A little more thought, please

I’ve spent most of my career working in technology, and I spend a lot of my working life online. Generally speaking, I think the Internet is a wonderful thing (social media excepted). But there are some things that really get on my nerves, ranging from minor irritations to things that make me question how we communicate and how little consideration we sometimes give to the people on the receiving end.

So, in no particular order, here are a few things that have been winding me up lately.

The language of warfare

I recently saw a LinkedIn post from a defence company proudly explaining how its engineers were working alongside the British Army to “compress its kill chain”.

Urgh. Kill chain.

I understand that defence is a serious business, and that military operations have their own terminology. I also understand that the phrase has a specific operational meaning. But there’s something deeply uncomfortable about seeing a company celebrating its contribution to making the process of killing people more efficient. Perhaps that’s the point of the terminology: abstract the activity into a process, give it a technical name, and remove the human consequences from the conversation.

And it’s not just defence. The technology industry has borrowed plenty of military language, particularly in cybersecurity. We have bastion hosts, demilitarised zones (DMZs), firewalls, red teams, blue teams, attack surfaces, threat hunting and cyber warfare. Even “kill chain” has found its way into cybersecurity.

Some of these terms have useful technical meanings, and a few have been around for decades. But does everything have to sound like a military operation? Sometimes it feels as though we’ve built an entire vocabulary designed to make protecting computers sound more macho.

I’m not suggesting we rename every firewall or abandon established terminology. But perhaps we could think a little more carefully about the language we use, especially when it starts to obscure what we’re actually talking about.

Salespeople who haven’t done their homework

I know that junior salespeople have a difficult job. They’ve been given a list of prospects, a CRM system and some targets to hit. They need to make contact, start conversations and generate opportunities. I get it. Really, I do.

But please, do some research.

My personal website and email address are not an invitation to pitch services to my employer. If you’re contacting me about something related to Node4, at least have the courtesy to use my work contact details. And, before you pick up the phone, perhaps spend thirty seconds finding out what Node4 actually does.

In the last few weeks, I’ve had someone send me a cybersecurity report as part of a pitch for their services. We have our own Security Operations Centre. Another caller started pitching IT managed services. To a managed services provider.

These aren’t obscure details buried in an annual report. They’re fundamental to what the company does. I don’t expect every salesperson to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of their prospects, but I do expect them to understand enough to establish whether their proposition is even remotely relevant. Otherwise, you’re not selling. You’re just interrupting people.

Cold emails, and the inevitable follow-ups

Then there are the unsolicited emails. “Just reaching out…”, “Following up on my previous email…”, “Bringing this back to the top of your inbox…”, “I know you’re busy…”

Yes. I am busy. And you’ve just made me busier.

I particularly dislike the assumption that a lack of response means I need reminding. Perhaps I didn’t reply because I wasn’t interested. Perhaps your proposition wasn’t relevant. Perhaps I simply didn’t want to engage. Silence is not an invitation to send another five emails.

And if you’re sending unsolicited marketing messages, provide a proper unsubscribe mechanism. Not a line at the bottom saying I can reply and ask to be removed from your list. An actual unsubscribe link.

There are rules around electronic marketing, consent and legitimate interests, and the precise requirements depend on who you’re contacting and in what capacity. But regardless of the legal position, making it difficult for someone to opt out is a terrible way to build a relationship. If I can’t easily unsubscribe, there’s a good chance your message is going straight into my junk folder.

Don’t put things in my calendar

This one really makes my blood boil. An unsolicited invitation to a webinar arrives, not as an email, but as a calendar appointment. Suddenly, something I have expressed absolutely no interest in attending is sitting in my diary.

Who thought that was acceptable?

I have a meeting booking link. People who genuinely need to arrange time with me can use it. And I’m perfectly capable of reading an email invitation to a webinar and deciding whether I want to attend. If I register, by all means send me a calendar invitation. Until then, stay out of my diary.

It’s presumptuous, intrusive and disrespectful of my time.

AI-generated presentations that all look the same

Finally, a more recent irritation: the explosion of presentations generated by tools like Claude and Copilot.

Before anyone accuses me of being anti-AI, I’m absolutely not. I use generative AI regularly, including to help structure ideas, draft content and improve my writing. There’s nothing inherently wrong with using AI to help create a presentation, either. But could we please put a little effort into the finished product?

I’m seeing more and more slide decks that have clearly been generated by an AI tool and then presented without much further thought. They look attractive enough at first glance, with clean layouts, tasteful colours and neatly arranged content. The problem is that they all look the same. By the fourth almost-identical presentation of the week, the novelty has worn off.

What happened to corporate templates? Visual identity? Personal style? Actually thinking about how best to communicate an idea to a particular audience?

A presentation isn’t just a document. It’s a visual aid to a conversation, a story or an explanation. The slides should support the speaker, not substitute for the effort of communicating. If you’ve used AI to help with the structure, great. If it’s helped you develop an argument or identify a clearer way to explain something, even better. But at least make the effort to turn the output into something that’s yours.

Because if you can’t be bothered to put any thought into the presentation, why should I spend my time watching and listening? I could just ask an LLM myself.

And yes, I used AI to help write this

Before anyone points out the irony, yes, I used ChatGPT to help organise this rant into something vaguely coherent. The frustrations are mine, the examples are real, and the opinions are very much my own. But I had a collection of things that were annoying me, and rather than spend an evening rearranging paragraphs, I asked an AI to help turn them into a blog post.

And then I spent time editing it, because the first draft sounded rather too much like something written by ChatGPT. Too many short paragraphs, overly tidy conclusions and a tendency to explain the obvious. Sound familiar?

That’s rather the point. AI is a useful tool, but it doesn’t remove the need for human judgement, originality or a bit of personality. Whether it’s a presentation, a blog post or something else entirely, I think the person putting their name to it should still take responsibility for the finished result.

Show some consideration

I suppose what connects all these irritations is a lack of consideration for other people. Technology makes it easier than ever to communicate, automate tasks, create content and reach an audience. But the convenience of the person sending a message, making a sales pitch or generating a presentation shouldn’t come at the expense of the person receiving it.

I’m certainly not perfect, and I’m sure I’ve annoyed plenty of people over the years. But I do think we could all benefit from considering how our words and actions might be received, rather than simply taking advantage of what technology allows us to do.

Anyway, that’s enough grumbling for one day. I’m sure I’ll find something else to complain about before long.