This page is where I usually post blogs and thoughts about things related to I.T. Project Management or lessons I have learned from projects I deliver. 

This page is under reconstruction after my previous site was compromised (it seems like there’s a lesson in irony there).

I will be looking to rebuild this page over the coming months. In the meantime, you can find a link to my current CV here.

I just want to buy my groceries.

Earlier this year, the Norwegian government released the satirical video below on YouTube, following the rise of a fictitious professional Enshittificator. The point was to highlight how digital services, rather than making our lives easier, have instead been steadily worsening, resulting in an inferior customer experience. More nefarious still, it shone a light on tech companies and manufacturers deliberately degrading software, smart devices, and online platforms after purchase to extract more profit.

Even when not being done deliberately, we live in a world where instead of technology making the customer experience simpler, there’s a growing trend on behalf of corporate marketing teams to overcomplicate simple everyday processes. I’ve watched with frustration an example of this closer to home with the digitisation of supermarket loyalty schemes.

When I complete my family grocery shop, I begrudgingly swipe my loyalty card in exchange for what amounts to around a two percent discount on my weekly shop. In exchange, the supermarket receives my personal information – they know my name, address, contact details, and they also know exactly what my purchase history is and how I pay for it, information I know they can on-sell to other third parties.

Now, these same supermarkets are overhauling their loyalty schemes. My old card is being replaced. I no longer have to carry and swipe a piece of plastic every time I shop. Instead, I am told, I can download their app onto my phone. How convenient.

But here’s the thing – I don’t want to feel like I need to carry my phone on me either before I can go to the store. Maybe I’ve finally hit that age and stage where the modern world is leaving me behind, but I can remember the unencumbered freedom of going to the store with cash and just making a purchase. I don’t want to have to download an app just so I can feel like I’m doing my shopping without being robbed of a meagre discount. Nor do I want to log in and look at my points balance, or to have to pre-boost items that I might want to buy before I go shopping, like I’m trying to defeat a level 50 final boss.

I just want to buy my groceries.