The leaders internet giant Talking and Shopping come to Washington to make their mark, not thinking that Washington might make its mark upon them. Their CEO, Abby Alton, comes to town to testify to Congress. Her brilliant but undisciplined CTO, Ed Kowalsk, follows as an unwelcome addition.
Cast and Creatives
Initially released as "What Big Tech Doesn't Know (About Washington)". The original recordings reflect that title.
They don’t talk.
They don’t write.
They don’t really like dealing with each other.
Yet, they need each other, need each other in a fundamental, all consuming way.
We’re talking about Tech and Government, in case there was any question.
And do you know how we know, how we know this?
Because this is one of the things we do at How We Manage Stuff. We have a small policy office on the unfashionable side of Capitol Hill that is led by Sulley, our Policy and PR Director. From this vantage, Sulley and his staff help Tech leaders understand why they need government and Washington policy-makers appreciate that tech is not quite as frightening as they thought.
So we’ve got a new client – a hapless Tech Giant called T&S – and we’re about to start a new story. It features Debbon Ayer as the CEO Abby Alton, Kit Kuksenok as the CTO genius Ed Kowalski, Margaux Amie as Senator Christine Stassen, and Geoffrey Grier as government administrator Morris Fitz.
But before we start this narrative, the head of our Washington Office, Sulley, walks down the median of Pennsylvania Avenue to explain what is about to happen.
And so the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19101]
Only rarely do you see the big picture.
Most of the time, it is a nightmare.
15,000 people. Running through the tunnel that lie beneath the US Capitol. The share information, cut deals, plan strategies, and try to advance their own little agendas.
Only once in while can they climb to the top and see how the pieces fit together.
And so our story begins. The director of the How We Manage Stuff Washington Office, takes two of our staff members to the top of the Library of Congress to show them the view. Chaos is about to descend but for a moment, they can appreciate a clear day and a beautiful landscape.
Except that one of them spies a strange building that they hadn’t noticed before.
So begins our tale.
First episode in the new series begins “Talking and Shopping” from the HWMS Audio Theatre.
[19110]
Money isn’t everything
Ideas are surprisingly important
But people carry the ideas.
And promote the ideas.
And analyze, and dispute, and contradict, and accep,t and reject, and all the rest of the things that you do with ideas.
In the process, the people find themselves carrying, promoting, analyzing, disputing, accepting and rejecting each other.
The story continues with a meeting of of the HWMS staff in our slightly cramped conference room with its perpetual view of the Capitol Hill Power Plant. Events start to unfold and they are the events of ideas, ideas that remind us what a busy day can actually be.
Second episode in the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19115]
Speed. Disruption. Innovation.
Not Duty. Not Deliberation. Not Honor.
Tech let us reordered our virtues.
Policy, if taken thoughtfully, makes us examine that reordering.
It may not solve anything but it makes us wonder if we’re doing things the right way.
Policy is never “Us” versus “The Government”. It’s “Us” versus “Our Neighbors.” And sometimes, those times when we don’t quite see all of our neighbors clearly, we can be vulnerable.
Anna, and Yasmin and Sulley, start working to get their client, the Internet Giant “Talking and Shopping” a better position in Washington. It doesn’t start well. We get a tongue lashing, some cryptic advice, and a cup of tea from a slightly batty business woman.
Third episode in the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19117]
Does this happen to you?
Your Uber Driver knows more than you’re client?
It’s embarrassing, yes?
Big Tech spends millions, hundreds of millions, of dollars in Washington and what do they get for their money?
A service.
Nothing more.
A service. That’s it.
Why is that a problem you ask?
It’s the problem of the Gig Economy. When you hire a contractor to do your bidding, key bits of information don’t flow across the contractual boarder. Knowledge often fails to make the leap. History certainly is left on the curb when the driver pulls away. And wisdom? Lonely wisdom? Clutching her purse and hoping for the best?
Fourth episode in the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19120]
There’s a reason.
A senatorial aide who seems inept at social media?
There’s a reason.
A trade association director who seems to be speaking in tongues?
There’s a reason.
An administrative assistant who has a little too much data about you, about your roommate, and about the stain on the carpet floor?
There’s certain a reason for that.
The senior leadership of the Internet firm Talking and Shopping arrives in Washington DC to see how much or how little they understand about national politics.
There certainly is a reason for this.
Fifth episode in the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19125]
You’d think they’d be on the same side.
Wouldn’t that be obvious?
But the CTO has arrived in Washington and things that he should be the center, the center of attention.
But that was never the plan.
And not only will he have to convince his boss, he’s going to have to convince her Wolfhound, Maggy the Fury.
And you’d think they’d be on the same side.
The senior leadership of the Internet firm Talking and Shopping starts to encounter the politics of Washington DC.
Sixth episode in the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19127]
Swapping Gossip.
A pair of old friends meeting for lunch.
What is Talking and Shopping trying to do in DC? Is Big Tech vulnerable? Is there some agenda that they don’t see?
And then there is the reporter. Did I mention the reporter?
What they do see is a little meeting between congressional aides, aides sho are in love, just not with each other.
The senior leadership of the Internet firm Talking and Shopping starts to encounter the politics of Washington DC.
Seventh episode in the new series begins “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know” from the audio drama “How We Manage Stuff.”
[19130]
Hardship means different things at different times.
Abby Alton, the CEO of Talking and Shopping, finishes a long day of meeting members of Congress.
In place of a moment of rest, she is faced with an obsequious assistant, an aide who has yet to understand the invasive nature of modern retail, and a consultant who has learned a story of political trouble.
Birnham Wood may be starting to move to Dunsinane. The leadership T&S is starting to grasp that success in the market is not the same thing as success in Washington.
So starts the second act of our tale. The eighth episodes of the Audio Drama “What Big Tech Doesn’t Know.”
[19135]