TwigLeap
What is TwigLeap?
TwigLeap brings together two simple concepts that run deceptively deep.
TWIG is shorthand for “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. It’s a familiar idea that most of us grasp intuitively: come together, and you will be better for it.
What I find compelling is how urgent this idea has become, especially when it comes to technology innovation and how we must change the way we solve problems. For example, each role in the Software Development Lifecycle could evolve its own tasks in isolation using Generative AI. But the real expansion of what’s possible happens when we step back and consider the system as a whole.
Imagine requirements specialists creating clickable prototypes, while software engineers write specifications. When teams blur traditional boundaries and think holistically, entirely new ways of collaborating and delivering value emerge.
This pattern shows up everywhere. Concepts combine to illuminate new meanings. Individual steps form end-to-end flows. Research methods converge to produce insight. Defenders and attackers come together to form a football (soccer) team.
This blog will explore how connecting the dots across disciplines, roles, and ideas can help us create more value and solve more interesting problems.
Leap represents the power of observation, the ability to think differently, challenge assumptions and innovate freely. One of my favorite leap examples is the story of M-Pesa in Kenya.
For decades, Kenya lacked the land-based infrastructure required for traditional banking and telecommunication. As a result, large parts of the population, especially in rural areas, were excluded from services that many countries take for granted. This placed Kenya’s economy at a severe disadvantage.
Yet that gap in infrastructure created a counter-intuitive freedom: when affordable mobile phones became widespread, Kenya had no legacy infrastructure to migrate and didn’t need to modernize an existing banking system - they had the opportunity to build something entirely new. And now M-Pesa is used by over 90% of adults in Kenya and facilitates almost 60% of the country’s GDP.
The birth and extraordinary success of Safaricom’s M-Pesa deserves its own post. And the core lesson that being “behind” can be an advantage when it frees you from legacy constraints is one we’ll return to often.
Together, the conviction that we need to free ourselves from legacy thinking and that we need to connect the dots in order to unearth new ways of solving problems is what animates this blog.