Sarah O'Connor
@sarahoconnorft.ft.com
FT columnist, writing about work, technology & economics.
...because organisations aren't bundles of individuals, but systems. And as @jasongorman.bsky.social points out, if you add a "fire-hose to your plumbing", and your plumbing has lots of bottlenecks, it might not go all that well.
October 30, 2025 at 1:19 PM
...because organisations aren't bundles of individuals, but systems. And as @jasongorman.bsky.social points out, if you add a "fire-hose to your plumbing", and your plumbing has lots of bottlenecks, it might not go all that well.
2nd edition of our The AI Shift newsletter is out. The question today: could AI be making us LESS productive? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com www.ft.com/content/2480... At the individual level, it's clear we're not reliable witnesses on this Q. At an organisational level, it gets even more interesting...
October 30, 2025 at 1:11 PM
2nd edition of our The AI Shift newsletter is out. The question today: could AI be making us LESS productive? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com www.ft.com/content/2480... At the individual level, it's clear we're not reliable witnesses on this Q. At an organisational level, it gets even more interesting...
Wrote this last month www.ft.com/content/9fca...
October 29, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Wrote this last month www.ft.com/content/9fca...
Does this description come from 2025, or 2006? Unnerving piece by @brookeamasters.ft.com www.ft.com/content/fddb...
October 29, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Does this description come from 2025, or 2006? Unnerving piece by @brookeamasters.ft.com www.ft.com/content/fddb...
Beautiful paragraph juxtaposition! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/t...
October 26, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Beautiful paragraph juxtaposition! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/t...
For women, the problem is compounded by stupidly small pockets. Women now live in a world where phone manufacturers think we have hands the size of bears, while jeans manufacturers think we have hands the size of pixies. pudding.cool/2018/08/pock...
October 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
For women, the problem is compounded by stupidly small pockets. Women now live in a world where phone manufacturers think we have hands the size of bears, while jeans manufacturers think we have hands the size of pixies. pudding.cool/2018/08/pock...
My column today is about why capitalism won't provide a small phone alternative, even though it's usually pretty good at meeting different demand segments, even niche ones. Amazingly, it's the most read piece on FT.com, which tells me there really is a market there...
October 21, 2025 at 12:06 PM
My column today is about why capitalism won't provide a small phone alternative, even though it's usually pretty good at meeting different demand segments, even niche ones. Amazingly, it's the most read piece on FT.com, which tells me there really is a market there...
Bring back small phones! This is my iphone 13 mini. It is a perfectly-sized phone. But it's going to die - in a few years, Apple will stop supporting it w/updates. Yet there are now NO new smartphones to buy on the market that fit the human hand. www.ft.com/content/6332...
October 21, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Bring back small phones! This is my iphone 13 mini. It is a perfectly-sized phone. But it's going to die - in a few years, Apple will stop supporting it w/updates. Yet there are now NO new smartphones to buy on the market that fit the human hand. www.ft.com/content/6332...
This is such a good corrective by @chrisgiles.ft.com to the "working-age welfare spending is exploding/out-of-control" narrative that more & more people seem to see as an incontrovertible fact www.ft.com/content/ee67...
October 16, 2025 at 2:14 PM
This is such a good corrective by @chrisgiles.ft.com to the "working-age welfare spending is exploding/out-of-control" narrative that more & more people seem to see as an incontrovertible fact www.ft.com/content/ee67...
In which @stephenkb.bsky.social absolutely nails the way the Tories are performing a "never-ending lobotomy" on themselves by requiring everyone to believe (or at least pretend) Brexit was a good idea. www.ft.com/content/a65f...
October 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
In which @stephenkb.bsky.social absolutely nails the way the Tories are performing a "never-ending lobotomy" on themselves by requiring everyone to believe (or at least pretend) Brexit was a good idea. www.ft.com/content/a65f...
On this third: the decline in working hours has slowed massively in most countries in recent decades, and in the US, has completely stopped since the 1970s (in spite of rising productivity since then). Americans don't even take all their (meagre) holiday allowances.
October 14, 2025 at 10:51 AM
On this third: the decline in working hours has slowed massively in most countries in recent decades, and in the US, has completely stopped since the 1970s (in spite of rising productivity since then). Americans don't even take all their (meagre) holiday allowances.
First of all, it's not crazy to think technological change can lead to shorter working hours. Indeed, for much of the past 200 years, that's exactly what we've seen in developed countries. BUT to believe we're going to have another big decline in the work week, you have to believe 3 things...
October 14, 2025 at 10:46 AM
First of all, it's not crazy to think technological change can lead to shorter working hours. Indeed, for much of the past 200 years, that's exactly what we've seen in developed countries. BUT to believe we're going to have another big decline in the work week, you have to believe 3 things...
Investors are betting big bucks on the idea that AI will create an explosion of leisure time...e.g. it was a key part of the public rationale for the massive $55bn takeover of video games maker Electronic Arts. But are they right?? (short thread linked to my column today www.ft.com/content/4011...)
October 14, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Investors are betting big bucks on the idea that AI will create an explosion of leisure time...e.g. it was a key part of the public rationale for the massive $55bn takeover of video games maker Electronic Arts. But are they right?? (short thread linked to my column today www.ft.com/content/4011...)
Great piece from @emmavj.bsky.social who is calling Peak Vibe www.ft.com/content/14ef...
October 7, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Great piece from @emmavj.bsky.social who is calling Peak Vibe www.ft.com/content/14ef...
Even Jane Austen had to put up with Those Guys www.ft.com/content/bdcd...
October 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Even Jane Austen had to put up with Those Guys www.ft.com/content/bdcd...
Brutal and enjoyable piece from @willdunn.bsky.social on Clegg's return from Silicon Valley with Views to Share on standing up to the US and how to save the internet (errr) www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Brutal and enjoyable piece from @willdunn.bsky.social on Clegg's return from Silicon Valley with Views to Share on standing up to the US and how to save the internet (errr) www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...
Great piece by @georginaq.bsky.social on the cottage industry that's grown up around UK universities, which are paying agents to recruit international students for them www.ft.com/content/3f49...
September 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Great piece by @georginaq.bsky.social on the cottage industry that's grown up around UK universities, which are paying agents to recruit international students for them www.ft.com/content/3f49...
A cool use of AI in newsgathering, this. US companies are talking more and more about the risks rather than the benefits of AI in their SEC filings (while still being super-optimistic in earnings calls). By @melissahei.bsky.social @chriscook.news & @claradoodle.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/e93e...
September 23, 2025 at 11:45 AM
A cool use of AI in newsgathering, this. US companies are talking more and more about the risks rather than the benefits of AI in their SEC filings (while still being super-optimistic in earnings calls). By @melissahei.bsky.social @chriscook.news & @claradoodle.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/e93e...
Cool cool, all sounds very normal in a very normal competitive market-based economy www.ft.com/content/be8d...
September 18, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Cool cool, all sounds very normal in a very normal competitive market-based economy www.ft.com/content/be8d...
I don’t know if it’s the tone or the frequency of these messages from Microsoft, but whenever they pop up I hear Regina George in my head saying “stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen”
September 18, 2025 at 9:51 AM
I don’t know if it’s the tone or the frequency of these messages from Microsoft, but whenever they pop up I hear Regina George in my head saying “stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen”
Why do some names get "second winds" like Sarah in the 80s? Why are the most popular names today waaay less popular than the most popular names of the past? I "fell into the onomastic rabbit hole" (as one academic researcher I spoke to so charmingly put it) www.ft.com/content/f929...
September 16, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Why do some names get "second winds" like Sarah in the 80s? Why are the most popular names today waaay less popular than the most popular names of the past? I "fell into the onomastic rabbit hole" (as one academic researcher I spoke to so charmingly put it) www.ft.com/content/f929...
Yeah good luck with that. Humans are hard-wired to anthropomorphise, and kids especially. My kid is friends with a pair of chopsticks. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
September 16, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Yeah good luck with that. Humans are hard-wired to anthropomorphise, and kids especially. My kid is friends with a pair of chopsticks. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
A reminder of what Mandelson said to the FT's questions about Epstein in February this year
September 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
A reminder of what Mandelson said to the FT's questions about Epstein in February this year
Very cool sentiment analysis using FT articles by @joelsuss.ft.com. Also brings home how precisely I missed the Good Times. www.ft.com/content/9a99...
September 10, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Very cool sentiment analysis using FT articles by @joelsuss.ft.com. Also brings home how precisely I missed the Good Times. www.ft.com/content/9a99...