Bridging Boundaries

A blog about people and technology.

weeknotes

Weeknotes S3 E1 (2019 Edition)

By Neil

Shwmae!

It’s been a good week, but I’m very ready to embrace the weekend, so I’m eager to rattle through these weeknotes at a reasonable speed so that can happen!

(Narrator: He would later spend ages rambling on and decidedly not writing weeknotes at speed)

At this point, it seems that you’re either #teamOffice365 or #teamGSuite. Having used both, I know which I prefer, but it strikes me as a similar choice to Android & Apple. Depending on how embedded you are within the ecosystem, or how willing you are to endure some friction to re-learn that which has become muscle memory, then you are likely to veer toward one option or another.

Most workplaces that have been around for a while are reasonably bought in to the Microsoft ecosystem. That does not mean it’s always the best choice, but often it seems the default one or the path of least resistance. The thread from Sharon O’Dea below is an interesting read.

One of the great things about working with smaller teams and/or orgs who have fully embraced a modern toolset for work is that you get to witness the future in action. Seeing how efficiently meetings get arranged, documents get collaborated on or decisions get made can be a real eye opener to a whole other parallel universe of possiblity. That often looks like an array of specific tools that are flexible but interconnected. And they are prepared swap tools out when something better emerges.

I digress!

I remember once trying to explain the benefits of GSuite to a colleague who looked totally underwhelmed when I started talking about collaborating on a document with multiple people at the same time. Granted, it doesn’t sound particularly Earth shattering. It wasn’t until we worked on the same document for meeting notes that the penny dropped. We watched in real-time as five of us collectively typed actions and made corrections. Typically that might have involved one person taking notes then all of us revewing them to ensure they were accurate.

Compared to the technology that gets all the hype (AI, Blockchain, chatbots, RPA) it sounds incredibly mundane, but it’s transformative in the way that it fundamentally removes friction and eliminates waste from every day work. The tools most people use, most of the time.

I think the challenge is modelling what the new world looks like. Many of us working in the public and social sector have got to overcome a couple of decades of learned behaviour which is centered around the paradigm of paper, files and filing cabinets.

In the same way that my eyes were opened the first time I saw a team at work using the breadth of modern tools at their disposal, I’m pondering how I/we might present the same opportunity to others. To open the portal to the other parallel universe where we share not send by default.

I’ve almost worked my way through the entirety of Dare To Lead. My early review is two thumbs up. The concept of ‘armored leadership’ is really interesting. That is, the armor that leaders put on in response to fear and to avoid feeling vulnerable. The problem is, that same armor erodes trust and drives a whole load of other shaming or deficit based behaviours. For example..

Armored Leadership: Being a Knower and Being Right
versus
Daring Leadership: Being a Learner and Getting It Right

“Having to be the “knower” or always being right is heavy armor. It’s defensiveness, it’s posturing, and, worst of all, it’s a huge driver of bullshit.”

“ Knowing can also become a culture problem when only some people are valued as knowers. Others don’t speak up because they’re not “senior enough” or it’s “not their place.””

There’s a further excerpt here if you’re interested in reading more, but I’d reccomend the book for a read/listen.

I’ve been reading…

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