SpatzAI is a pre-grievance self-management system for addressing minor behavioural issues in workplace teams. Its purpose is to help team members resolve objectionable behaviour early, fairly and proportionately, without unnecessarily involving managers or HR. THE AGREEMENT Teams agree to the Spatz Team Charter (5-page PDF), establishing explicit behavioural boundaries and a level playing field, regardless of rank. Every team member has an equal right to disagree with another person's ideas and to object to their behaviour.
Objections Before Complaints: Get It Wrong and Maybe We’re Screwed
We encourage people to speak up at work. But what happens when the person they're speaking to responds unfairly? Imagine you raise a concern about a faulty screw during a team meeting. Your manager dismisses you rudely or simply ignores your concerns. The screw may or may not be faulty. That's one issue. Your manager's behaviour is another. So, you complain anonymously about her to HR. But consider what happens next.
What is Your Organization Prepared to Do?
I read a post today that contained this line: “That gap between what an organisation knows and WHAT IT IS PREPARED TO DO can tell us a great deal about its culture.” I think the intended meaning of prepared was fairly clear. The organisation knows there is a behavioural problem, but it is not sufficiently willing to confront it. Fair point. But I read another meaning into the same word.
Start With the Experience, Then Work Backwards to AI
Steve Jobs once gave a piece of advice that feels even more relevant today: “You’ve got to start with the customer experience first and then work backwards to the technology.” That principle matters enormously in the age of AI. The temptation now is to begin with the technology. We ask: What can AI do? Where can we apply it? What market can we sell it into? Jobs’ logic runs in the opposite direction.
The Spatz Escalator Pitch
What is the future of addressing workplace psychosocial hazards? For us, and perhaps for many in this field, the answer is becoming clear: AI-assisted, real-time psychological safety. But what does that actually mean? In our view, it means every team member having a standard toolkit and process that helps make speaking up private, transparent (when required), and consistent.
Resolved or Escalate. Repeat
Make sure the issue is repeated enough times before complaining. Then: If this happens, wait 90 seconds, stay calm. Be respectful. If that fails, document privately. If they respond this way, then complain anonymously to HR. If they respond another way, involve your manager secretly. Etc. Etc. No wonder there are so many unresolved conflicts causing toxic workplaces. SpatzChat takes a simpler approach.
Observable General Intelligence 2
Maybe we've been asking the wrong question. For years, the discussion has been about Artificial General Intelligence. Can we build it? When will it arrive? How will we know? But perhaps the future of intelligence is not really about whether it is artificial. Perhaps the future of general intelligence is being observable.
It’s the behavior, stupid!
I think we often confuse criticism with course correction. Criticism usually comes after frustration has built up. "I'm sick of you always doing that." By then, several incidents may have accumulated, emotions are higher, and the discussion can easily become about the person rather than the behavior. SpatzAI takes a different approach....
I’ll Spatz You Later
Imagine if we had a chat-app and platform that enabled teams, during meetings, to address minor objectionable issues on the fly, before they were allowed to fester, compound and escalate into more intractable conflict incidents down the track.
Ignoring is Ignorant Behavior
Ignoring is one of the quietest ways minor workplace tension becomes conflict. That is: Not answering. Not acknowledging. Letting a concern hang in the air. The difficulty is that “ignoring” is hard to prove. A person can always say they missed it, were busy, misunderstood, or did not think a response was needed.
