Weeknote 327: playing around

This week I have learned: that I have apparently become a product owner (interim) that the key to improvisation is listening (thanks to Neil Mullarky) that Customer Experience should maybe become an optional extra that I bloody love radio Next week: trying to work out what being a product owner (interim) actually means, and a … Continue reading Weeknote 327: playing around

The Thinking Duck

A new week, a new book. This week it's Steven Johnson's Wonderland: How play made the modern world. Johnson's thesis is that much technological innovation attend from the pursuit of happiness and distraction rather than from hard-headed economic need. In one of the early chapters he charts how the work of automata manufacturer Jacques dear … Continue reading The Thinking Duck

Hot under the collar

My wife and I argue about thermostats. After this article we'll probably argue about thermostats and my blogging. I see a room or car thermostat as a device to set a target temperature for the space in which it sits. If I'm too cold, I judge whether to increase the temperature a bit. If I'm … Continue reading Hot under the collar

Competition Time!

There's a free ticket available for the Customer Experience World event at which I'm speaking next month. All you need to do is send you answer to the following question: What is the percentage of people using Twitter for Customer Service now? a) 60% b) 70% c) 55% by email to sandie@thefocusgroup.org.uk T&Cs here: http://www.focusgroupevents.com/CEW-Digital-2017/competition  

Weeknote 320: 2017

This week I have learned: I struggle to understand how the "rational" approach to the impending President Trump is anything other than fairly irrational. I am contemplating buying a Mac. Long story. So much of my career has been in roles where the value is a narrative, not a set of KPIs. That can be … Continue reading Weeknote 320: 2017

The Agile Stage

The circumstances that led up to my meeting with David Schneider are a microcosm of the sorts of things that I think organisations (and we individually) need to do to be able to survive and flourish in our ever-ambiguous modern world. Social networks enable us to make connections with people with an ease that just … Continue reading The Agile Stage

Weeknote 319: improvisation

This week I have learned: The trouble with Agile is that organisations forget about the human side of things and just end up trying to follow the instructions verbatim People who willingly help others are just the best. Being told "we've still got £200 to spend" when at a bar at Christmas... well, you can … Continue reading Weeknote 319: improvisation