When the systems stop, what still works?

On making room for analogue life

What led us here

For the past few decades, we have been focused on digitalisation. Bringing new value into existing processes, creating new ones and changing how we are doing things. We got Amazon, Facebook, Spotify and Netflix. These disruptors completely changed the way we shop, interact with others, enjoy music and entertainment. They became the norm. Then AI entered the stage. Is it a revolution, or is it just another technology that will be integrated in our daily lives in a way that we will forget how it all started? Including the growing pains of getting there? If you had asked me last week, I might have insisted that AI is just the new kid in the technology neighbourhood. This week, I am thinking we are co-creating a live version of Black Mirror. AI-assisted research? helped expose critical vulnerabilities in PHP, the programming language across the internet. Some governments, schools, institutions, and businesses took websites offline while trying to patch the vulnerability. This came shortly after authorities in Denmark reported unauthorised access to names, addresses, CPR numbers and other register data concerning approximately 8.8 million registered people, including people who had died or moved abroad. The access had come through a company entitled to use the system. That was quite a big oopsie.

And still, another headline to absorb before getting on with the day. Sometimes I wonder whether we have become numb to news in general. Politics, war and cybercrime, somewhere between checking the weather and answering the next message.

I am not sure when we normalised it.

I am exploring this from two angles: what happens with the business and the work we put so much time and effort into, and what happens with the people around the business?

What would we need in the dark?

When it comes to work, I have started looking into a tool that I call the Handoff Review. The question I want to test is fairly simple: if the systems fail, the backups are gone, what remains of my work that needs to be visible, maintained and available? I am not suggesting that we move everything back to paper, but I do wonder whether we can describe the minimum we need to keep visible, maintained, and accessible when the usual way of working is interrupted. A list of priorities is useful only if we know which is the latest version. Contact information is useful only if it sits behind a login that cannot be accessed. The framework is a work in progress, and I want to explore if it can help people identify the essential information, responsabilities and handoffs that allow work to continue. Technical recovery sits outside this and requires its own expertise and detailed planning. What seeds would you take with you to plant in the new world? Where would you keep them? How would you access them in case of need?

…and what about the people?

Now, on a more personal note, what do we do as humans when technology starts failing us? What do we do when banks do not work, and we cannot access our money? What do we do when the network drops and you cannot reach your loved ones and run to ChatGPT to ask what the heck is happening? How do you go back to an analogue life when our community is built and maintained online?

Maybe I am going into a doomsday scenario while looking out at a gloomy Copenhagen sky. But the question still stands: what should we keep analogue? What should we treasure?

A book without notifications. Making something with our hands. A meal with enough time to finish the conversation. Being in a room without needing to turn it into content or check for notifications.

Knowing who we could knock on the door of. These are the things I want to make room for while everything is working. I enjoy what technology makes possible. I also notice how easily it fills the spaces where something else could happen.

Making room

Alongside my business work, I am developing Circles. It is an exploration of thoughtful gatherings and time away. Books, shared meals, creativity, culture and conversation are starting points. The formats are still taking shape. I am interested in experiences that give us room to pay attention, make something and connect in person.

The business question is whether we can coordinate with clarity when familiar tools are unavailable. The personal question is whether we leave enough room for attention and connection when those tools are available all the time. Different questions, but both make me consider what we want technology to support and what we still want to practice ourselves.

What is one thing in your life you would like to keep analogue?