As Head of Household Strategy, Senior Director of Sofa Allocation and sole authority on whether a meeting could have been a nap, I am naturally cautious when recommending human work.

Standards must be maintained.

However, during one of my routine inspections of the internet, I came across DESIGN THINKING! Comic, and I must admit something rather unusual happened.

I approved.

This is a comic about design, technology, work, AI, meetings, engagement, hiring and all the other fascinating systems humans have invented to make simple things require twelve stakeholders and a colourful diagram.

Naturally, I felt seen.

The humour is clever, painfully observant and often has that excellent quality of making you laugh first and then stare quietly into the middle distance because, regrettably, it is true.

But my relationship with The Artist is, I should point out, not merely professional admiration from afar.

The Artist has made my portrait.

Yes.

My portrait.

This came about because my humans, after years of continuing education, finally demonstrated a promising moment of initiative. They had been following the work of DESIGN THINKING! Comic and, in a rare example of independent thought, wondered whether The Artist might consider capturing my likeness.

I allowed them to enquire.

One must encourage progress.

Naturally, the project required careful preparation. Suitable photographs had to be selected. My colouring, expression and general air of senior authority had to be properly represented. I supervised this process closely, mainly by being unavailable whenever anyone wished to take a useful photograph.

This is called maintaining creative tension.

Then came the extraordinary part.

The Artist looked at me, understood the brief and created a portrait that somehow captured not merely a white cat, but the unmistakable presence of a household executive who has had quite enough of everyone’s excuses.

I was impressed.

My humans were delighted.

I remained professionally composed.

There may have been a moment of prolonged staring at the finished artwork, but this should not be interpreted emotionally. I was conducting quality assurance.

The portrait now has a very special place in my household, because there is something rather wonderful about being seen through the eyes of an artist whose work you already admire.

Especially when those eyes correctly identify you as management.

So yes, I have a certain fondness for DESIGN THINKING! Comic.

The work is sharp, clever and wonderfully observant about the strange world humans have created for themselves. A world of buzzwords, professional anxiety, technology, creative ambition and meetings in which someone inevitably says, “Let’s take a step back.”

I have long maintained that humans require continuing education points. Some need more than others. A great many, frankly, are operating on provisional licences.

So I consider DESIGN THINKING! Comic useful reading for anyone involved in design, technology, creative work, corporate life, or the mysterious professional practice of saying “interesting” when one actually means “absolutely not”.

My household has therefore received an official recommendation.

Visit designthinking.lol here.

Read a few comics.

Then return to your duties with improved judgement, a healthier suspicion of buzzwords and, ideally, a renewed understanding that maximum engagement is not the same thing as being useful.

I have been explaining this to my humans for years.

Usually by sitting directly on the laptop.

And to The Artist, who managed to capture my likeness with such alarming accuracy:

You have my royal approval.

Please do not become difficult about it.

Yours, Mrs. Cotton 🐱🐾