Hi, I’m Barnaby
I write here to sharpen my thinking; publishing forces clarity. It also gives me a space for a more personal voice than the macro, sector and strategy research I author for KPMG.
It’s also a visual archive. I am obsessed with composition, colour and light – whether that’s street, landscape or portraits in my Galleries, or translating abstract business concepts into graphics. The site hosts the visualised mental models I rely on in my work – and in most decisions I make.
There’s a long-running log of the coffees I brew, articles on design, and notes from the books and podcasts that have shaped me.
It’s unapologetically an eclectic mix. The older I become, the more I feel it’s a mistake for people to become too centered on one discipline.
Thanks for visiting my corner of the web.
Bali, 2024
Visualised Mental Models
Charlie Munger often said that with 80 to 90 mental models you could navigate the world far more effectively. I’m a visual learner and thinker, so to really absorb them I started drawing the models he used — along with others I’ve picked up through work and life.
The Coffee Log
I’ve been keeping a running log of every Indonesian coffee I brew — now more than 70 single origins from 20 roasters across the Archipelago. Each page records the basics (origin, process, roast) but also the stories: how it tasted to me, what the roaster says, and where it came from (with maps!). It’s a growing directory of Indonesia’s coffee, one cup at a time.
Notes From
Notes from the books and podcasts that shaped my thinking. I write these for the same reason I publish essays — to understand ideas properly, and to have them at hand when I need them.
Browse the essays
America – A Wider England
An eyewateringly large dinner, a business class seat that doesn’t recline, and a NASA engineer who changed history with a nine-page memo. First impressions of America at forty-five.
Strategies and Tools for Coping in the Agentic Age
The bottleneck used to be information overload. Now AI handles the mechanical work — and the real challenge is knowing what to pay attention to.
China – Singapore at Scale
Perfect highways, better consumer products than the West, and a surveillance state that makes it all feel slightly too clean. Notes on a country that builds while others deliberate.
India – Not Bad
Ten days driving cross-country from Delhi to Udaipur. Traffic as a contact sport, English better than yours, and a country that oscillates between boundless energy and voluntary chaos.
The 80/20 Business
Notes from Richard Koch’s ‘The 80/20 Principle’ on finding where you actually make money, focusing on the 20% of customers providing 80% of profit, and eliminating the rest.
The Unbalanced Universe
A strategic guide to the 80/20 Principle and the nature of unequal results. Visual notes from the book the 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
photography
Galleries
Visualised Mental Models
The Pareto Principle
A minority of inputs often drives a majority of outcomes. Find the vital few, focus there first.
Circle of Competence
Operate where you truly understand cause and effect; stay inside the circle, expand it deliberately, and partner outside it.
Eisenhower Matrix
Prioritise by importance, not urgency: Do, Schedule, Delegate, or Eliminate.
The best Indonesian beans
The Coffee Log
I’ve been keeping a log of every Indonesian coffee I brew — now over 70 single origins from 20 roasters across the islands. Each page notes the basics (origin, process, roast), but also the stories: how it tasted to me, what the roaster says, and where it came from. It’s a growing directory of coffee from the archipelago, one cup at a time.
