Bartleby Co

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Latest — 20 Jan 2026

SoW Is Not a Strategy, for goodness sake.

Nobody buys a statement of work, or would think to buy a purchase order, or hire a work order or a permanent contract. They buy services. They hire people. The statement of work is the vehicle through which that purchase is documented.

More issues

AI Agents Are People (For Now)

AI that substitutes for a human is functionally 'headcount'. AI that optimises an already-automated process is just better software.

The Etymology of “Contingent”

The language we use to describe workers reveals how we value them. And for nearly half the modern workforce, that language is causing strife.

The CPO & HRD 30 minute power agenda

We've written a v0.1 document is a tactical guide for a "30-Minute Power Meeting" between a Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) and a Human Resources Director (HRD).

The Contingent Dilemma

The Contingent Worker Programme Lead is a role that wears and has to swap multiple hats.

Is Your Org Chart Fiction?

Leadership teams gather regularly around org charts like strategic artefacts. They debate reporting lines, spans of control, layers of hierarchy. And then they'll announce "transformations" with updated PowerPoints showing the new structure. But most of these charts are lying to them. Here's the first

Enterprises & Freelancers 🤔

Enterprises represent only a small slice of freelance marketplace revenue. Why?

HR + Procurement = 🙌🏽

Zero Based Resourcing (ZBR) steals all the best elements of Zero Based Budgeting from the CFO and uses it for HR and Procurement

What makes a job 😘 not 💩.

I pitched a BS analyser to David Graeber before I started Deployed. Here's How It Would Have Worked.