I’ve committed to meeting people face to face more often this year, so have been fortunate in being able to have some lovely coffees this week with folk.
Conversations almost inevitably reference AI at some point - and this week was no different, as I caught up with some ex-colleagues who are launching a new consulting business.
We were discussing the risk of “good enough”, and they shared the example of a business they’d been working with some years back who had an internal experimentation team. Their purpose was not to optimise, but to throw a healthy bit of new into the mix, and see what happened.
With increased optimisation and automation - there’s a risk that more and more things start to regress to the mean. Much of generative LLM based AI isn’t really generative, it’s recombinatorial. Taking existing data, and reformatting it based upon what is most likely to appear next. It’s brilliant at pattern-identification, simplifying large complex things into simple articulations. Much of the process of strategy. But generating new thinking is not as easy.
As an ex-programmer, I know that computers can’t easily create randomness. One needs to add some additional non-determinisitic data, such as a person’s name, the current colour of the sky, or the shape of lava lamps. Adding entropy.
Perhaps strategy might become more adding entropy.
Not optimisation and focus, but adding a little chaos.
In a world of mass-automated-mass-produced content and conversation, the things which feel different are more likely to stand out.
Designing systems which actively rub against clarity, optimisation and efficiency might feel counterproductive, but might increasingly be the only route to success.
How might your work bring some positive chaos?
Matthew
(ps. Stop me from writing! Let me read your work instead! I love it when our members take over the newsletter - if you’d like to be the editor for a week, let me know!)
If you’re appreciative of the work we do - perhaps we’ve helped you find work, you’ve engaged with our community, or just want to ensure we can continue to support freelancers - do consider buying a VERY OVERPRICED MUG.
Yes, it’s £99 for a coffee cup - because every penny of profit from your purchase goes towards covering our costs running the project, helps me build relationships with hirers to we get more briefs, and put on events and huddles. Plus, you’ll be the most stylish strategist in your kitchen. 100% guaranteed.
Andrea Lau is a Singapore based Creative Director & Copywriter, with time spent at Apple and Across the pond. For the last six years, she’s been spamming people on her Telegram channel for the terminally curious, aggregating everything from the NSFW to literal rocket science.
Tell us about SPAM - what is it, and why did you start posting?
The Internet’s become a museum of beige. Everyone’s posting insights so sanitised that anyone could perform open-heart surgery on a feed and walk away with a Nobel Prize. SPAM was built to change that.
SPAM is a Telegram channel where I share unsolicited Internet finds with people whose algorithms are clearly broken enough to enjoy the wonderfully weird and occasionally NSFW.
Since 2020-something, I’ve been running a Telegram channel for the terminally curious, aggregating everything from the NSFW to literal rocket science. It first started as a way for my family and friends to opt-in to my random broadcast of chaos instead of having it sprayed all over our group chats like shrapnel, which I like to think is not too dissimilar to an organ donor programme but with clown shoes.
Just this week, subscribers got a front-row seat to what sex traffickers would email when they think no one’s reading, how MTV got its own Jesus-esque resurrection miracle, and why stand-up comedians should come with a health warning.
Curious but also mildly scared? Perfect.
What do you look for when you’re curating ideas to share?
A pre-packed instant dopamine hit. No slow-burn surprise/disgust/awe nonsense.
Which means I have to regularly hurl myself down some government-watchlist rabbit hole and trespass forgotten corners of the Internet to find something worth sharing.
No regrets.
Digging into the archives, what are two or three of your favourite posts from over the years?
Helmet-wearing mozzies: Did you know we once made mosquitoes wear helmets so we could understand them better?
Today’s dishwasher special: And if you were the type who didn’t like cleaning up after a meal, you could cook entire feasts in a dishwasher.
Also, the best way to go out with a bang after death is to get shot into the night sky. Maybe this is how Katy Perry would like to go with her hit song blasting?
» Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn and subscribe to SPAM via Telegram
Each week, we aim to profile a new member of the community, so you can get to learn a little more about your fellows. This week, we spoke to Alessandro Pascoli, a design and experience strategy leader.
I’m a strategic design leader interested in how organisations connect brand, customers, products, and services into one experience. My path moved from brand and creative direction to insight-driven digital products and customer experience, shaped by a service design mindset. That mix helps me look at challenges as connected systems rather than isolated projects.
At Saudi Telecom Company, I helped unify more than a hundred platforms across thirteen subsidiaries. It began as a design system project and became a shared way of working that linked brand, product, and service. Delivery got about thirty percent faster, but what mattered most was how it brought people together across teams, partners, and disciplines.
Strategic design impact starts with caring for people, businesses, and the systems that connect them.
Our mission as strategists and designers is co-creation, starting within teams and extending to clients, customers, and citizens. Abstract strategies and untested mock-ups, however polished, rarely create impact.
Our work should move beyond slogans and surface aesthetics to shape products and services that truly matter to people and support business growth. Understanding business is non-negotiable, and our real value lies in translating that knowledge into human relevance.
Boardrooms need that balance more than ever.
Book: The New Designer: Rejecting Myths, Embracing Change, by Manuel Lima
Podcast: Design Executive Council, because… read the impact paragraph above :)
Instagram: Mr. Cha @mongoliaflavor - Sharing Mongolian Grassland Life & Food, Inner Mongolia BBQ, Nomadic Cuisine, Daily Vlogs (he’s a legend!)
» Connect with Alessandro on Linkedin or via the community
If you’d like to share a piece of work you’re proud of, something interesting you’ve seen, or get featured in the newsletter, drop me a note, or post in our community slack.
» ‘s META Trends
» Sally Skinner’s ode to freelancing.
» wants to make B2B less meh
» ‘s new substack
» Brilliant not-at-all-passive-agressive ways to say no.
» Quilicura (thanks Ellie)
» On Moltbook (Thanks Ed)
» Friction-Maxxing from the
» What AI experts thing will matter most.
» Zoe Scaman on Groundhog Day conversations around AI.
A digest of recent gigs found and shared via our community - plus things from our friends and partners. Want to reach 4k+ strategists for your next project? Drop me a note.
UK: Our friends at Zenith are looking for a Senior Media Strategist
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20260205-zenith.html
US: And the team at Comcast US need a Freelance Senior Creative Strategist
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20260205-comcast.html
[UK:Slough] Strategy Director (7 Month-FTC) at Oliver
https://bit.ly/4tiqoXB
[UK] [PERM] Senior Brand Strategist at RaggedEdge
https://bit.ly/4kh4TlX
[US] Senior Social Strategist at monks
https://bit.ly/3OjxBXo
[UK:London] Freelance Social Strategist with luxury exp at CreativeCrowd
https://bit.ly/4rtpy8K
[UK] [PERM] Strategy Consultant at futurice
https://bit.ly/4kinAWr
[CA] Strategy Lead, Influencer Marketing (Part-Time Contract) at AdParlor
https://bit.ly/3NWhajI
[US] freelance creative strategist/creative director with experiential exp at IDEKO
https://bit.ly/4bF1ifv
[DK/Remote] Freelance Design Strategist at Nordic Otherwise
https://bit.ly/4kzfXeF
[CN] Cultural Strategist with expertise in Gen Z and Millennial audiences at something.media
https://bit.ly/3Z9ldM5
[AU:Sydney] [PERM] Senior Strategist at VaynerMedia
https://bit.ly/45I6j2Y
» Web
» Telegram
» Whatsapp
+ and of course, our slack channel if you’re a community member.
That’s all for this week.
mk✌️
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