa1

Tell us about your knuckle scraping doors and bodged remote controls - tentacles@crownandreach.com

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You've got a brilliant idea. Everyone agrees it could work. So why has it become the project nobody wants to hear about anymore?

We dissect our Pitch Provocations method and package it up as a Go To Market Sprint that compresses 12 months of market learning into 3 weeks.

We use a real agency case study to work out how to explain what we do (and realise we forgot to check how the story ended). This is strategy consulting behind the scenes: the wrestling match between method names and outcomes, the challenge of writing your own testimonials, and the uncomfortable question of whether "go-to-market" really means anything much to anyone.

Plus: an unexpected musical interlude courtesy of a mobility scooter with a sound system.

Some of the stuff we talk about:

• How good ideas turn into millstones and what can break the cycle
• Why traditional market research creates reports nobody acts on (and what works instead)
• The 12-month learning compression: how Pitch Provocations actually delivers on this promise
• Micro-projects vs. mega-builds: throwaway experiments that people actually want to do
• Customer interviews as enjoyable therapy sessions (both sides enjoy them)
• Why Go To Market means different things to a startup founder vs. a corporate messaging lead
• The estate agent's gambit: give away an 80-page instruction manual and see who still hires you
• How to get teams generating their own ideas instead of nodding politely at yours
• You can't write the ending of a case study if you don't know how it actually turned out
• Common sense thresholds: when does a micro-project stop being micro in your context?

The bit about us being bad at this:

We struggle in real-time with packaging our own work, forget to follow up on crucial details, and can't quite nail whether we're selling a method or a result. It's real, it's rambling, and if you've ever tried to explain what you do for a living, you'll recognise the feeling.

For consultants packaging expertise, product teams sick of "build first, ask later," and anyone who suspects their next big project might quietly become the thing everyone dreads discussing.

References:

• Pitch Provocations (Crown & Reach) - intro in episodes 007-009: https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Multiverse Mapping - https://multiversemapping.com
• The "4U" framework: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty
• Ritual Dissent (Dave Snowden) - https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Innovation Tactics deck (Pip Decks) - https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics

Contact:

tentacles@crownandreach.com

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Platform incentive gravity: it's why all the rental bikes end up at the bottom of hills, and why the most "popular" game on Roblox rewards you for doing absolutely nothing.

Tom's teenagers declare Roblox dead, overrun by "slop games" where 200 million people "play" by opening the game and walking away. Meanwhile, the rich, creative games they actually love are withering with tiny player counts.

We explore how platform economics create a gravitational pull toward the lowest common denominator—and what this reveals about meaning, metrics, and the hollowing out of engagement across all digital spaces.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the most popular Roblox game rewards you for pressing zero keys
• The bike rental study that perfectly explains platform incentive gravity
• How gamification strips meaning in service of metrics
• Why Tom's teenagers are already jumping ship to find actual creativity
• The connection between AFK mechanics, auto-clickers, and social media engagement
• Trail Makers vs. slop games: what actually captivates vs. what just accumulates hours
• Whether this connects to a broader meaning-making crisis
• How to recognise when you're trapped in someone else's incentive structure

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OR: Swimming in sauce.

From LinkedIn rants to airfield-based barbecue ... we talk about why adaptation beats detailed planning.

When your carefully planned day out becomes a disaster, do you stick to the plan or pivot? We start with LinkedIn beef about scrappy MVPs, detour through a failed town visit with a toddler, and end up at an airfield watching planes while eating incredible brisket.

This meandering conversation explores the tension between wanting to craft something properly and needing to experiment your way forward - whether you're building products, planning holidays, or figuring out your next career move.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why demanding a perfect brief upfront can be a career-limiting move
• The false choice between "scrappy rubbish" and "proper quality"
• How 1% of ideas actually work (so why invest everything in detailed plans?)
• The three routes to getting unstuck: power, influence, or acceptance
• Why external forcing functions are needed to kill zombie projects
• When to follow the itinerary vs when to throw seeds and see what grows
• The sliding scale from planned group tours to "book a flight and figure it out"
• How high stakes + high novelty requires a different kind of planning
• Why you can't read the label from inside the bottle

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Remember that dress? The one that had the entire internet at each other's throats about whether it was white and gold or black and blue?

Turns out it reveals something profound about how our brains work—and why getting your team aligned on a vision might be the wrong goal entirely.

We dive into the viral dress phenomenon and explore what it teaches us about prediction, perception, and the challenge of alignment in organisations. From Andy Clark's "Experience Machine" to the bunny-duck illusion, we explore why our brains are prediction engines rather than cameras, and how this changes everything about strategy.

Some stuff we talk about:

• Why your brain sends four times more signals outward than it receives inward (and what this means for finding your keys)
• The real difference between the dress debate and the bunny-duck illusion
• How the dress reveals the fundamental problem with forcing everyone to see the same vision
• JP Castlin's three requirements for effective aspirations: precise, ambiguous, and fractal
• Why zooming out beats analysing pixels when you're stuck in disagreement
• The via negativa approach: sometimes it's easier to agree on where you DON'T want to go
• Storyboarding to envision behaviours not features

This one's for anyone who's ever wondered why smart people can look at the same thing and see completely different realities. And anyone who's tired of vision statements that sound like expensive wishes.

Drop us a line: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• "The Experience Machine" by Andy Clark https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313594/the-experience-machine-by-clark-andy/9780141990583
• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/
• The dress (white/gold vs black/blue) https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/
• Bunny-ducking: https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/bunny-ducking
• Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• Pitch Provocations

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Glittery bags of words, scatterbrained tutors, or random concept triggerers?

In this one we feel our way through the murky reality of AI tools—reaching our tentacles beyond all the silt that's been stirred up in the hype and panic. We think we've found some interesting nooks and crannies.

We kick off with yet another "oops, used AI without checking" message that we received, then we share thoughts triggered by our own experiments with LLM-powered ritual dissent (as mentioned in the previous podcast – email tentacles@crownandreach.com if you'd like a copy of the prompt).

Then we explore where tools like LLMs could be genuinely helpful versus when they're simply expensive confusion generators, with reference to some interesting experiments we've seen on our travels.

• Effective at the extremes in the role of a tutor: when you're an expert OR a complete beginner, not somewhere in the middle
• The "random number generator" theory of LLMs as a trigger for concepts, ideas and processes you already know
• Potential for designing LLM interactions that don't dumb you down
• Why high-fidelity outputs are no longer a good proxy for high-quality thinking – the decades-long descent into polished incoherence
• Bag of words theory: LLMs necessarily can't generate coherence, only fluency
• Real examples of where AI can save time (e.g. risk assessment templates) vs. where it fails (e.g. original strategy or thinking)
• How to avoid the "vibe-coded prototype" trap in both design and thinking (and possibly why most people still won't, even though it's technically easier than ever).

References

• Gerald Weinberg's classic "Secrets of Consulting" https://archive.org/details/secretsofconsult0000wein
• Hazel Weakly's excellent piece on AI https://hazelweakly.me/blog/stop-building-ai-tools-backwards/
• Vaughn Tan's paper prototype that scaffolds critical thinking with LLMs https://vaughntan.org/aiux
• Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At – the firebrand pointing out the nakedity of the emperor https://www.wheresyoured.at
• Pavel Samsonov's solid critique https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/human-in-the-loop-is-a-thought-terminating-cliche
• Philip Morgan ... couldn't find where he wrote about aspects of risk capacity, but he's here: https://philipmorganconsulting.com/
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Our method Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• Our method Pitch Provocations (old episodes 007-009 for a rough intro) https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Class action lawsuit against Anthropic re: training data https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/

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What does a failed lettuce shipment from a Steinbeck novel have to do with your AI strategy? Everything, as it turns out.

In this one, we're doing it, we're stepping into the world of AI adoption. I mean, surely someone should start talking about this AI thing?

Ahem.

We talk about why a bunch of what companies are doing with AI is ruinous efficiency theatre – and what they oughta learn from a hapless lettuce entrepreneur out of classic novel East of Eden.

We explore the parallels between infrastructure booms (railroads then, AI now), why 70% of companies see zero efficiency gains from AI, and how to avoid becoming the laughing stock of your industry.

• The "lettuce man paradox" - when you're right but early, you're wrong
• How 20% of bees ignore the waggle dance (and why you should too)
• The antifragile barbell strategy: boring investments + wild experiments
• Tom's "expert panel of dissenters" AI prompt that will tear your ideas apart (in the best way)
• Why setting up a fence around a playground is more important than setting up goals and objectives
• Container ships, steel plants, graphics chips and compute: what to do with what gets left behind after boom-bust cycles

References:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent method https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Ken Stanley's Myth of the Objective (playground thinking) https://youtu.be/VDuF4onPmuE?si=4vEfNLBIZyaDvB4h
• Strathern's reframing of Goodhart's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
• Adam Mastroianni (of Experimental History) Bag of words, have mercy on us https://www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-words-have-mercy-on-us
• Episode 044: The one with the bees https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/044-the-one-with-the-bees

For a copy of Tom's prompt, or with questions, comments, historical corrections or love notes, ping us at tentacles@crownandreach.com

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Why doesn't your company put the effort into things you KNOW would make a difference?

We feel our way through the murky waters of organisational priorities – from our own dance school advertising disasters to years of consulting war stories.

We talk through why even successful initiatives get shut down, how to influence up without planting flags, and what executives are really thinking when they say "not now."

• Why the person who thinks they can "see the whole elephant" is the most wrong of all (the trap that keeps smart people stumbling around in the dark)
• The hidden costs that aren't money ... and why they're quietly stifling your brilliant ideas
• The counterintuitive secret behind being more influential
• How Facebook begged us to double our ad budget – and we walked away
• The "hygiene factor" false belief that's a career killer (spoiler: your value isn't measured the same way as web hosting, unless you're a web host)
• What executives and cranky toddlers have in common ... plus the simple (but not easy) move that actually works on both
• How to validate someone's perspective without the performative nonsense everyone can smell a mile away
• Why brilliant experimentation programs get brutally killed off (it's not because they don't work)

"The only person who's definitely wrong is the person who thinks they can step back and get a holistic view of the elephant."

References

• Venkatesh Rao – "Portals and flags" https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/25/portals-and-flags/
• Venkatesh Rao – Don't Build a Hill To Die On from Art of Gig https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2022/11/17/the-art-of-gig-books/
• The "Four U" model: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty https://crownandreach.com/#resources
• Crown and Reach "Pitch Provocations" method – email us at tentacles@crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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What do falling trees in a scientific experiment have to do with failed startups, toddler tantrums, and why some ideas thrive while others collapse under pressure?

We start with a tale from the Biodome, and then try to connect the lessons to growth, resilience, and the need for stress.

• Why trees in paradise kept toppling over ... and why the same well-meaning mistake topples new products and services
• Why the "moat of low status" that separates you from your dreams might be the most important territory you'll ever cross
• The brutal truth about startup accelerators: how surrounding yourself with "supportive" peers can prevent your best ideas from germinating
• The delicate art of stress-testing your fragile creations without accidentally killing them
• Why your toddler's meltdowns reveal the same psychological trap that keeps adults stuck forever
• The 2,000-year-old mental trick that transforms paralysing anxiety into rocket fuel
• The gardener's dilemma: when coddling your ideas makes them weak ... and when exposure kills them outright

Recorded on Bournemouth Beach with the sound of actual wind and waves - because sometimes the best conversations happen when you're slightly uncomfortable.

Share your thoughts and questions with us: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• Biosphere 2 experiment (Oracle, Arizona, 1987-1991) - lack of wind stress prevented the development of "stress wood" - a different cellular structure that makes trees stronger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2
• "Shitty first draft" concept: https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/demolish-your-creative-block-with-graham-linehan-and-the-power-of-the-sfd-3841abe8a4fb
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Fear-setting (Stoic practice) as popularised by Tim Ferriss: https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-setting/
• Antifragility as popularised by Nassim Taleb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragility
• Laura Klein's talk where she mentions Task Rabbit for actual rabbits: https://youtu.be/gbArObiU1Y0?si=m16794EohdbngxsC
• Sasha Chapin, who coined "the moat of low status": https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/the-moat-of-low-status-68a

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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Stop eating frogs.

A lot of people think strategy happens in boardrooms with flip charts and important people saying momentous things.

In this episode we argue that you're doing strategy when you decide what to do with your next three hours. (It's very strategic of you to spend 22 minutes listening).

We introduce the strategy ladder — or is it a cargo net? — a way to think about how your influence can scale from individual hours to organisational quarters, without you needing to set up shop in a glass-walled war room.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why strategy definitions are contradictory and often just marketing
• Why "strategic" often just means "more expensive"
• Hidden hierarchy games and what they mean for influence in the workplace
• The difference between real strategy and expensive to-do lists
• How to be less unstrategic with your next 1-3 hours (and why that matters)
• The two scales that strategy operates on: time and people
• Why you can't set SMART goals on things outside your control
• Environment design vs willpower: the biscuit shelf principle
• Mouse-wiggling surveillance and the intrinsic motivation alternative
• Why other people don't want their behaviour changed (spoiler: it's none of your damn business)

This one's for anyone who's tired of feeling like strategy is happening somewhere else.

If you've got a better metaphor than a cargo net, or great examples of Monday morning strategic thinking, drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com (& if you've tried before and got a bounce notification, please try again – we fixed it!)

References

• John Cutler's "1s and 3s" time horizons concept: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-1453-1s-and-3s
• Experimental History's Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs? https://www.experimental-history.com/p/repost-excuse-me-but-why-are-you
• Theory X vs Theory Y management approaches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
• Reddit thread about Eat That Frog: https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/108tgov/eat_that_frog/

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We've just published the video from our first-ever Multiverse Mapping Live! session, and this podcast episode is the debrief we had straight after we finished recording.

We recorded it while wandering through the woods, complete with a crumbling walkway and the occasional navigational hiccough.

Some stuff we talked about

• Tom was sweating bullets the whole time, but thankfully it didn't come across
• How do we remember to do more of the zooming out? That's when everything clicks!
• How to "close the game" properly (shoutout Dave Gray)
• Why some experiments need an overnight digestion period
• The challenge of delivering insights on a schedule vs. letting them emerge naturally
• How to turn your expertise into live content (even when you're terrified)
• The difference between safe, prefabricated examples and real-world messiness
• Why "interesting things are interesting if you're interested in them" might be our most profound insight yet

This is what strategy work actually looks like - not the polished case studies, but the real, messy, human process of figuring things out together.

AND we're looking for volunteer #2. Could that be you? Drop us a message: hello@crownandreach.com

References

• Pragati Sinha (session participant): https://www.linkedin.com/in/pragatisinha/
• Katia Tkachenko 👋 (who suggested Twitch streaming 3 years ago)
• Dave Gray's "Gamestorming" book https://gamestorming.com/
• Rob Snyder's PULL framework https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/the-pull-framework
• Multiverse Mapping method/course https://multiversemapping.com
• Innovation Tactics deck https://collabs.shop/yxzsjg
• Can I ship a new business idea in an hour? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Kma97f9v4

Contact:

• tentacles@crownandreach.com
• crownandreach.com

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Cover up! It's sunny out.

When uncertainty feels impossible, most teams freeze. In this episode Tom and Corissa unpack a three-phase cycle that's powered by getting it wrong first.

They unpack their "Unpack, Unleash, Unfold" framework through real examples - from a messy logo redesign to a heart rate variability app that nobody could figure out how to use.

We also float across the vision chasm between leadership and teams and realise it isn't a bug, it's a feature.

Plus: how embracing deliberate wrongness can accelerate breakthrough.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why your detailed vision might be holding you back
• The logo redesign that's a very simple example of how unpack, unleash, unfold works
• How a month-long breathing challenge took 3 or 4 unfoldings to get to, and is now revealing hidden product insights
• Markets are terrible at knowing what they want but brilliant at reacting to options
• The curse of knowledge that kills every internal product demo
• Building bridges over the vision chasm (or knowing when not to bother)
• Why some people thrive in uncertainty while others need linear processes

Plus: An (another) introduction to "pitch provocations" - their method for being deliberately wrong in exactly the right way.

Perfect for product teams, strategists, and anyone trying to build something meaningful in an uncertain world.

If you have questions, stories to share, or ideas for a better name for "unleash" (maybe "understudy" or "undergo") – drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• Episode 112: Unpacking, unleashing and unfolding part 1 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/685ffe34081ac1df5d8cb371
• Article: Bunny Ducking – part 3 of the vision chasm series https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/bunny-ducking
• Innovation Tactics by Pip Decks https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Pitch Provocations card (front | back)
• Episode 007: Pitch Provocations part 1 https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

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Why do successful projects always end up radically different from how they started? And why do failed projects stick religiously to their original plan?

In this episode, we cast our tentacles over three critical but overlooked manoeuvres: unpacking, unleashing and unfolding. (NB. we only explicitly label unpacking and unfolding in the podcast).

Referencing articles by the brilliant Adam Mastroianni and Henrik Karlsson, we explore how these deeply related but very different movements can transform everything from product development to life decisions.

From buying sheds to breathing apps, in this episode we reveal the meta-pattern behind all our most effective methods.

Including:

• The "university professor test" that reveals career misconceptions in seconds
• Why your brain's shortcuts are both essential and dangerous
• The difference between scripted iteration (polishing toward a known goal) and unfolding iteration (discovering ideas you couldn't have had before)
• Unpacking and unfolding applied to a heart rate variability bio-feedback app (say that fast 10 times)
• Why sitting with stress and strain can ready you for breakthrough ideas
• Why becoming your own customer reveals more than months of analytics
• How dance teaching principles apply to app design and product development
• The data-driven catch-22 that traps many a digital product team
• One simple practice that changes how you see everything

Get in touch and share your stories of unpacking, unleashing and unfolding: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• Unpacking: Adam Mastroianni's Face It: you're a crazy person https://www.experimental-history.com/p/face-it-youre-a-crazy-person
• Unfolding: Henrik Karlsson's Everything that turned out well in my life followed the same design process https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/unfolding
• Jennifer Garvey Berger of Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-garvey-berger-7b4a264/
• Ben Jesson of Conversion Rate Experts https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjesson/
• Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com/
• Signals > Stories > Options https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/signals-stories-options

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What do lumpy compost, underwhelming basil, and internal influence have in common?

Tom's Pip Decks deck, Innovation Tactics, contains a popular card called Seeds vs Soil. At time of writing, the concepts of gardening were purely theoretical to him. But now we've dipped our toes into the complex world of home horticulture, we thought we'd revisit the tactic, and share some stories of failure, "fine" soil and fennel.

This became a springboard for a dive into how people—especially those without positional power—can get unstuck and make progress inside complex, boggy organisations. A riff on experimentation, disappointment, and the quiet joy when a seedling pokes its little green head up.

Hear us wrestle with:

• When to invest in soil prep—and when to just throw seeds down and see what grows
• Why half-baked experiments are a good way to tune your appetite for risk
• The three routes to career progress: power, influence, and acceptance
• How to gently test ideas at work without stepping on toes (too hard)
• Tromboncino squash, borage porridge, and general botanical misadventures

References:

• Innovation Tactics from Pip Decks https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics
• Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework https://cynefin.io/wiki/Cynefin
• Especially the linear construction of Cynefin: https://cynefin.io/wiki/Linear_construction_of_Cynefin
• Episode 103: Competence, control and consequences https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/103-competence-control-and-consequences (original concept from Scott Berkun's Why Design Is Hard)
• Episode 048: Conceptual Models https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/048-conceptual-models
• Episode 038: Creativity, innovation and a flawed coffee machine https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9307
• Watchful Waiting from Tom's article with John Cutler https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-274-how-capable-leaders-navigate?open=false#%C2%A7patience-and-self-repair
• Seeds vs Soil (tactic in Pip Decks) [ front | back ]
• Alex Komoroske's viral deck Coordination Headwinds: how organisations are like slime molds https://komoroske.com/slime-mold/
• Alex on Lenny's podcast talking more about gardening: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unconventional-product-advice-alex-komoroske

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This time on Tentacles, we do something a little messy and dangerous: we put our own method through itself. That’s right: Pitch Provocations is being pitch provoked.

It's one of our experimental working-out-loud conversations, that's sometimes insightful and sometimes ridiculous.

• Can you compress 12 months of strategic learning into 3 weeks?
• Why most “market research” just creates more ideas, not clarity
• The political awkwardness of selling "painkillers not vitamins" in B2B
• Taste vs Tool belts – how do you tell the difference between someone with good "product taste" and an overconfident asshole?
• What AI can (and can’t) do for folks who want to develop their product taste
• How we’re testing ways to explain Pitch Provocations to make it easier to sell
• Why “doing all the things” is seductive but self-defeating
• Why watching someone’s face is better than any survey.

If you’ve ever struggled to explain your work, or wondered if AI is making everything worse—this one’s for you.

As mentioned in the episode, we're currently putting Pitch Provocations through itself, which means we're looking for thoughtful humans to react to a handful of our rough, probably-wrong pitches.

If you're C-suite or C-suite adjacent and you're curious about what we do (or just want a peek behind the scenes), drop us a line at tentacles@crownandreach.com. You'll help us learn—and we’ll share the playbook with you so you can steal the method.

References

• Rob Snyder's PULL framework: https://howtogrow.substack.com/p/the-pull-framework
• We talked about "Taste" in https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-airbnb
• The Reach Newsletter: https://reach.crownandreach.com/
• Lake Wobegon Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon#The_Lake_Wobegon_effect

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What counts as a “stupid idea”? The "out there" one that makes everyone look at you funny, or the safe, respectable one that slowly kills your business?

We took a break from rebrand logistics and wandered up and down the road talking about how people and teams judge ideas.

Teams often close the filter way too tightly for fear of having no filter at all. We talk about the hidden risks of focus and brainstorms, why coherence matters more than consensus, and how our Pitch Provocations method helps teams safely test the uncomfortable stuff.

You can now reach us at tentacles@crownandreach.com. Thanks for walking with us x

In this episode:

• Why “there are no bad ideas!” is a well-meaning lie, and what to do instead
• The coherence trick, and using it to find your boundaries
• How to spot hidden stupidity in apparently safe ideas
• What most orgs get wrong about experimentation
• A practical method for killing pet ideas without hurting feelings

References

• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis, home of the article that sparked the episode https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/
• Andrew Anderson's “You make more money when you’re wrong” idea https://cxl.com/blog/5-tactics-to-changing-how-your-organization-thinks-about-optimization/
• Pitch Provocations – Crown & Reach's lightweight testing method. Also explored way back in episode 07 https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/663109cbcff31b0012ae9326

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We were going to record a proper episode when we discovered that Coriss'a Otter.ai app had already done the job, while in Corissa’s pocket, mid toddler-wrangling.

This micro-episode is a dramatic reading of the resulting auto-transcript. We think it's a deeply serious and often moving window into the age of AI.

No notes.

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Why is it so hard to start something — whether it’s a blog post, a new product, or a strategic shift?

In this episode of Tentacles, we read out a note from Henrik Karlsson about the fear and freedom and unfolding in first drafts.

We see how this links with journaling, testing app loops, multiverse mapping, design sprints, and what poultry farming can teach us about intuition.

Learning in public, making peace with mess, and pulling the gold back out of garbage.

• Why your first draft should go straight in the bin — and with joy
• How product teams get trapped in “perfect plans” and miss the real work
• What chick sexing can teach us about tacit knowledge and intuition
• How to test your new business idea with words and a Sharpie
• The subtle trap of fear disguised as “planning”
• Why your best intro might be hidden halfway down the page
• A reframe of user testing that makes it feel less like judgment and more like treasure hunting

References

• Henrik Karlsson https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz, especially the essay Looking for Alice https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/looking-for-alice
• Sasha Chapin essay https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/if-you-have-writers-block-maybe-you
• Multiverse Mapping, a visual collaborative process for mapping and stress-testing strategic intent https://multiversemapping.com/
• Design Sprints, originally from Google Ventures, covered in the book Sprint by Jake Knapp
• 750 Words 750words.com, a site for daily stream-of-consciousness journaling
• Design Testing Methods like transcribing live interviews, paper prototyping with Sharpies, copy-first testing
• “Write drunk, edit sober” often misattributed to Hemingway
• Chick sexing, the practice of identifying baby chicken gender, often cited in intuition training
• Hard Test, Easy Life https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/stop-polishing-turd-products-with
• Pivot Triggers, Crown & Reach’s approach to structured learning from unexpected results
• Innovation Tactics Pip Deck https://pipdecks.com/products/innovation-tactics

Find out more about our work at crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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