Interested in how things actually work. Not how people say they work.
The story people tell about what is wrong is almost never the whole story. The gap between the two is where the actual work starts.
The first problems are usually the noise. Not the signal.
The thing people bring to the table first is almost never the thing worth solving. It is just the thing loud enough to get attention. The actual problem is quieter and has usually been there longer.
The more useful question is not what went wrong but what conditions would have to be true for this to be exactly what happened. Work backwards from the outcome and the system that produced it starts to reveal itself.
There are always problems nobody has thought to name yet. The visible stuff is what made it to the surface. There is always more underneath.
Serious about fitness. Serious about reading. Taleb, Friston, Wittgenstein, game theory, predictive processing. The professional application of all of this is operations. But curiosity comes first.
Every line below links to the full story. The diagnosis, the decision, and what actually happened.
Long-form thinking on how things actually work. Operations, decision-making, human behavior, and why the obvious answer is usually wrong.
Coming soon. Pieces are in progress and will be published here shortly. In the meantime you can follow along at drew-dowd.ghost.io.
Last updated: March 2026
A proper contact form is coming soon. In the meantime if you are building something interesting, reach out directly.