A few years ago I read somewhere (source long since forgotten) of a definition of a game being a series of barriers that players decide voluntarily to overcome. At the time it struck me that that pretty much described much of the business of working, too. Although the volunteer nature of the pursuit may be … Continue reading Self-imposed barriers
Every year to accompany the Silicon Beach event, those speaking are asked to contribute to a book that is distributed to all attendees. Here's my contribution... A good friend of mine and I enjoy a heated debate. She’s an accountant with opinions. I’m a gob-shite. We both like a glass or two of red with … Continue reading Blindly Following Rules
This week I have learned: - how to draw a chicken - why Silicon Beach is my favourite of events Next week: more new stuff
Having recently learned to draw a cartoon chicken* following the wonderful tutorial from @SimonHeath1, and now fully in flow with the iPad/Pencil program, a new diversion: Heath Chickenson. Episode 1: *Simon's instructions are technically for a pigeon. Don't let that distract you.
Back in the early 1980s my then senior school, Bushey Hall, was faced with closure. The local education authority had proposed that the place should be shut, merged into another school a mile or so up the road. Parents and pupils fought the proposal. We organised. We created a petition, and got many thousands of … Continue reading Appocracy
This week I have learned: - the organisational power and reach of Twitter is still surprising - Broadcasting House has changed a bit since I was last there - repeat business is really nice as a validation of my work - but I’m still embracing the imposter Next week: Silicon Beach
Imagine a scenario... You are busy doing whatever it is that earns you your living. Your phone rings. It's from someone who might need something so important that you need to interrupt your current activity. But it might be trivial enough that you don't. You answer the phone. It's trivial. You haven't got the time … Continue reading The place of work
This week I have learned: The temptation to make cloud like problems subject to clock like analysis is relentless in organisations. Two weeks left before Silicon Beach and I think I have my story straight. I struggle to understand people who don't understand that all politics is how suspended because of Brexit. Next week the … Continue reading Weeknote 353: user experience
The theme of facial recognition appears to be in the news at the moment. Not only, though, from the introduction of Apple’s latest thousand pound fondle slab, but from news about a research project that has been using machine learning techniques reportedly to identify sexuality. Now first of all there is a lot of media … Continue reading All in the eyes
One of the things I noted early on about my use of paper notepads was how it often serves the role of a mobile flip chart. I draw (not particularly well) to help explain or explore ideas with others. One of my big bugbears with using web conferencing services like Hangouts is the loss of … Continue reading The no-notebook experiment: day 5
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