Ulysses tied to the mast

How to beat procrastination

Procrastination is a big problem for writers. The Economist takes a view, based on research and economic theory: New-year irresolution. ...

By Matthew Stibbe

Chalkboard drawing of a brain

The wrong word: widely misunderstood scientific terms

People have a horrible tendency to use the wrong word in press releases, especially when using scientific terms they don’t understand. Hype...

By Matthew Stibbe

Bin man and garbage truck

The best and worst job titles

Bin man or Environmental Maintenance Officer? Why are job titles getting so ridiculous? Perhaps I’m sitting in a glass house throwing...

By Matthew Stibbe

Man sitting on a pile of books

Motherfoucault! How to write better academic papers

“Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right.”- Donald Norman The worst academic papers is notorious for using complicated...

By Matthew Stibbe

Man carrying a lot of stuff, looking at his watch and generally rushing

What to do when you have too much to do

Focus equals results. This is an important understanding. ‘Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do,’ said Steve Jobs...

By Matthew Stibbe

Small workman doing stuff on the surface of a hard disk drive

Little data: why it matters more than big data

Everyone’s talking about ‘big data’. There’s no doubt that there are more bits and bytes than ever before. As George Dyson writes ‘when the...

By Matthew Stibbe