I have made a career out of working with technology and helping people, theoretically at least, have better lives: contributing more, changing things and spending less time on repetitive work. That sounds grandiose written down. It is still how I see the work.
The interesting part is rarely the technology on its own. It is the organisation wrapped around it, the people asked to use it, the incentives nobody mentions and the reality that arrives after the slide deck has been put away.
What I write about
Technology and public life. Leadership and organisations. Cities and travel. Identity, memory and the odd domestic catastrophe. The subjects can look unrelated, but the same question tends to sit underneath them: what does this feel like for the person inside it?
Why b/
b/ is the moniker for the platform: compact enough to sit on an article, a profile image or a browser tab. benj.io/ is the public name. Benj Roberts is the person behind both.
The editorial rule
Be direct. Be specific. Leave room for doubt. Do not sand away the humour, irritation or humanity to make something sound like “thought leadership”. If a sentence would look at home on any corporate website, it probably does not belong here.