Stories, from Adrian Cowderoy

Stories to entertain and surprise. Some provide comfort, some inspiration, others make me angry, and a few have puzzles.

The stories are written to help. Each story illustrates a different challenge people find at work or in their lives, and how they respond. There are some neat tricks here, and in the commentaries at the end I reveal more.

I’ve followed the mantra of “never knowingly untruthful”, but the stories need to be short and focused. Ultimately, the objective is to have fun.

Surprises from industry – true-life stories

True-life stories. Some are anonymised after consulting the principal character. They’re 3-14 pages long.

From the many things I’ve seen in my career, these stories are selected because they link to the Intelligence and Management themes on this website.

• “Fightback” – manage a technology failure – a case study19 June 2023
  A technology failure. This is a case study of a quality assurance manager facing his worst nightmare, and how he reacted. It’s an example of intelligence-based project management.
• “Today will be different” – how to achieve chaos resolution14 May 2023
  Chaos surrounds Libby’s work. She dreams of order. Then a new manager arrives and claims he has a magic wand. … This is story of a chaos resolution.
• Rehan Haque and Metatalent.ai – what makes an entrepreneur?14 November 2022
  This is an account of the creation of Metatalent.ai and the emergence of its founder, Rehan Haque as an entrepreneur. It’s a true story, written by an insider.

Tales of intelligence workers – very short stories

Stories about different aspects of modern espionage, ethics and the challenges facing young professionals. Many of the story themes also relate to other types of job. They’re 2-7 pages long.

• Sweet and Sour Chaos – escape from an intelligence agency to industry3 December 2022
  An intelligence analyst tries to find a “purpose” after escaping from the “Agency” to industry. Konstantina must save her colleagues from disaster. … The story illustrates challenges of taking intelligence practices and adding them to project management in industry.
• Drumhead Trial – an example, and 6 ways to fight it28 January 2022
  “Drumhead Trial”. An intelligence researcher is accused of incompetence when investigative journalists outsmart him. The story shows the danger of being a scapegoat – in almost any job.
• An agency man – a story of an ex intelligence officer in industry1 November 2021
  Ex intelligence officers face many challenges adjusting to civilian life. This is a 4 page story to illustrate the transition, and the challenge of hiding their background.
• Spy catcher rivals – using AI in counter intelligence27 September 2021
  Spy catchers (counter-intelligence). An intelligence analyst competes against a researcher armed with AI. Who will catch the spy first?
• Donat’s story – choose soft skills vs hard skills11 August 2021
  Donat’s going to miss his dream job to more experienced candidates, unless he can work a miracle. … A story of soft skills vs hard skills.
• Too many presidents – how to protect data privacy rights27 May 2021
  A young business analyst must confront her feared boss. The 3-page story covers data privacy rights in a large company, and snooping by intelligence agencies. The story also illustrates how to manage unknown-unknowns.
• The secret devil’s advocate – a story of managing the unknown24 May 2021
  The Secret Devil’s Advocate is a fictional account of managing “unknown unknowns”. The 7-page story illustrates standard methods, listed here.
• “The 4 Seasons” story – elevator pitch example22 February 2021
  Radha reread her resignation letter. It was a huge step. The Agency had been her home, and her dream.
• The Three Newbies – find your best career path15 February 2021
  Saleem wrinkled his nose. “They laughed when we all talked about career goals for intelligence professionals. What’s wrong with a career path?”
• The Poltergeist – an intrusive surveillance example25 January 2021
  Poltergeist! The words throbbed in Sabra’s mind as she inspected what had moved. …
• Rage – an intimidation case12 January 2021
  “Intimidation case.” Hans listened to the man in the red shirt. The man in the red shirt inspected Hans’s mobile then powered it off. “Secrecy first,” he said.
• Person Lurking – story of AI in intelligence analysis1 December 2020
  Person lurking by Zone Sierra. Nervous movement, potential improvised explosive device. The automated intelligence analysis flashed on Tessa’s screen.
• Judicial oversight – a 2-page story of illegal intercepts1 November 2020
  They arrived without warning in José’s office. A high court judge, a policewoman from Operational Security, and a clear implication of illegal intercepts.
• Wuhan and biological weapons capability – a story1 November 2020
  The professor stared at the words Top Secret on the analysis report. She lifted it and read the title: Wuhan Biological Weapons and Covid-19. She shrugged.
• The assassination – a 2-page story of an ethical dilemma31 October 2020
  ‘Is he actually proposing a kill order? That we should become involved in an assassination?’ The intelligence researcher’s eyes widened.
• Paranoia – a 2-page story of work overload and OSINT31 October 2020
  The paranoia was returning. Isabelle’s head throbbed with pain and her eyes were loosing their focus. She had too many types of intelligence feed to research.
• Forced confession – a 2-page story of an analyst’s dilema31 October 2020
  The forced confession was in stilted Arabic with words that the suspect never used, and the recording from the interview had been replaced by a transcript.
• Suicide risk – a story of a failed intelligence officer30 October 2020
  Death or the classroom. Mohammed planned to sit at the back of the room and contemplate the appropriate method of suicide for a failed intelligence officer.
• Presumed guilty – a story of intrusive surveillance30 October 2020
  ‘She’s a journalist, that makes her guilty,’ the intelligence officer declared. ‘Get me evidence for intrusive surveillance and we’ll find her dirty secrets.’
• The price of secrecy-first – a 2½-page story30 October 2020
  Mikael’s secrecy-first speech was cut short by the minister. ‘Tell me more about this cyber-attack. Are they really intending to cripple our railway network?’
• A delicate liaison – a 2-page story of fear and bullying29 October 2020
  “Francesca will be in danger,” Graziano warned. It wasn’t the role of an intelligence liaison operative to state the obvious but he feared for her.
• A special kind of odd – a 2-page story of intelligence research29 October 2020
  Jon screamed silently at the quantity of raw intelligence. There were thousands of suspicious persons, highlighted because the AI computers had seen patterns that matched people on the terrorist watch list.
• The intelligence collectors’ AI Awayday – a 2-page story26 October 2020
  The AI Awayday for the intelligence collectors had been in the calendar for weeks, and the mystery had added to the excitement about Artificial Intelligence.

(The artwork used in the flash fiction is from Adobe stock.)

Novel-writing – tracing the arcs of people’s lives

There’s much in the area of intelligence work that hasn’t been told. Intelligence work changes people’s lives. The little stories on this website pick up specific points, but there’s much more detail. It needs the panoramic view of a novel.

In novel-writing, I strive for accuracy. It’s not just technical accuracy, but the emotional journeys that people go through. It’s good material for human stories, and it doesn’t matter if you ignore the intelligence detail.

I have one novel recently completed. I’m looking for representation (a literary agent). There’s an outline for a sequel, and ideas for other stories.