Those who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Artemus Ward
Thanks for coming.
Driverless Crocodile is a personal blog / scrapbook / scratchpad / springboard.
I started it as a place to share ideas related to building organisations for change, and especially for bringing ideas from tech, business and economics to people (like me) working in small-scale non-profits: “a toolkit of ideas, resources and encouragement for people who want to build a better future”.
It is still a toolkit of sorts, but one with a diffuse hinterland*. Concrete ideas about managing teams mingle with posts about innovation and history, education and literacy, networks and creativity, art and culture; about what The Main Thing really is (answers on a postcard please); about the delightful and hilarious things people do; and about What’s On My Mind.
For three years I posted every day, but my current schedule is three posts a week. My most popular posts are those that quote other people.
So there you have it – I hope you find something of use, of interest, or that makes you laugh – or in the best case, all three at once.
Who am I?
I’m Stu Patience. I live and work in Jakarta, Indonesia, where I work for a small-but-mighty literacy non-profit. There’s a bit more about me here.
Why “Driverless Crocodile”?
Fair question. It began as a joke as the title of a shared googledoc, then became a domain name when I “did it now” and registered it on a whim to get things going. Sharky and I had been talking a lot about automation and driverless cars, so the “driverless” reflected our interest in technology and what’s coming next.
And I’m an enormous, lifelong fan of Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile.
The title is also about what we’re not. It’s easy to think that we’re heading for a future where humans will live as robot-driven, self-seeking reptiles – a world where only the crocodiles will survive.
This isn’t true: we are driving**, and we’re warm blooded – so let’s take our responsibility seriously and build organisations and a future where people are welcome and can flourish.
*Or, if you prefer, Primordial soup
** I concede, though, that we’re rarely as in charge as we think we are