by Michelle Fitzmaurice | Aug 24, 2026 | Activation Energy, Notes from the Field, Observation, Systems
Good systems do not require perfect humans. They are designed around the humans who actually exist. My pressure cooker has quietly taken control of dinner. This was not part of a deliberate household transformation strategy. There was no implementation plan,...
by Michelle Fitzmaurice | Aug 6, 2026 | Emergence, Observation
The ideal route only works under ideal conditions. Real roads, and real careers, require us to keep reading what lies ahead. There is an ideal line through every corner. You look ahead. Position yourself early. Commit to the turn. Move smoothly through it and come out...
by Michelle Fitzmaurice | Jun 26, 2026 | Emergence, Notes from the Field, Observation
Notes from someone still watering dust By most conventional measures, I was not the person the system was designed to produce. I was a first-generation university student, the first in my family to complete a PhD, and a migrant trying to navigate institutions that...
by Michelle Fitzmaurice | Jun 19, 2026 | Observation
Who Is Planting the Seeds? I attended a conference recently where much of the discussion centred on growth. More clinical trials. More trial sites. More innovation. More translation. More workforce development. More technology. More artificial intelligence. More...
by Michelle Fitzmaurice | Jun 12, 2026 | Observation
I attended a clinical research conference this week. The presentations were not what stayed with me. What stayed with me were the conversations. Again and again, I heard people talking about “getting treatments to patients”, “providing access to...
by Michelle Fitzmaurice | Jun 5, 2026 | Observation
People often think buying an orchid flask is about buying flowers.It is not.A flask is an investment in emergence.Inside it are seedlings that may take years to reveal what they will become. Some will fail. Some will remain ordinary. Occasionally, one will become...
