I love A.I. I have always been fascinated by what humans can achieve with its different types. Technology innovation at its best for the betterment of humanity. However, there is one particular type of A.I. I’m not too fond of, in fact, quite the opposite: Generative AI. I’m a Luddite at heart and I suspect I’ll remain one for a good while. Why am I sceptical about it? Well, I still have to find its business value with regards to what I do at my work in building, nurturing and sustaining human connection(s), but at the same time I recognise the massive impact it’s having in different areas that are huge concerns to me: Its pernicious environmental impact in both water and energy consumption of fossil fuels through its many data centres scattered around the world, its extractive, colonialist and exploitative practices for training their data models, the poignant issues with regards to IP theft that even myself I suffered from with this blog not long ago, etc., etc. But perhaps the main reason why I’m sceptic about GenAI is mainly because of who is behind it. Who owns it. Who owns the main GenAI vendors and what they are willing to do with the massive amounts of data they are gathering from / through us, for free, to weaponise it, against us, for their own profit and greed through savage surveillance capitalism. In a nutshell, those very same malignant narcissist arseholes who have been working really hard to destroy (our) democracies.

Remember when not long ago I mentioned how all technology is political? Remember also that blog post I wrote about Digital Autonomy a few days back? To me, this is what it is all about. Do I really want to keep supporting with my money, effort, energy and intent those digital tools and automated services whose vendors / organisations are actively supporting and enabling daily war crimes, genocide, or destabilising democratically chosen governments for standing up on the right side of history? No, thanks! Not a chance! Between convenience and efficiency, I decide to choose and stand with democracy, even if that means I’ll be poorer as a result of it, although we can debate at some point, I am sure, how useful these tools really are in helping generate wealth for regular citizens just like you and me. Yeah, I know, anyway, like I mentioned in that same blog post, (having) a moral compass is a b*tch. Apparently, nowadays, decent human values are scarce. And yet, that’s who we are, humane, empathetic and cooperative by nature, so, as such, we should probably start acting accordingly at it, don’t you think?

This is my attempt at it. To keep exploring different alternatives to US Big Tech and see where I may land eventually. Identify the pros and the cons, the trade-offs, the consequences not just for myself, but also for others and see what I can learn along the way that may be useful for people. It’s been a super interesting and fascinating journey in equal measure thus far, because along with a bunch of individual productivity tools, as well as social, digital tools, I’m also including in this lot #GenAI vendors coming out of the US. I don’t use any of them and don’t plan to start any time soon. Does that mean I will not be exploring the potential of these automated services with other vendors based elsewhere? Like I said, at this point in time, I’m sceptical, but, over time, I’ll be blogging about some of the poignant issues I see when using these tools on a daily basis that forbid me from making extensive use of them in the first place. For now, and till those wicked problems are addressed and fixed accordingly, my #GenAI policy for this blog, just like pretty much everywhere else I’m usually hanging out nowadays online, is as follows:

Can’t slop, won’t slop – No LLMs involved, human powered.

Before I dive into it, allow me to perhaps share some additional background info as to why I’ve decided to put into words now what has been in my mind all along. Before I didn’t see a need for it. I seriously thought it was a given. I know, perhaps a bit too naïve from my side. I need to become accountable to it now. It’s time. It’s time to put into words a definition that allows me to demonstrate to myself, and to others!, why I’m still such a strong advocate and supporter of working from anywhere after 25+ years and how for that to become an effective knowledge (Web) work strategy to strive for digital autonomy, away from US Big Tech, is the key enabler to make it all happen. You will see what I mean shortly, after I share below the definition I put together. So what is #SovereignByDesign?

“A deliberate commitment to digital autonomy: our data, connections, identities, and communities governed by consent, transparency, and shared principles—not by corporate extraction or algorithmic control. Open protocols and intentional architecture make it achievable, restoring human agency to the heart of the web we inhabit. More than just a mere hashtag, it’s a movement to architect a digital world that truly honours our collective dignity and potential.”

There is one key word in that definition I put together a couple of months back that also defines what I’m currently working on: Communities. You’ll remember how in a previous blog post I wrote a little bit about my work background, i.e. consulting / advising organisations, both in the private and public sectors, about Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Community Building, Learning, Change Management, Social Networking for Business, Digital Enablement, Digital Workplace / Transformation, etc. But in the last 3 years I’ve been working exclusively on something else. I no longer work with organisations, but with people, in communities. Specially, with one of them that was sparked out of an idea I had back in 2014 and that it, finally, became reality in November 2023. 

But I will talk more about it at a later time, because I also plan to write different blog posts about what it is like building, nurturing and sustaining online communities, of whatever the type (i.e. Of Practice, Interest, Purpose, etc.), for long-term impact and success in creating a stronger sense of belonging and purpose, both inside and outside of organisations, to be able to do our best knowledge work yet! Ever heard of Communityship as an operating model?

You can see though how it is all coming together, right? How all of these topics are interconnected as part of a bigger transformation process in terms of not only how we view work, but also how we live our lives as an interconnected / hyperconnected, digital society. That’s what I’m fully committing to: think global, act locally.

Distance Working, Digital Autonomy, #SovereignByDesign and Building (Online) Communities. In a nutshell, these are the major core themes you can expect to see in this blog from here onwards. Of course, I’ll also be writing about fun stuff, specially, about the activities and projects I’ve embarked on to fill in the gaps of the time, energy, intent and effort I no longer spend on those traditional Social Media platforms I’ve abandoned and deleted from my life for good in December last year. It’s now a good time to find a new (blogging) voice. With style and taste. And, above all, still having way too much fun altogether!

On my terms, not theirs.

In consequence, one needs to carefully choose wisely and correct the wrong choice(s) I once made and act accordingly: Therefore, I choose Digital Sovereignty.

I guess I didn’t see it. Or, better said, perhaps, I didn’t want to see it. I realise now I may well have been far too involved into the rabbit hole of always believing that technology, in general, is neutral and it all depends on how we apply it, i.e. for good or bad. It was only after I had to take a compassionate leave for three months earlier on this year that I realised how wrong I have been all of these years.

What happened? Well, I had to take some time off work and focus 100% on some personal matters that needed my full attention. No distractions allowed. That meant I had to make a rather bold and radical move: Delete my entire digital life. Yes, that’s right, I decided to delete pretty much everything of my online life from the last 25+ years, including some of the oldest social networking platforms I have been using all along as well as this very same blog that I got started back in October 2005. Ouch! That daring move of deleting my entire digital identity hurt more than I had anticipated, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed to focus on family matters that had priority and that was it. I could always recover, or so I thought.

As things got better, and I started to resurface online back again in mid March this year, remember, I was entirely offline for 3 months, including not watching any of the news (I know, that was quite dramatic, too!), I realised we’ve been living in a permanent state of technofeudalism or, in order words, surveillance capitalism. Was I aware of it from before? Most probably. Was I blinded by the superb shiny digital toys coming out of the US that were put right in front of our eyes? Most definitely. Did I want to do anything about it? Not likely. Did I want to go back as if nothing happened and carry on as usual? Not a chance! Even more so when I started seeing how plenty of the digital tools I was using on a daily basis before I went dark belonged (and still do!) to different American corporations that have been actively supporting genocide, daily war crimes or enabling the destabilisation of democratically chosen governments for standing up on the right side of history, like the country I currently live in.

Yeah, I know, moral compass is a b*tch. Apparently, decent human(e) values and integrity, too! But, then again, if we don’t have any left, who are we? What are we? Can we still call us human(e)? How do we differentiate ourselves then from ruthless, bloodthirsty savages, driven by profit and greed, who have embraced a culture of violence and death? Think about that for a minute. Is that the civilisation we want to want to build, nurture and sustain for future generations to come? One ruled by thugs, crooks, grifters and (war) criminals?

What are the alternatives? What are the pros and cons of each and everyone of them? Do we have any at all? What are the trade-offs both on a personal and business level? These and a few other questions have been in my mind for a good few weeks now, which is one of the several reasons why I decided to resuscitate this blog. I needed a space, my new online home, in which I could reflect and understand the shift I’m personally going through. Can I rebuild my entire digital identity away from US Big Tech? Can I still have a successful professional career for whatever is left of my working life? Can I still have a personal life not relying on the many digital tools most people are obsessed with and addicted to? Can I beat the algorithm relying almost exclusively on decent human connection(s) built, nurtured and sustained over time?

See? That’s why I needed this blog. Why I decided to bring it back to life, but with a clean slate, having left behind a digital past that helped built the persona I no longer believe in. It’s time to rebuild. It’s time to explore and find potentially good, decent alternatives to US Big Tech. It’s time to fully understand and embrace the reality that technology has never been neutral. On the contrary, right from the design phase, digital tools are capable of enabling the possibility of advancing as a society for good, but also accelerate our very own doom and demise as a species. Technology, in the XXI century, is all about politics. It’s always been, we shouldn’t forget that going forward.

It’s therefore an imperative we all get to choose carefully. Choose wisely. Own your own words. Your own story. Your own self. Rebuild, one conversation at a time, the human connection(s) that the algorithms have taken away from us to divide us by inciting all of our fears and rage for their own profit, greed and whatever political agendas they may have while installing fascist regimes. Become a Luddite with an indefatigable purpose: Rebuild, nurture and steward community. After all, we are all natural born supercooperators, we shouldn’t forget about that. We just need to show up and get down to work!

Lots to be done still! Let’s begin our incredible journey ahead towards Digital Autonomy!

Remember when I mentioned in that same article Jack Nilles coined the term Telework back in 1973? Well, last year he wrote a rather useful blog post in which he explained what he meant with Teleworking back then. To quote him: 

“ANY form of substitution of information technology (such as telecommunications and computers) for work-related travel: moving the work to the workers instead of moving the workers to work.”

He also wrote a short definition for Distance Working I thought is worth while reproducing it here as well for future reference: 

“ANY form of information working whereby the worker may only occasionally have contact with the principle office, communicating via any available technologies. This includes, but is not limited to, all of the forms listed below.”

Guess what’s the most important and relevant key word from that definition? Any ideas? Suggestions, perhaps? Well, to me, it’s occasionally. I guess you may well understand better now what I mean when I’m referring to Distance Working. It’s not hybrid work, nor flexible work, but more along the lines of remote work and distributed work. Working From Home / Anywhere would quality here as well as distance working. You see? The moment you associate successfully working away from the traditional office and occasionally we may begin to understand why the confusion is there in the first place.

Either way, over time, I’m hoping to be able to explain the differences between each and everyone of these concepts, more than anything else because some of them are false narratives, like hybrid work, or flexible work, we’ve been asked by certain people to believe in order to embrace an obsolete reality: knowledge (Web) work can only happen within the four physical walls of an office. It’s the culture, right?

Not likely! In fact, distance working requires a massive shift in terms of how we view work itself: traditionally, it’s been considered a physical space, i.e. an office, a factory, if you wish, we can pilgrim to Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm, in order to conduct some work chores we’re getting paid for versus eventually being more of a mental state. I can work from whenever, wherever, with whomever, through digital tools at my disposal acting as key enablers. 

It’s also why I have some concerns when people use Remote Work versus Distributed Work. To me, both of them are very much related to Distance Working, indeed. However, remote work has got that extra connotation of a toxic hub – spoke relationship. As a remote worker, you depend on, and report to, your manager(s), acting as a hub, within a physical office. Not ideal, specially, if you don’t want to play corporate politics and the sempiternal struggle for power.

Indeed, power dynamics can be rather intoxicating and counterproductive in the long run because of that implied toxicity based on that power struggles I just mentioned above, which is why, from the two, I’ve always preferred distributed work. Why? Well, mostly because it is distributed AND decentralised in nature about how work happens. Everyone works from anywhere, literally, everyone, not just regular employees, and the office becomes another tool, just like all others. You usually earn the merit of attention, respect and a collegial spirit of cooperation / collaboration based on how effectively you may use different digital tools at your disposal to communicate and collaborate with your peers to achieve a certain goal, or objective. 

We will talk more, I’m pretty sure, about each and everyone of these concepts. For now though, thought I’d put together these few words so when in upcoming blog posts I talk about Distance Working (Whether Remote or Distributed) you know what I’m referring to. After all, it’s a good thing to speak a common language, right? 

Let’s do it! 

What if

I’ve been working distributedly myself for over 25 years. All along, I thought I was one of the pioneers, leading by example, walking the talk, who kept advocating and fully supporting remote work as an operating model within organisations, because, back then, I thought it was a new thing. It wasn’t. In that same year of 2001, when I started working remotely myself, I had colleagues at IBM who were telling me they got started with it in the early 1980s. Gosh, it definitely wasn’t 2020 either when the business world discovered the wonders of distance working to save lives, was it? Ever heard of Jack Nilles? 

Let’s go back to 1973. I was one year old. Ouchie! Yet, Jack Nilles was already trying to figure out an effective way to disrupt the business world forever by challenging the current norms and status quo of pilgrimming to the office, day in day out, in order to mitigate the impact of the oil crisis. Eventually, he coined the term Telework / Teleworking, while working on a project at LA County, to avoid the dreaded commute. Does that ring a bell? Knock, knock, hello, my dear 2026, how are you doing?

See? I was never a pioneer when thinking I was one of the early knowledge (Web) workers working away from the traditional office. There were colleagues way ahead of me by a couple of decades. There was Jack Nilles already pioneering, or so I thought!, the way with teleworking 30 years before I got started. Why am I still saying then Distance Working is feminine?

Let’s go now back to 1962. A mind-blowing 64 years ago! Shall we? Allow me then to introduce you all to Steve Shirley, better known as Dame Vera Stephanie Shirley. Did you know about her before reading this post? No? That’s fine. No worries. I’ll explain further in a minute. If you did know about her, what a lucky person you are! I wish I’d’ve heard about her and her pioneering work around distance working a few years back!

She started her own business in computing, Freelance Programmers, at age 29 with 6£ from her kitchen counter while caring for her child and her family. She got to eventually set up her own software company hiring, over the course of time, incredibly smart and talented women, (297 out of 300 employees!) most of them also working from home writing code, while they were also looking after their own families. Let that sink in, please, once more, this is 1962! And we still think we’ve invented everything?!?! Ha! Not a chance. Ever.

If you’d want to learn more about Steve Shirley’s fascinating and incredibly inspiring tough story, I’d love to encourage you all to listen to this absolutely delightful podcasting recording, Cautionary Tales, with Tim Harford. “The Refugee Who Led a Software Revolution”. It’s just close to 28 minutes, but totally worth your time. Here’s a brilliant quote from that recording to entice you all to have a listen: 

“I learned that progress generally comes from making a series of small steps rather than a giant leap.”

As I get to wrap up this blog post, you may be wondering, what’s my point then when stating out loud, clearly, that Distance Working is feminine? Allow me to share another quote to try to answer that question, and you’ll see what I mean: 

“[…] ordering people back to the office full time is a power and status move. It’s a signature strategy of leaders who exhibit narcissistic qualities. They see any kind of remote work as a threat to their authority and admiration. They want to be worshiped at the office altar“

Mind-blowing, eh? Well, that’s the thing. At a time when we should be seriously considering embracing, and adapting accordingly!, to Distance Working as an operating model for multiple business, societal and environmental reasons, white, middle-aged narcissitstic men in suited-up executive positions within their organisations keep enforcing upon us all the need to return to the office with their stupid and non-sensical Return To Office mandates. We know better now, right? 

“[…] our data does show that overall, self-centered leaders tend to struggle with the idea of employees making independent choices about where to work. Psychologists have long suggested that narcissism is like a drug — it leaves people craving a regular supply of attention and validation. Remote work deprives leaders of access to that supply”.

Those quotes I’ve just shared above are from a recent article by Adam Grant, Marissa Shandell and Courtney Elliott reflecting on a new study they have conducted that’s worth while diving into: “Worship me at the office altar: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work”. It pretty much confirms why, in today’s day and age, we just can’t afford not to embrace the obvious: we no longer need a physical office to do the best of our knowledge work!

But not only that, it gets so much better, working from anywhere, whether it’s remote or distributed, has got to do with being more empathetic and caring for others (i.e. your offspring, older parents, people with disabilities, etc.). Something, we know now, are not leadership traits, nor characteristics, from narcissistic sociopaths / psychopaths in (senior) executive positions when they tell us we need to return to the office, because, you know, it’s the culture.

Well, excuse my French, folks, but f*ck the culture! Back in 1962, Steve Shirley demonstrated, and showed us first hand!, it’s possible to care for others, be more empathic, while doing your best knowledge work and for that we don’t need to have a physical office. We can continue to do all of that from our most sacred of spaces: our home, our true culture.

That’s why, going forward, I plan to continue blogging about why we need to resist the push for RTO mandates coming from malignant narcissists and show the world there’s a more effective manner to do your best work while still having your priorities straight looking after, and caring dearly, for those you love the most versus continuing to whorship the sociopaths / psychopaths at their office altar.

Not any more. Distance Working is feminine. Remember that! Remember the powerful and inspiring story of Dame Vera Stephanie Shirley.

Live for it, work for it!

That idea has been haunting me ever since I decided to relaunch my blog without its living memory from a long-gone past. A clean start, I thought, would be good, specially, since plenty of what I wrote about back then I no longer believe in it. Twenty one years later, reality has proved time and time again I was wrong. Dead wrong. More on that later… It’s perhaps a bit more poignant even, because at this point in time you won’t find me with an active online social media profile anywhere, except perhaps for Mastodon. I’ve deleted everything. On purpose. Including what for plenty of people is still considered *the* place to hang out for professional networking: LinkedIn.

I’ll be blogging over the next few weeks about the several reasons why I have gone through that massive clean-up of pretty much everything online that relates to the previous elsua, i.e. yours truly, previous as in before late December 2025 when I decided to nuke my digital life for good. Either way, I still find it incredibly relevant and useful to have a home, i.e. my online home, this blog, on my terms, in which I can share my own thoughts without having to depend on someone else’s playing the role of being such digital home.

I guess that’s why I still feel this blog needs to continue to act as my organic, living CV, even though it may well be pretty empty at the moment, because, at least, I can say it’s mine. It’s my thoughts, my life / work experience, my in-depth expertise in whatever the subject matter, in short, my own reflections on whatever the topic that has caught my interest at the time. That is still relevant, don’t you think?

Either way, those of you who know me from over the years can anticipate pretty much what I plan to blog about going forward. For those of you who may not know me just yet, but who may want to get a glimpse of what to expect potentially I’d like to point you to this superb curation exercise Stan Garfield started over 7 years ago: KM Thought Leaders. In it, you’ll find my own entry over here, with an updated version from last year.

I am eternally grateful to Stan for having put together such wonderful resource and for having me featured in such esteemed company within the KM realm. It’s humbling and a true honour. I’ll always very much appreciate it.

For now, I guess it’s time to keep populating this blog with upcoming posts, as I resume my blogging mojo, rebuilding up the necessary muscles to refind my own blogging voice and style. See if it is still there, intact, or find out how it may have shifted over the last few months, perhaps years. That would then allow me to keep building up my online CV in case you’d want to learn more about what I love doing AND conversing about. Oooh, and please, before I forget, feel free to jump into the conversations, as you may see fit, I’m looking forward to diving in, too! 

You know what they say … The waters are lovely 😎👍🏻.

It’s going to be super interesting going forward, at least, to me, to figure out whether I can re-find my own blogging voice and style, and resume my blogging mojo. I know I’m rusty. In fact, I have spent a good few weeks getting everything ready for this clean start, from scratch, and I still see the odd tweaks here and there I need to go through to fine tune this blog. Please bear with me and do let me know if there is anything missing, or not working well, or perhaps something else you’d like to see. I shall oblige. For those of you who are still subscribed to my RSS feed, as this entry pops up out of the blue, I’d like to offer a warm re-welcome to all of you my faithful followers. Thanks much for sticking around! We’ve got lots to talk about, don’t you think? 

In upcoming blog posts, indeed, I plan to share with you all what’s being going on with yours truly over the last couple of years and explain why I have decided to come back to blogging, leaving behind pretty much everything I’ve strongly advocated for AND believed in for nearly 30 years. I know it all sounds intriguing and much of a tease for you to keep coming back, but, believe me, it will be worth it. Remember the good old Open Social Web? That’s why. We still have got lots of great work ahead! 

What else? Oh, yeah, I’m also very much looking forward to sharing with you all what I have been involved with over the course of the last 3 years, and still going strong!, that’s kept me good busy working with some wonderful, incredible smart, people trying to push forward on two major key themes you’ll see me blogging about extensively from here onwards: #DistanceWorking and #DigitalAutonomy. 

I don’t want to spill the beans just yet on what lies ahead, but those two keywords will certainly give you a hint as to what to expect from my blogging here going forward. One, I’ve been heavily involved with for over 25 years and it still feels like pretty much the first day; the other, I’ve only just gotten started with it about 8 months ago, after I had to take a compassionate leave that forced me to go offline for 3 months and delete all of my online presence. The rest is history and I’ll be more than happy to share with you all the why, the how and the what.

Oh, but will you be writing about fun stuff as well?, you may be wondering, right? Of course, I will. In fact, I plan to continue sharing some of the photos I’ve taken over the years not just from Gran Canaria, where I still live, but also from my former business travelling. You’re reading former correctly. More on that later. I also plan to talk about home gardening, which I’ve taken up just recently, some of the more interesting and thought-provoking books I’ve read, music I’m listening to, perhaps some of the films and TV series I’m watching, places I go flaneuring out and about, etc. etc.

Yeah, going forward, this new blog will still remain, mainly, as a business blog. Like I said, we’ve got so much to discuss, talk about and learn, but it’s also going to be a lot more intimate and personal one, and, soon enough, you’ll find out why.

For now, it feels great to be back!