The term dashboard has irritated me for a long while. I'm of the school of thought that if you try to make complex things really simple, you've probably made them stupid too. Complexity and ambiguity is the way of the world in which we live, and boiling down multi-faceted management information into a couple … Continue reading Crap tech industry metaphors: 9 the dashboard
Achievements this week included: - a couple of interesting Plan B leads - a great insight into Action Learning (and how it might help Plan A) - planning for a madcap trip to the US next week - a good chinwag with my old boss Simon (that's old in both senses of the term in … Continue reading Weeknote 181: traction?
It’s that time of year where those prone to procrastination find themselves knee-deep in bank statements, receipts and other bits of financial flotsam and jetsam. Yes, it’s the end of January and the last chance to complete one’s tax return. The online self-assessment service is a classic example of an information system that is complex … Continue reading Anti-agile
Achievements this week included: - launch of the 3rd #socialCEO report - my first column for CIO magazine - great meetings with James B in his new abode... - ... Diana and Samar to discussion the intersection of digital and architecture... - ... Talksy... - ... Dr Jack, my favourite Neuroscientist... - and old BBC chum … Continue reading Weeknote 180: Treble top
In my illustrious career as a management trainer, the first course that I ever delivered was a two-day Negotiation Skills event run for an energy company in a dingy hotel in Shoreham-on-Sea. Other than my extreme imposter syndrome, there are two other things that I remember clearly from the experience: firstly, that being able to … Continue reading Pricing and negotiation
In the post-war period in Britain scientists Eric Trist, Ken Bamforth and Fred Emery conducted research into a strange thing that was going on in the coal mining industry at the time. Having survived the ravages of the global conflict, the mining industry was investing heavily to bring it into the modern age. New state-of-the-art machinery was deployed, but … Continue reading The engineer’s fallacy
Achievements this week: - half-a-dozen new long-term paths uncovered - and some shorter-term ones with a local authority... - ... and a pillar of the Irish community... - good catch ups with James G... - ... and Ruairi at Essence - most of the words completed for the #socialCEO report (SIGN UP NOW!!!) - and … Continue reading Weeknote 179: with a side helping of culture
A thought-provoking evening last night spent at the first #culturevist event, a side project from Matthew Partovi (who is otherwise gainfully employed as a Customer Success Manager at Yammer, who hosted the event). The audience seemed to split into two camps - those seeking to instill a "great culture" at their place of work, and those … Continue reading #culturevist
A couple of days after the news that Google is to acquire the smart thermostat and fire alarm company Nest, my main thought now is that I’m jolly glad I don’t work for a utility company right now. The poor things, just about catching up with the web. Making tentative steps into the world of … Continue reading Welcome to the disrupt-o-zone
My wife recently entered the world of the quantified self and wearable computing when she got a FitBit activity tracker. It's really interesting to see how quickly the device, the app, and the "10,000 steps a day" target has changed her behaviour. We are walking to places where before we would have driven. I'm … Continue reading The only person you’re cheating is yourself
