When Alice had been a runner, her gang set her up in a contract job at one of Manhattan’s largest architectural firms. The plan was to hack their ancient IT systems and steal the bank account details. From the outside, the firm looked like a cool place to work; on the inside, it was rotten and corroded. The company loved slogans; they were trying to convince themselves they were special. Mottos such as "The Strength of Innovation" or "Great by Choice" covered the walls. It took a while, but Alice got it in the end—real design firms didn’t need slogans, they just got on with the job. That office had been awful—dull, cowardly people churning out dull, cowardly designs.