Doug Belshaw

Sorry to hear that. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

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Why we created TechFreedom, and why we think it's important Launching TechFreedom a cohort based programme to help you make choices about your tech. Why we created it, why we think it's important, what it's all about and an invite to join us!

Have you heard me banging on about tech sovereignty, adaptability, big tech and resiliency? About how your tech is an organisational cultural choice? If not, how? If you have...well, would you like some more?

tomcw.xyz/why-we-creat...

TechFreedom and the risks hiding in your tech stack TechFreedom is a three‑session, cohort-based programme for co‑ops, charities, unions, and public‑interest organisations that want to understand their dependence on Big Tech and reduce the risks in the...

#TechFreedom is a small‑cohort programme I am running with @tomcw.xyz to help co‑ops, charities, unions, and public‑interest orgs map their tech stack and cut risky dependencies on Big Tech.

Details and pilot cohort info: blog.dougbelshaw.com/techfreedom-...

#TechFreedom #Coops #DigitalSovereignty

TechFreedom and the risks hiding in your tech stack TechFreedom is a three‑session, cohort-based programme for co‑ops, charities, unions, and public‑interest organisations that want to understand their dependence on Big Tech and reduce the risks in the...

#TechFreedom is a small‑cohort programme I am running with @tomcw.xyz to help co‑ops, charities, unions, and public‑interest orgs map their tech stack and cut risky dependencies on Big Tech.

Details and pilot cohort info: blog.dougbelshaw.com/techfreedom-...

#TechFreedom #Coops #DigitalSovereignty

Other than Starmer?

I think the core argument here is a strong one
"LLMs living off the moral and intellectual capital of a pre-AI world"
substack.com/@brendanmcco...

Auto-generated description: A young girl stands on a grassy field with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center visible in the background, accompanied by text that reads, The world you were raised to survive in no longer exists.

The world you were raised to surive in no longer exists: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/05/the-world-you-were-raised.html

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Customised pixel graphics from classic games: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/05/customised-pixel-graphics-from-classic.html

Auto-generated description: A diagram illustrates different cultural phenomena such as circus, carnival, and luxury, radiating from the central concept of spectacle, each associated with specific themes like devotion, identity, and violence.

The spectacle produces hypernormalisation: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/05/the-spectacle-produces-hypernormalisation.html

Screenshot of Claude app: "A CLAUDE.md file is a set of instructions you leave for Claude to read automatically whenever it starts working in a particular project or folder. Think of it like a briefing note you'd hand to a new contractor before they start work — it tells Claude things like: how the project is structured, what conventions to follow, what tools are available, and any quirks or preferences it should know about. Instead of repeating yourself every time you open a new conversation, Claude reads the file and arrives already up to speed. For example, a CLAUDE.md might say things like: "This is a Python project — always use type hints", or "We use British English in all documentation", or "Don't modify the config folder without asking first".";

I'm writing a blog post about what a DOUG.md file might look like. Giving context about me in the same way a CLAUDE.md file would about a project

If you know me, have worked with me, and/or have followed me for a while, what would be in that file?

Serious and unserious answers equally welcome 🙃

ChronoTasker: turning my to-do list into a clockface I built a to-do app to scratch my own itch. Maybe you'd like it to?

As I was discussing yesterday, I built ChronoTasker, a little tool that puts tasks on a clockface and syncs across devices

It began as a personal experiment, now I am curious if it should become a proper service?

Intro post and demo video: blog.dougbelshaw.com/introducing-...

#productivity #tasks

ChronoTasker: turning my to-do list into a clockface I built a to-do app to scratch my own itch. Maybe you'd like it to?

As I was discussing yesterday, I built ChronoTasker, a little tool that puts tasks on a clockface and syncs across devices

It began as a personal experiment, now I am curious if it should become a proper service?

Intro post and demo video: blog.dougbelshaw.com/introducing-...

#productivity #tasks

Lol, I'll use Byrdseed as a style guide. All of this has reminded me of 'Learning Score' from about 20 years ago...

Like a kind of brain dump and it figures it out? That sounds like a PREMIUM FEATURE Professor Lockyer 😂

But seriously, nice one, and I'll look into it. Can't be that hard.

ChronoTasker screenshot

So I made some progress today on ChronoTasker, the to-do app that shows your tasks on a clock-like interface. Yes, that's a built-in Pomodoro timer.

Let me know if this is the kind of thing you'd like to have access to 🙂

www.loom.com/share/103d2c...

#productivity

Yeah feels more intuitive

ChronoTasker screenshot

So I built this thing just now which I think is going to be pretty perfect for my personal #productivity needs

www.loom.com/share/334ab7...

Historians will be studying how Starmer managed to squander such a massive majority for years to come. Thumb-twiddler extraordinaire.

How I wish these technologies were available in 2020 when I led a project to help people claim Universal Credit during the pandemic

medium.com/sector-chall...

When AI tools give you choices but take your agency AI tools promise more options and faster decisions, but they also quietly shape which options organisations ever get to see.

#AI tools help us choose faster, but they also decide which options we see.

My latest post is the second in a series with this one looking at agency, choice, and AI in mission-driven work, plus three questions for your next team decision.

blog.dougbelshaw.com/ai-choice-ag...

#AI #DecisionMaking

I think there's a profitable niche in the middle of the Venn diagram of Dryrobe wearers, Tentbox drivers, and Labradoodle owners

🇫🇷 data.gouv.fr connecte les chatbots IA aux données publiques françaises via MCP Un serveur MCP open source pour interroger les données officielles françaises directement depuis Claude, ChatGPT ou Gemini. Instance publique disponible, sans clé API.

I fear the French are overtaking us... goodtech.info/datagouv-ser...

I'm not on Facebook, but my wife showed me that in addition to the 'Dryrobe Wankers' group there's now a 'Tentbox Wankers' group.

Richard Hanania tweet: Has any theory in international relations been more discredited than blowback? It turns out you can just kill bad people and everything is fine.

I swear these people don't have object permanence

When AI tools give you choices but take your agency AI tools promise more options and faster decisions, but they also quietly shape which options organisations ever get to see.

#AI tools help us choose faster, but they also decide which options we see.

My latest post is the second in a series with this one looking at agency, choice, and AI in mission-driven work, plus three questions for your next team decision.

blog.dougbelshaw.com/ai-choice-ag...

#AI #DecisionMaking

Weeknote 09/2026 What I've been up to this week.

#Weeknote 09/2026 is out.

Work: things winding down and spinning up, and progress on AI-assisted projcets.​

Writing/reading/listening, plus a bunch of new Thought Shrapnel pieces (including a pretty angry one about Iran/US/Israel)

👉 blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-09-...

Auto-generated description: A small yellow bird is perched on a barbed wire against a blurred green background.

Building a news canary: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/03/01/building-a-news-canary.html

This reminds me of that Frankie Boyle joke about how Americans not only come to your country and kill your people, they also come back twenty years later to make a movie about how killing your people made their soldiers sad.