The (slightly delayed) Big Four Oh
I normally strive to get these weekly braindumps sorted by Friday night. However, due to a busy week leading into a very busy weekend I’m writing this on Monday instead.
I’ve been working on…
Normally I jot down what I’ve been working on during the course of the week because of my recycle-bin-like memory. In my infinite wisdom I didn’t do that last week, so this might get a bit sketchy.
Monday was a bit of an Admin-ny day. Pulled some information together to get a hardware order underway. Did my usual trawl of ‘who do I need to cajole to move this project along?’. Urrgh.. project management.
My line manager was heading out the door on holiday for a couple of weeks, so we had a bit of a catch up just to make sure we were both aware of everything that is currently going on or is coming up.
Tuesday was spent diagnosing some weird database problems between two different services. This is one of those times where I’m reminded that integration between systems is often blutack and sticky tape because vendors don’t use open standards.
Also had a quick meeting about a business continuity testing. How do you best simulate a disaster to sanity check your disaster recovery procedures. How much of it can you practically do and how much is a theoretical exercise? Can’t go into too much detail about this because it’s a bit hush hush.. but I think we decided on a sensible halfway house between causing chaos and constructively learning some lessons.
Wednesday was a day off.
Thursday was mostly spent pinging back and forth between hardware suppliers to get an order for hardware sorted. I remember a time when I used to scoff at how little the likes of Apple changed the spec of their hardware.. now I can see very valid reason in not dramatically changing models every 6–9 months. Once you find a good bit of kit that suits your needs.. you really don’t want it changed all that much.
I also did an induction with one of our new board members. Pleasingly, she was really enthusiastic about the way we’re trying to use digital tools with the board.. so that bodes well. 🙂
Friday I had a meeting about a Health & Safety system. I was mostly there in an advisory capacity since (like so many things these days) the system is a service hosted off site.
The rest of the day was spent trying to tidy up any straggling tasks on the kanban board. Quite a bit sat in ‘doing’ this week which was mostly down to waiting for other people to close the loop. Not sure how best to combat that? Something to ruminate on.
I’ve been thinking about…
STILL thinking about that podcast idea (the one about digital/service transformation). I’m rapidly reaching the point at which I need to do something about it or just ditch it and move on. I think some small safe experiments to overcome my procrastination and feel my way into it. I’m currently looking at Anchor as an easy way to delve into the podcasting arena. As is often the case with side-projects, I’m worried about how much time it’ll consume.. and time is a precious commodity at the moment!
What else?
I’ve been thinking about how long I’ll be doing these braindumps for. They’re pretty useful as a reflective tool, but they also require time (there’s that time issue again) to pull together. Sometimes it’s a useful way to wind down the week and take stock. Other times, when I’m feeling particularly frazzled, it feels like it absorbs my Friday evening when I’d really like to be switching off.
I’m thinking of pushing through to 52.. just because it’ll represent a year of braindumps (although not quite a year time wise because I’ve had some weeks off for holidays). Then I’ll stop and see if I need to switch my approach up or do something different.
I’ve been reading…
- We need to promote outcomes at work not presenteeism.
https://paulitaylor.com/2017/08/13/principles-promoting-outcomes-not-presenteeism/ by Paul Taylor. - The need for diversity and collaboration in coding and design.
http://gerrymcgovern.com/the-need-for-diversity-and-collaboration-in-coding-and-design/ by Gerry McGovern. - Succession Planning
https://alicejanesmithblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/13/succession-planning/ by @alicejanesmith3 - Rent arrears and the sweet science, v.01
https://medium.com/@trinovantum/rent-arrears-and-the-sweet-science-v-01-7d5141e024f7 by Tom Harrison. - How we work: Our new principles.
http://www.bromfordlab.com/labblogcontent/2017/8/11/how-we-work-our-new-principles by Bromford Lab. - Working towards greater transparency.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/working-towards-greater-transparency-51823 by Inside Housing. - Our experiment using Facebook chatbots to improve humanitarian assistance.
http://mvam.org/2017/08/07/our-experiment-using-facebook-chatbots-to-improve-humanitarian-assistance/ - Using cartoons as a user research tool.
https://dwpdigital.blog.gov.uk/2017/08/07/using-cartoons-as-a-user-research-tool/ by @dwpdigital - How can we encourage innovation in housing?
https://goodpracticeexchange.wales/2017/08/10/housing-festival-fishbowls-failure-and-complexity/ by Dyfrig Williams. - Whether to judge on effort or results.
https://m.signalvnoise.com/whether-to-judge-on-effort-or-results-6a8fab2c1859 by DHH. - GDPR — sorting the fact from fiction.
https://iconewsblog.org.uk/2017/08/09/gdpr-sorting-the-fact-from-the-fiction/ - “As a user” needs to stop.
https://blog.prototypr.io/stop-it-with-as-a-user-5feb9b38d920 by Janet Taylor. - Helping or hindering?
http://euansemple.com/theobvious/2017/8/9/helping-or-hindering by Euan Semple. - Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
https://medium.com/@markdalgarno/be-the-change-that-you-wish-to-see-in-the-world-817f4ebffaf5 by Mark Dalgarno. - Journalists to use ‘immune system’ software against fake news.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/08/fake-news-full-fact-software-immune-system-journalism-soros-omidyar - Things of the Internet.
https://www.hollidazed.co.uk/2017/07/19/things-of-the-internet/ by Ben Holliday. - The end of typing: The next billion mobile users will rely on video and voice.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-end-of-typing-the-internets-next-billion-users-will-use-video-and-voice-1502116070 - Dignity should not be derived from just work.
https://medium.com/@vchudnov/dignity-should-not-be-derived-just-from-work-cabaed191408 - Come and work with data folk in Cardiff.
http://cardiff.theodi.org/2017/08/08/dewch-i-weithio-gydar-werin-datas-yng-nghaerdydd/ by @ODICardiff - Did you really take a hit? Understanding how video games playing affects individuals.
http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/did-you-really-take-hit-understanding-how-video-games-playing-affects-individuals - How to find and nurture digital readiness.
https://paulitaylor.com/2017/08/06/how-to-find-and-nurture-digital-readiness/amp/ by Paul Taylor - Three’s company.
https://m.signalvnoise.com/threes-company-df77db78d1af by Jason Fried. - On collaboration as a social justice issue.
https://medium.com/@lml10/on-collaboration-as-a-social-justice-issue-4641785c6443 by Leah Lockhart. - Public engagement: crap apps, Lego, conversation and politicians.
https://socialforthepeople.com/2017/08/03/public-engagement-crap-apps-lego-conversation-and-politicians/ by Helen Reynolds. - New union aims to overhaul self-employed worker’s rights.
https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/05/union-self-employed-workers-rights-freelancers - GDPR is coming. Are you ready?
https://medium.com/@timtamimi/gdpr-is-coming-are-you-ready-3e9e09e41e8b by Tim Tamimi.
I’ve been listening to..
- Decrypted : A lifelong quest for flying cars sparked frenzy, then bankruptcy.
http://pca.st/HcPI - How AI can enhance our memory, work and social lives.
http://pca.st/A44v - Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world — podcast.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2017a/jul/31/globalisation-the-rise-and-fall-of-an-idea-that-swept-the-world-podcast - Innovation hub: Switching gears in the global economy.
http://pca.st/R7p5 - 50 things that made the modern economy: Seller feedback.
http://pca.st/fYvE