This week I have learned: The haka, whilst standing pitch side at Twickenham That decarbonisation is a systems-thinking challenge That the problems always sit at the boundaries That a constantly crashing PC really buggers up a great interview That I've pretty much given up on both football and politics Next week: a statement of intent … Continue reading Weeknote 463 – Twickers
Let's get the funk outta here. Yeah. I'm a middle-class kid, brought up in Watford. That sort of talk is incongruous really, isn't it? There's a Riot Going On is wonky, dirty, grimy funk. Soul music emerging out of the excesses of the hippy '60s. And Family Affair sonically one of the cosiest songs ever … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1971
This week I have learned: going "off wish list" is possible, but an emotional roller-coaster getting people to get out and see other people in other organisations who have done things that you need to do is a cracking approach (I hope) the ideas I had a few years ago about Homeopathic IT I think … Continue reading Weeknote 462: 50th year
Yesterday I began my 50th year on the planet. So today I am beginning a new project, building on a thing I did as I approached the milestone of 40. Every week for the next 51 weeks I'll be picking one album from each of the calendar years I've been around. The albums will mean … Continue reading 51 for 50 – 1970
This week I have learned: that the mortality rate of a 78-year-old today is the same as that of a 65-year-old in 1922. The impact of an ageing population is profound in so many ways, and quite frankly we are mostly like Ostriches to it all at the moment. it was unbelievably great to see … Continue reading Weeknote 461: card tricks
This week I have learned: I have basically lost interest in politics. It is possible to fit a remarkable number of words onto a PowerPoint slide if you try really hard. That being given a structure to follow can help crystallize ideas. Getting some roadshows up and running, getting folk out and seeing people as … Continue reading Weeknote 460 – budgets
My erstwhile WB-40 Podcasting colleague Chris Weston this afternoon flagged a website that is keeping a watching eye over the plethora of tactical voting websites that have sprung up this year to, primarily, help people who want to vote on grounds of Brexit rather than party allegiance. Who would have thought that we could get … Continue reading The wrong problem
This week I have learned: Many of the challenges facing social housing as a sector are far broader than bricks and mortar; economic deprivation, substance abuse, mental and physical health. Housing associations can't possibly solve all of that. But we can focus on those things that we can control and influence. Three simple questions: who … Continue reading Weeknote 459: #cardstock
I've got a lot of filtering and prioritisation to do. There is a lot that is new to me. I'm getting to know a new organisation, new people, a new sector, new customers, new technologies (and a few old ones that are new to me). I need to start a journey towards being people-centric. I … Continue reading Three questions
In the year after I left Microsoft, I spent time vacillating as to whether a freelance way of working or a traditional full-time role was my better option. As the work failed to come in during that first year, I veered towards the latter and got to the final two for a CTO role. I … Continue reading Shifting gears
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