Meet Pete
I’m Dr. Peter Drakeley — business leader, researcher, builder, occasional coder and chronic collector of intellectual rabbit holes.
By day, I work in supply chain software. I’ve spent much of my career helping businesses improve the way they manage inventory, make decisions and adopt technology. I also have a PhD focused on Inventory Optimisation adoption in SMEs.
Drakeley Labs is where I get to explore everything else I can’t stop thinking about: AI, data, human performance, science, decision-making, books, technology and the occasional bit of rock ’n’ roll.
Why Drakeley Labs exists
I created Drakeley Labs because I wanted somewhere to think, build and experiment in public.
AI is going to change how people work, how businesses operate and, increasingly, what it means to be good at being human. But I’m less interested in the breathless “AI will change everything” stuff than I am in practical questions.
What can we actually build with it? How do smaller businesses use it without creating a complete mess? Which decisions should machines make — and which should remain human? And as technology becomes more capable, what capabilities become more important for us?
That last question is why Drakeley Labs isn’t only about technology.
Better humans. Better businesses. Better world.
What I’m exploring
AI & Intelligent Systems
LLMs, agents, automation, Python and what actually works outside the demo.
Data, Decisions & Business
Forecasting, optimisation, analytics, SMEs, supply chains and better ways to make decisions.
Human Performance
Learning, judgement, resilience, creativity, fitness, mindset and becoming more capable.
Science & Ideas
Physics, complexity, books, research and whatever interesting question I’ve wandered into this week.
A bit of background
My professional life has mostly been spent at the intersection of business, technology and supply chains. I currently work in senior leadership in supply chain software, with experience across sales, marketing, partnerships, customer success and technology adoption.
My academic work has focused on how SMEs adopt Inventory Optimisation technology, culminating in a PhD exploring the barriers, enablers and practical steps involved in successful adoption.
I’m particularly interested in the gap between a technology being technically possible and it actually becoming useful inside a real organisation. That gap tends to contain people, processes, incentives, data, judgement, culture and an alarming number of spreadsheets.
Away from the laptop
I’m also interested in theoretical physics, books, writing, guitars, rock ’n’ roll, sport and trying to remain vaguely fit while spending far too much time sitting at a desk.
I coach youth sport, read widely, occasionally convince myself I’m going to relearn all the physics I’ve forgotten, and tend to have more projects than available hours.
Drakeley Labs is partly an attempt to turn that curiosity into something useful.