Imagine that tomorrow your government announced that a new App was to be released. That every citizen over the age of 16 would be obliged to install this app on their phone, and would be duty-bound to carry the phone around with them at all times. Travelling without a phone with the active app install … Continue reading Hard choices
Category: Themes
The first organisation in which I worked that really did a lot of conference calling was Reuters. I found it really hard some times when a whole group of people, very expensively co-located in plush offices in the centre of London's Canary Wharf, would be forced to sit at desks and individually dial into meetings … Continue reading One-to-one-to-one-to
A question came up about what makes for a successful online event on one of the many WhatsApp groups of which I'm a member. Here are my thoughts... First off, what's really of value to participants at an event? Maybe for some it's the content, but for many the content is just an excuse to … Continue reading Successful online events
It's been strange. The world turned upside down in a matter of moments. Isolation leading to more social contact than I can remember in ages. A creeping sense of dread. The talk is of how the world will change when this is all over. How things will be different. How assumptions have been challenged. Every … Continue reading A cliff edge
This week I have learned: it starts to become more real when people you know start to become effected.the variation in experience and confidence of using collaboration tools is vast.I've caught up with more people in the last 10 days than I have done in months. Social distancing is bringing us together.I fear, though, that … Continue reading Weeknote 477 – remote
This week I have learned: Start the week with a bit of random artistic endeavourThat Housing Technology appears to be in a -15 year timewarpThat a Prius catalytic converter is both resell-able and extremely steal-ableThe Meeting Owl is rather goodMicroservices are the new snake oilI've got a cold. No, it's really just a coldThree-way on … Continue reading Weeknote 474: housing technology
It's difficult to make sense of the current wave of panic that is sweeping over the nation as concerns about the Coronavirus strike at the heart of all sorts of things, even if COVID19 itself is curiously absent. Get mildly freaked out and carry on appears to be the order of the day. As businesses … Continue reading The homeworking pandemic
Last week I had the pleasure of catching up with a former colleague G. He and I, some twenty one years ago, were involved in a project that delivered the very first Data Warehouse into the BBC. It was a project that had oversight from John Birt, the then Director General, and a manager with … Continue reading A decade of bad IT?
This week I have learned: That I am really not cut out for skiingLaw firm offices really are hilariously interchangeableOnce you get over the initial silliness of talking about gnomes, you find that they’re a great way to explore interesting problemsThe gulf between wallpapering over the cracks and knocking down the whole damn building is … Continue reading Weeknote 471: sore toes
For the past couple of decades, I've found myself, for one reason or another, in front of groups of people asking them to identify brands that, for them, sum up really great or really bad customer service. In the latter category, the types of brands have remained remarkably stable, even if some of the names … Continue reading Mind the Pizza Gap
