Hidden meanings

There's a bit of a push on at work these days for the organisation to be paperless. For the most part I am: I barely ever use the printer and am quite happy to consume information on the various screen devices that I have about my person. However there are two cases in which paper … Continue reading Hidden meanings

The Start-up of You – Review

I've recently completed Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha's book about careers in the 21st Century, The Start-up of You. It's an interesting read - part practical guide to networking, part sage-like advice on the future of work and jobs and careers, and part LinkedIn user manual. That last bit can grate a bit at times, … Continue reading The Start-up of You – Review

Effective email?

Never a day seems to go by without another article predicting either the death of email or it's inevitable dominance. The thing is, the technology isn't the issue; it's all in the way we use and abuse it. So following on from recent thoughts about stricter structures for how meetings might work, a colleague Rob … Continue reading Effective email?

Assumed innocence

I've just got back from a very pleasant weekend in the Bavarian city of Munich. It was interesting to see how some things are done very differently on the continent. Take train travel, and what we euphemistically refer to as "revenue protection". In the UK these days there are on the spot fines for travelling … Continue reading Assumed innocence

Separation anxiety

There have been two sets of buildings that seem to have been constants through most of my life: Watford FC's Vicarage Road stadium, and BBC Television Centre. The history of the latter enters a new era from tomorrow. TVC, as the abbreviation junkies at the BBC inevitably call it, was a place I first visited … Continue reading Separation anxiety

Rise of the TechnoGranny

  I hear a lot of talk about millennials. The generation after Gen-Y, who will be coming through  into the world of work, social-networked up to their eyeballs. They will change the way in which we work, apparently. Actually, I'm getting a bit bored of this cult of youth. Maybe it's because I'm getting a … Continue reading Rise of the TechnoGranny

Horsing around

  Just occasionally one spots something on social networks that makes you think "Uh oh. This is going to end in tears." Towards the end of the afternoon yesterday I had one of those moments; a sponsored tweet from UK supermarket Sainsbury's asking "Are you cooking with an unusual food tonight? We’d love you to … Continue reading Horsing around

Consumption patterns

I've spoken and written in the past about how the general expectations that we have as consumers of technology these days are going to place increasing pressure onto IT departments as people rise up against the controls and constraints of traditional "systems". I thought it worth exploring a bit from the other perspective - how does … Continue reading Consumption patterns