Friday, 22 July 2011
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Enable, Empower, Imagine, Implement
I am very quiet at the moment. Mostly, this is because I have been producing work at my day job at a speed hitherto only reserved for the last time we thought moving 56,000 properties bin days in the space of 12 months was a good idea and I was responsible for sending the trucks down the new routes and the new houses being told at the right time in the right order the right details of the new round. Baptisms of local government fire don't come more intense than that - had it gone wrong it would have effected every household in the Borough which is not something you get to say very often in local government.
It didn't go wrong. The reason it didn't go wrong relates to a three letter acronym which I temporarily suffer from in such situations where I check something, check something again, then implement new and interesting ways to recheck my facts and figures again, again and yet again.
Those times were the only ones where I stuck my head above the parapet, but the nature of my involvement meant that whilst the project team knew I was being epic, no one else did and I really really appreciated that. Had it been any different, I would have felt very uncomfortable.
So why am I telling you this?
It relates, quite directly to yesterday and today, which I spent in the company of 12 other local government types, an assessor and two course delivery bods from a college in the NE who were delivering, at no cost to us, a Business Improvement Technique Diploma. You're probably thinking 'what a waste of time' since I addressed the cost already. Well no, actually. You see, for 6 days out of work, work are getting something rather unique out of us. They're getting 13 enthusiastic, passionate people designing a new process from the ground up, bringing to bear the sum total of 107 years of service in local government, for no more cost that their man hours.
Think about how much it would cost to buy that experience in. Think about whether buying that experience in would have the words passionate and enthusiastic attached to it (discount the rare people on Twitter like Dave Briggs or Dominic Campbell, they're not the norm, we all know they're not).
I'm not lying or spinning this either. We have all been so determined, passionate and enthusiastic, in fact, that we overran today, needed some quite serious marshalling and produced too many outcomes resulting in the course leaders needing to ask us to revisit - apparently they're used to dealing with people producing widgets and not dealing with people. Heh, people break stuff as soon as they enter a process, we all know that.
So what's the point and how does it link to the beginning?
Well the thing is, my previous Department helped me test my wings. I learnt I was good at something. I didn't learn how to do anything else, but I was allowed to do something very risky, trusted immensely, praised quietly and in a way I was comfortable with when it went right and learnt a shedload about teamwork.
Then I joined Comms. Lets think about the reputation of Comms in some areas for a moment. Now let me tell you about the person who entered the Department last August. She was shy, she was not confident, she still wasn't too sure of speaking up, she always backed down if she thought someone else knew more than her and she damn well never ever ever spoke unless spoken to.
Spin forward to yesterday and today and there's a comment in my Diploma folder and it says 'Louise is positive and active in discussions and acts as an interpreter and explains things to people who don't understand in terms they can understand and comes up with interesting solutions to problems which the group adopt and incorporate'
I suggested something totally leftfield yesterday, about using the 3,500 brains and skillsets we have to bear on issues raised by our residents through engagement processes. I suggested that we always assume the same people know _everything_, we ask our Heads of Service and the internal established networks to know everything and we never ask anyone else in the organisation who might have a new and innovative and cost effective way to fix the problem.
'If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got' - My ex boss
You see, sometimes the tools you bring to bear are a combination of the words of wisdom spoken 24 month before, combined with the empowering nature of the environment you are now in, combined with the confidence imbued by a Head of Service, Deputy Head of Service and Director listening to me and believing in me, mixed with the encouragement and cheerleading of assorted other individuals in the Department. But the sum total is a woman who has gone from timid as a blooming mouse to having the confidence to shape future service delivery and speak up and defend and stick to her guns and persuade and discuss and document and be proud of doing all of those things and not ashamed in the slightest of being smart, of thinking fast, of typing faster....
I'm not embarrassed any more. And for that I owe the company and kind mentoring of some very very very lovely ladies who are quietly teaching me that I am making excuses if I say I am embarrassed. That I am shying away from responsibility. That I am not stepping up and letting myself and everyone who has invested time in me down in the process of avoiding stepping up.
So yesterday and today, the organisation got the best out of me. But it was the sum total of many peoples hard work and I am afraid, so afraid, that local government will have no capacity to do this in the future. So where will the lost little girls go then? Mmmm?
It didn't go wrong. The reason it didn't go wrong relates to a three letter acronym which I temporarily suffer from in such situations where I check something, check something again, then implement new and interesting ways to recheck my facts and figures again, again and yet again.
Those times were the only ones where I stuck my head above the parapet, but the nature of my involvement meant that whilst the project team knew I was being epic, no one else did and I really really appreciated that. Had it been any different, I would have felt very uncomfortable.
So why am I telling you this?
It relates, quite directly to yesterday and today, which I spent in the company of 12 other local government types, an assessor and two course delivery bods from a college in the NE who were delivering, at no cost to us, a Business Improvement Technique Diploma. You're probably thinking 'what a waste of time' since I addressed the cost already. Well no, actually. You see, for 6 days out of work, work are getting something rather unique out of us. They're getting 13 enthusiastic, passionate people designing a new process from the ground up, bringing to bear the sum total of 107 years of service in local government, for no more cost that their man hours.
Think about how much it would cost to buy that experience in. Think about whether buying that experience in would have the words passionate and enthusiastic attached to it (discount the rare people on Twitter like Dave Briggs or Dominic Campbell, they're not the norm, we all know they're not).
I'm not lying or spinning this either. We have all been so determined, passionate and enthusiastic, in fact, that we overran today, needed some quite serious marshalling and produced too many outcomes resulting in the course leaders needing to ask us to revisit - apparently they're used to dealing with people producing widgets and not dealing with people. Heh, people break stuff as soon as they enter a process, we all know that.
So what's the point and how does it link to the beginning?
Well the thing is, my previous Department helped me test my wings. I learnt I was good at something. I didn't learn how to do anything else, but I was allowed to do something very risky, trusted immensely, praised quietly and in a way I was comfortable with when it went right and learnt a shedload about teamwork.
Then I joined Comms. Lets think about the reputation of Comms in some areas for a moment. Now let me tell you about the person who entered the Department last August. She was shy, she was not confident, she still wasn't too sure of speaking up, she always backed down if she thought someone else knew more than her and she damn well never ever ever spoke unless spoken to.
Spin forward to yesterday and today and there's a comment in my Diploma folder and it says 'Louise is positive and active in discussions and acts as an interpreter and explains things to people who don't understand in terms they can understand and comes up with interesting solutions to problems which the group adopt and incorporate'
I suggested something totally leftfield yesterday, about using the 3,500 brains and skillsets we have to bear on issues raised by our residents through engagement processes. I suggested that we always assume the same people know _everything_, we ask our Heads of Service and the internal established networks to know everything and we never ask anyone else in the organisation who might have a new and innovative and cost effective way to fix the problem.
'If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got' - My ex boss
You see, sometimes the tools you bring to bear are a combination of the words of wisdom spoken 24 month before, combined with the empowering nature of the environment you are now in, combined with the confidence imbued by a Head of Service, Deputy Head of Service and Director listening to me and believing in me, mixed with the encouragement and cheerleading of assorted other individuals in the Department. But the sum total is a woman who has gone from timid as a blooming mouse to having the confidence to shape future service delivery and speak up and defend and stick to her guns and persuade and discuss and document and be proud of doing all of those things and not ashamed in the slightest of being smart, of thinking fast, of typing faster....
I'm not embarrassed any more. And for that I owe the company and kind mentoring of some very very very lovely ladies who are quietly teaching me that I am making excuses if I say I am embarrassed. That I am shying away from responsibility. That I am not stepping up and letting myself and everyone who has invested time in me down in the process of avoiding stepping up.
So yesterday and today, the organisation got the best out of me. But it was the sum total of many peoples hard work and I am afraid, so afraid, that local government will have no capacity to do this in the future. So where will the lost little girls go then? Mmmm?
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Oh. Google+.
At some point, social media stopped being fun and started being an exercise in leverage for local government.
I didn't sign up for that. So I'm not going to. I'm going to play with Google+ like a normal person. A normal user. Because how else, ultimately, am I actually supposed to work out how we're going to use this if I can't tell you how the system looks for a normal user?
So if it's ok, I'm going to pretend local government is nothing to do with Google+. I'm going to be irresponsible and learn through playing for a bit. If you're expecting me to be an expert on an entire social network in the space of a week, bad luck. Go see one of the social media 'gurus', I'm sure they'll have lots of literature written up already on how to use the shiny new toy. None of it will mean a thing of course, because hardly any Brits are on it compared to Facebook at the moment, and business entity beta hasn't even been opened as yet, but that wont stop them, I'm sure.
As for me, I'm going to keep asking the same question over and over again. Aren't circles open to severe abuse if you can add anyone you like to a circle and then force updates on them through their Incoming stream? Or is it reciprocal and you have to both have mutually entered each other into circles to receive the updates? Because if the former, then it's going to be even more annoying than Facebooks recent feature amendment which meant you could force friends into Groups. On Google+ you don't even need to be friends if my suspicions are right.
I do, of course, hope I am wrong and also hope if I am right that people are shiny and wont abuse this, but I fear it's only a matter of time before my Incoming stream is full once again of people telling me how wonderful their business is while not actually being a real person at all. And as I don't use Facebook and therefore Google+ is my Facebook, in my mind, I don't actually want to listen to 'buy my stuff I'm wonderful' stuff on there, I want a sanctuary from that, I get that on Twitter all day.
And while we're here, will someone please tell me how come it's the people who are supposedly social media gurus who are the ones who tell other businesses continually to 'be real' & 'be transparent' & 'be honest' and then fail utterly to follow those rules of engagement themselves on those very same networks?
I didn't sign up for that. So I'm not going to. I'm going to play with Google+ like a normal person. A normal user. Because how else, ultimately, am I actually supposed to work out how we're going to use this if I can't tell you how the system looks for a normal user?
So if it's ok, I'm going to pretend local government is nothing to do with Google+. I'm going to be irresponsible and learn through playing for a bit. If you're expecting me to be an expert on an entire social network in the space of a week, bad luck. Go see one of the social media 'gurus', I'm sure they'll have lots of literature written up already on how to use the shiny new toy. None of it will mean a thing of course, because hardly any Brits are on it compared to Facebook at the moment, and business entity beta hasn't even been opened as yet, but that wont stop them, I'm sure.
As for me, I'm going to keep asking the same question over and over again. Aren't circles open to severe abuse if you can add anyone you like to a circle and then force updates on them through their Incoming stream? Or is it reciprocal and you have to both have mutually entered each other into circles to receive the updates? Because if the former, then it's going to be even more annoying than Facebooks recent feature amendment which meant you could force friends into Groups. On Google+ you don't even need to be friends if my suspicions are right.
I do, of course, hope I am wrong and also hope if I am right that people are shiny and wont abuse this, but I fear it's only a matter of time before my Incoming stream is full once again of people telling me how wonderful their business is while not actually being a real person at all. And as I don't use Facebook and therefore Google+ is my Facebook, in my mind, I don't actually want to listen to 'buy my stuff I'm wonderful' stuff on there, I want a sanctuary from that, I get that on Twitter all day.
And while we're here, will someone please tell me how come it's the people who are supposedly social media gurus who are the ones who tell other businesses continually to 'be real' & 'be transparent' & 'be honest' and then fail utterly to follow those rules of engagement themselves on those very same networks?
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Oh, Google+!
Well hell Google. You can't do GIS. I'm sorry but you can't. But when it comes to social networks...
Actually, I'm going to confess something. Firstly, I seem to be in some kind of weird group on Google+ that a very nice person suggested I be in which means I get messages telling me I'm in this testing group thing. Secondly, I've not had the time or energy since I got on there a week last Thursday to do anything in anger with it.
Today, after a decent nights sleep, some TLC and some brain space, I found the tipping point. What didn't make sense last week, suddenly did. Suddenly, I'm tinkering all over the place and having a lot of fun with it. Suddenly it all makes sense - I can share stuff with everyone who reads this blog, without boring you with friendship celebrations and dramas. I can tell my mum and my sister I'll be home for Xmas this year without firing up an email just to write a few words. I can. I can. I can.
I have been enabled - and yes it's nothing new - Facebook tried to do the same. But in a similar way that the News International group have lost my respect and my confidence, so have Facebook, through repeated abuses of privacy default settings. They could pull a rabbit out of a hat at this point and I wouldn't care.
Google, on the the hand, have never messed me about. Leave GIS aside, on a personal level, as an individual, they have never been anything but useful and reliable. Yes, my email disappeared for a bit. Well it did when I was using Boltblue too - and they're dealing with considerably more data transfer than Boltblue ever did.
So, that's the slate clearing out of the way.
Now let me tell you why I am writing this post and why I am now a Google+ fan girl. I reported an error at 3pm or shortly afterwards. I acknowledge that it may have been reported before. I acknowledge it may be a coincidence. I also acknowledge that I don't believe that fact because I believe the page I reported the problem on is a little off the beaten track and not in the normal workflow - people are adding people to their circles through the main front page, on the right hand side. I don't think they're adding them through the circles icon at the top. The reason I don't think they are is because unless I am very much mistaken, that icon is a recent addition.
The feedback button was in the wrong place. I couldn't scroll under it, it hid the downwards arrow. Inelegant, really. Forgiven entirely because the speed with which it has been fixed leads me to believe that somewhere in this big wide world is a team of developers. They probably aren't even in the same room, I don't know. And that team of developers have a massive queue of reported feedback errors. And the feedback workflow, even that is just gorgeous - it takes a screenshot automatically ffs. Automatically. I don't. have. to. send. my. own. frikking. screenshot - they do it themselves.
I don't even know how to explain how cool that is. Anyway, it gets cooler. Cos I reported the problem and now it's fixed. I can drag the scrollbar down under the feedback button. It's been made transparent so I can interact with a control beneath it.
You know what the maddest thing is? There's now another problem, in that I still can't add people to the circles they should be in on that page because I can't see any of my own bespoke circles on that screen. So I hit feedback again. And you know what? Since 3pm this afternoon, another iteration of development has been released and now I can highlight on the page where I would like to point their attention on the screenshot and choose to have personal details hidden. Removed. Entirely.
The highlight didn't work and wasn't captured in the subsequent screenshot stage.
I don't give a flying piglet.
This, right here, is agile iterative development in action, I am sat right in the middle of it and it is the biggest, the absolute biggest demonstration of why agile development absolutely completely and utterly rocks in developing a fit for USER purpose website or application.
It's truly amazing. Oh. my. god. Google. OMG.
(Apologies for the txt spk, capitals and gushing in this post, normal service will be resumed shortly, but holy hell)
Actually, I'm going to confess something. Firstly, I seem to be in some kind of weird group on Google+ that a very nice person suggested I be in which means I get messages telling me I'm in this testing group thing. Secondly, I've not had the time or energy since I got on there a week last Thursday to do anything in anger with it.
Today, after a decent nights sleep, some TLC and some brain space, I found the tipping point. What didn't make sense last week, suddenly did. Suddenly, I'm tinkering all over the place and having a lot of fun with it. Suddenly it all makes sense - I can share stuff with everyone who reads this blog, without boring you with friendship celebrations and dramas. I can tell my mum and my sister I'll be home for Xmas this year without firing up an email just to write a few words. I can. I can. I can.
I have been enabled - and yes it's nothing new - Facebook tried to do the same. But in a similar way that the News International group have lost my respect and my confidence, so have Facebook, through repeated abuses of privacy default settings. They could pull a rabbit out of a hat at this point and I wouldn't care.
Google, on the the hand, have never messed me about. Leave GIS aside, on a personal level, as an individual, they have never been anything but useful and reliable. Yes, my email disappeared for a bit. Well it did when I was using Boltblue too - and they're dealing with considerably more data transfer than Boltblue ever did.
So, that's the slate clearing out of the way.
Now let me tell you why I am writing this post and why I am now a Google+ fan girl. I reported an error at 3pm or shortly afterwards. I acknowledge that it may have been reported before. I acknowledge it may be a coincidence. I also acknowledge that I don't believe that fact because I believe the page I reported the problem on is a little off the beaten track and not in the normal workflow - people are adding people to their circles through the main front page, on the right hand side. I don't think they're adding them through the circles icon at the top. The reason I don't think they are is because unless I am very much mistaken, that icon is a recent addition.
The feedback button was in the wrong place. I couldn't scroll under it, it hid the downwards arrow. Inelegant, really. Forgiven entirely because the speed with which it has been fixed leads me to believe that somewhere in this big wide world is a team of developers. They probably aren't even in the same room, I don't know. And that team of developers have a massive queue of reported feedback errors. And the feedback workflow, even that is just gorgeous - it takes a screenshot automatically ffs. Automatically. I don't. have. to. send. my. own. frikking. screenshot - they do it themselves.
I don't even know how to explain how cool that is. Anyway, it gets cooler. Cos I reported the problem and now it's fixed. I can drag the scrollbar down under the feedback button. It's been made transparent so I can interact with a control beneath it.
You know what the maddest thing is? There's now another problem, in that I still can't add people to the circles they should be in on that page because I can't see any of my own bespoke circles on that screen. So I hit feedback again. And you know what? Since 3pm this afternoon, another iteration of development has been released and now I can highlight on the page where I would like to point their attention on the screenshot and choose to have personal details hidden. Removed. Entirely.
The highlight didn't work and wasn't captured in the subsequent screenshot stage.
I don't give a flying piglet.
This, right here, is agile iterative development in action, I am sat right in the middle of it and it is the biggest, the absolute biggest demonstration of why agile development absolutely completely and utterly rocks in developing a fit for USER purpose website or application.
It's truly amazing. Oh. my. god. Google. OMG.
(Apologies for the txt spk, capitals and gushing in this post, normal service will be resumed shortly, but holy hell)
Friday, 1 July 2011
I don't care
I don't care about my 'brand'.
I don't care about my 'online reputation'.
I don't care much about money.
I don't care to be a guru.
I don't care much for self promotion.
I don't care much for shiny new toys.
I don't care anything for badly designed websites with wonderful content.
I don't care at all for well designed websites with useless content.
I don't care if you were doing this since the stone age.
I don't care if you self identify as a geek.
I don't care if you're trying to sell me the holy grail.
I care about the residents. I care about the customers. I care about stakeholders - the doctors and directors, the officers and the on-site wardens. I care about telling people in 16 different ways in the hope one of them suits down to the ground. I care about service delivery designed by the users for the users. I care about information available as easily in the middle of the high street or the traffic jam as from your desk or your sofa. I care about being able to say yes and being confident my boss and my bosses boss will back me to the hilt - whilst telling me in private I've been an idiot. I care about being trust to behave myself even when we all know I lack a filter. I care about faith and hope and loyalty. I care about preserving the beauty while making it available to everyone, about stopping unnecessary diabetes and obesity, but assisting in better ways when those things happen anyway. I care about facilitating, connecting, networking and dot joining. I care about broadcasting, hubs, discussions and responses.
I want a world where offline and online are there if you want them and can be ignored if you don't. Where healthcare is co-productive and pro-active. Where every patient in a hospital has their own personal digital mobile screen which moves with them everywhere, which is backed up, which can be hooked to a wall behind a nurses station to record pills taken, but can just as easily be removed and taken down to surgery for someone in theatre to quickly record procedures carried out. Military grade, biologically resistant, extremely waterproof, decontaminated regularly. No more note taking, no more notes disintegrating under coffee. Just sensible, easily moveable and reactive technology implemented well to save costs and save lives.
I want information everywhere. Not just in libraries but embedded. I want it to be possible for anyone to come along and sit in the middle of anywhere of our spaces and connect if they want and be oblivious of the opportunity if they don't want to know. I want museums which talk to me silently, both in my ear and on my screen. I want them to bring the history of objects alive by telling me stories in my ear, but also to my heart, that allow me to understand how one small object - Queen Mary's hairbrush - might have been comfort and solace, for example, a thread tying her to her remaining dignity, removed as it was by Elizabeth.
I want context and commitment. I want accessibility and amazement. I want a digital world which constructs not destroys, which encourages sharing and collaboration, not imprisonment and hacking.
I understand everything has two sides, I understand everyone has two sides. But, for me, digital is not self serving. It enabled me, and now I want to allow everyone else whose lives might be lightened a little, to be permitted the same courtesy.
This is not about me. And this is a reminder to myself as much as a notice to anyone else. This is not about me. At the end of everything my knowledge will be useless and I have no idea what I'll do to make a living. But if, in the process, I can suggest just one thing which makes someone elses world just a little bit more sparkly, then I'll settle. I really will.
But don't talk to me, please don't talk to me, about personal brands or self promotion. This is not about me, it is about everyone else but me.
I don't care about my 'online reputation'.
I don't care much about money.
I don't care to be a guru.
I don't care much for self promotion.
I don't care much for shiny new toys.
I don't care anything for badly designed websites with wonderful content.
I don't care at all for well designed websites with useless content.
I don't care if you were doing this since the stone age.
I don't care if you self identify as a geek.
I don't care if you're trying to sell me the holy grail.
I care about the residents. I care about the customers. I care about stakeholders - the doctors and directors, the officers and the on-site wardens. I care about telling people in 16 different ways in the hope one of them suits down to the ground. I care about service delivery designed by the users for the users. I care about information available as easily in the middle of the high street or the traffic jam as from your desk or your sofa. I care about being able to say yes and being confident my boss and my bosses boss will back me to the hilt - whilst telling me in private I've been an idiot. I care about being trust to behave myself even when we all know I lack a filter. I care about faith and hope and loyalty. I care about preserving the beauty while making it available to everyone, about stopping unnecessary diabetes and obesity, but assisting in better ways when those things happen anyway. I care about facilitating, connecting, networking and dot joining. I care about broadcasting, hubs, discussions and responses.
I want a world where offline and online are there if you want them and can be ignored if you don't. Where healthcare is co-productive and pro-active. Where every patient in a hospital has their own personal digital mobile screen which moves with them everywhere, which is backed up, which can be hooked to a wall behind a nurses station to record pills taken, but can just as easily be removed and taken down to surgery for someone in theatre to quickly record procedures carried out. Military grade, biologically resistant, extremely waterproof, decontaminated regularly. No more note taking, no more notes disintegrating under coffee. Just sensible, easily moveable and reactive technology implemented well to save costs and save lives.
I want information everywhere. Not just in libraries but embedded. I want it to be possible for anyone to come along and sit in the middle of anywhere of our spaces and connect if they want and be oblivious of the opportunity if they don't want to know. I want museums which talk to me silently, both in my ear and on my screen. I want them to bring the history of objects alive by telling me stories in my ear, but also to my heart, that allow me to understand how one small object - Queen Mary's hairbrush - might have been comfort and solace, for example, a thread tying her to her remaining dignity, removed as it was by Elizabeth.
I want context and commitment. I want accessibility and amazement. I want a digital world which constructs not destroys, which encourages sharing and collaboration, not imprisonment and hacking.
I understand everything has two sides, I understand everyone has two sides. But, for me, digital is not self serving. It enabled me, and now I want to allow everyone else whose lives might be lightened a little, to be permitted the same courtesy.
This is not about me. And this is a reminder to myself as much as a notice to anyone else. This is not about me. At the end of everything my knowledge will be useless and I have no idea what I'll do to make a living. But if, in the process, I can suggest just one thing which makes someone elses world just a little bit more sparkly, then I'll settle. I really will.
But don't talk to me, please don't talk to me, about personal brands or self promotion. This is not about me, it is about everyone else but me.
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