Improve Something Today

A reading of The world of silence: marking Disability Pride Month from 2023, with a little 2026 coda offered at the end.

A reading of a short poem by W.S. Merwin: The Estuary . I share a few words about what might have influenced Merwin at the time of the poem’s composition.

A reading of https://improvesomething.today/qualities-of-water/ .

A reading of https://improvesomething.today/10-things-for-10-years/ Links mentioned: - Ways to support Improve Something Today - Lex Roman on newsletter landing pages

A reading and discussion of https://improvesomething.today/its-a-lousy-time-to-be-a-good-idea/ Includes discussion of a passage from The Game of Death by AD Nuttall for the LRB in 1992 .

Two passages from the architect and writer on the fourth anniversary of his passing. A reading of https://improvesomething.today/remembering-christopher-alexander/

A reading and discussion of this, from 2022: 5 ways to approach goal-setting. Only one is worth a damn

Readings of two passages on the subject of wooden chairs, as seen in the Wooden chair as exemplar of emptiness section of the Quote barn .

A reading of two short passages, one from The Art of Public Speaking, by John Rippingham (1814), and the other from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘The Comic’ (1875). By way of Wikipedia on the ‘sad clown paradox’ as shared on Mastodon by John Overholt .

A reading and discussion of this piece from 2023 on how to run a project premortem . See also: Gary Klein’s 2007 HBR article introducing the method .

A reading of https://improvesomething.today/on-speeding-things-up/ followed by a brief discussion. And oops—the post is from 3 years ago, not 2 as I mentioned in the episode. Time flies like, one supposes, sand through an hourglass. Take good care. It’s time to pull as hard as you can towards love; it’s not playtime. (As the anonymous internet pal says.)

Making sense of ‘shifting baseline syndrome’ in the world & in the workplace. A reading of https://improvesomething.today/vanishing-fish-boiling-frogs-the-dry-bed-of-the-sea/ A link to the 1995 ‘shifting baselines’ piece from Pauly .

Impromptu reading of https://improvesomething.today/notes-january-2026/ offered with some closing commentary.

Change management, readiness and adoption, otherwise pulling nerds across the chasm. Whatever you call it, it's important work that my guest and I are accidentally getting better at. A conversation with Devon Persing . Discussed: remote work, organizational and individual change, Muppets. • Episode transcripts • Support the show by giving to the planet's most effective nonprofits

A year of working and living in crisis. So what? Now what? Discussed: the mountain (certainty), the muddle (ambiguity), and the morning after the earthquake (we're all geologists now, friends); Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Experience" and "The Conduct of Life"; Leonard Cohen. • Episode transcripts • Support the show by giving to the planet's most effective nonprofits

Respect for people is a pillar of lean. It's also the first thing to go out the window in many botched implementations. A conversation with Fabian Jimenez . Discussed: stepping stones on the path to respect for people. Engaging head 🤖, heart 🫀, and hands 🙌 of people. • Episode transcripts • Support the show by giving to the planet's most effective nonprofits

When working with groups, agreement is fine—but consensus is better. A conversation with Andre Helmstetter . Discussed: the Institute of Cultural Affairs ’ consensus workshop method, taught as part of their ToP Facilitation Training . • Episode transcripts • Support the show by giving to the planet's most effective nonprofits

Checking in with Carl Sandburg's "The People, Yes" before Election Day. "The people have come far and can look back and say, 'We will go farther yet.'"

We're still here, and we're still feeling stuck. Or at least I am. I bet you are too. Reading: William Wordsworth's "The Tables Turned" 

The world has gone off format and so has this podcast. Discussed: it's time to change and/or die; the weird story of Shantideva, the failed 8th century prince, public servant, and monk; and comforting words from Shantideva's "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life."

The cost and joys of options. Why are options so important to us anyways? Discussed: set-based design and the book Lean Product Design and Process Development by Allen Ward and Durward Sobek.

You can't make an hourglass flow faster by yelling at the sand. Discussed: queuing, constraints, Little's Law .

Introducing my free field guide to finding waste in knowledge work and service work—and using the waste you find as an opportunity to start a practice of continuous improvement. Download the field guide here: improvesomething.today/field-guide .

The places where we don't know all the answers are where real improvements can happen. Discussed: Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor; T. H. Huxley's agnosticism.

Stories and what they do for us whether we like it or not. Discussed: No Thanks , a poem by Nven Mrgan; Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty; War Talk by Arundhati Roy.