greg.gannicott.co.uk | Blog

The Lost Joy of Encountering Good Writing

Greg Gannicott — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I feel like over the years, the quality of writing by the general public has dropped.

What sort of things am I referring to? Just small messages like a Facebook post by a business, or a Teams message in work. Things that are seemingly throw-away.

The grammar is poor, typos galore and just a general sense that no effort has been put into it.

Given that these are throw-away things, I get it. Why bother?

But at the same time, this means that when there is clearly effort put into it, I really appreciate it. When you see someone has put a bit of thought into it, proof read and reworked it, it’s a nice little win.

I feel like even that has now been lost though. Why? Because of AI, and more specifically LLMs.

Previously when I saw a nicely thought out and well written message I’d get a little kick from seeing it.

Now when I see a nicely thought out and well written message, I don’t know whether it is the writer or AI.

And that’s a genuine shame.

How I Approach a Work Disagreement

Greg Gannicott — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Frequently in work I’ll find myself in situations where I disagree with a decision that is being made.

Over the years I’ve come to realise that no matter how hard you try or how right you feel, you’re not going to win. People don’t tend to change their minds (myself included).

If people continue to try and change each other’s minds you end up with meetings that just go round in circles.

So now in these situations, my aims are simple:

Make sure they understand what your concerns are.
Make sure they understand your solution (assuming you have one).

Often getting them to fully understand your concerns is half the battle. If after that they’re still not willing to change their mind, I don’t think anything is going to change and you might as well move on.

The flip side to this of course is to try and make sure you understand theirs. Maybe you’re missing something?

Why?

Greg Gannicott — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Why have I started this blog at a time when blogs seem to be dying?

Many reasons actually.

It certainly isn’t to make money, to grow a readership or anything like that.

So, in no order in particular:

I enjoy writing

This one is pretty simple: I enjoy writing. Always have.

I like sitting down and getting things out of my head. But more than that, I like editing and refining it. As much as it can feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall at times, I enjoy the act of trying to express something, doing a bad job and then finding a way to make it work.

And it feels mad that I don’t have a place to do this when it’s so relatively easy to put something out there.

I enjoy sharing what I love

When I hear a good song, watch a good film, listen to a good podcast episode, encounter a useful new app, or read a good book I’m always eager to share it with others.

If I watch a good film on a Friday, that’s all I’ll want to talk about with people that weekend. Any reason to drop it in.

So it’ll be nice to have an outlet for such things.

I enjoy sharing what I learn

I’ll often learn things, benefit greatly from it and feel compelled to share it with others.

I like it when others benefit from that knowledge, and I also like it when I benefit from others doing the same.

I want a reason to learn

I’m hoping that occasionally I’ll write about something that I’m not entirely sure about, and that having a need to describe it to others will encourage me to go a little deeper to form an understanding. To help with the illusion of clarity.

There’s a surprising lack of blogs for the things I enjoy

Given that much of what I enjoy is tech related, it surprises me how few blogs there are out there which cover the things I like (specifically Neovim, tmux, and the command line in general). YouTube has probably taken that market, and although I’m not doing this to gain hits or to seize on an oppertunity, it still feels like a hole I can try and help fill.

To get over fears of judgement

Finally, I’m very self conscious, I don’t like the idea of putting my thoughts out there and eople judging them. So this is as much about putting myself out of my confort zone as anything else.