Sector brief — updated 8 Aug 2026
How teams actually decide, when the plan runs out
Notes on planning, careers and decision-making for people running real teams — the part of the job that no roadmap covers.
What's genuinely in production
What's still pilot theatre
Photograph — planning wall or standup
Vendors that keep appearing
Regulation coming
Every deployment in Ways of working
Photograph — an office administrator at a desk comparing two printed supplier price listsNews, with a verdict / Ways of workingChinese AI models are cheaper. What that means for a 200-person firmDeepSeek and Qwen undercut US AI models on price, and Airbnb drew a House inquiry for using one. For a mid-sized firm the saving is small; the risk is not.Photograph — an office manager reviewing a printed software contract or a policy documentNews, with a verdict / Ways of workingAnthropic's data-retention reversal: what it means for mid-sized firmsAnthropic walked back its 30-day retention rule for its top models after 12 weeks. For most 200-person firms the terms never applied. The lesson does.
News, with a verdict / Ways of workingWhat if the five-year plan is the thing holding you back?The strongest operators we interview rarely followed a plan. They followed a short list of rules about what they would and would not do — and let the path assemble itself.
News, with a verdict / Ways of workingWhat if the five-year plan is the thing holding you back?The strongest operators we interview rarely followed a plan. They followed a short list of rules about what they would and would not do — and let the path assemble itself.