Unfolding plans 115 – One in five beggars aren’t homeless

I haven’t had a good rant about statistics for a while but here we go again.  Someone has taken some numbers and extrapolated them to create a wildly imaginative story.  It’s like Jurassic Park, creating a dinosaur from a tiny piece of DNA. According to the BBC ‘Fewer than twenty per cent of people arrested … Continue reading Unfolding plans 115 – One in five beggars aren’t homeless

Unfolding plans 114- granularity

We used to play a game, my colleagues and I.  It was in a different place from where I am now and we were much younger then.  The nature of the game was to take a new piece of jargon and use it over and over again until it became part of the vernacular, until … Continue reading Unfolding plans 114- granularity

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

We’ve all seen this.  Anyone who has bought a book or some music online, or indeed any product, will have been given some suggestions as to what to buy next.  It’s a popular way of trying to upsell.  The assumption is that if you bought one thing you must have liked it and so would … Continue reading Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Unfolding plans 113 – happy workation

Wow, that was some workation.  For the month of July I’ve been trying something different.  While I was out and about I stopped and bought a postcard that showed the beautiful or unusual places that I happened to have visited.  Every work day I sent one to my youngest daughter as she was in the … Continue reading Unfolding plans 113 – happy workation

Unfolding plans 112 – a strange feeling

What a strange feeling.  I’d needed some time to get my head round some things and found a quiet space in which to do it.  Paul’s office was free and so I made my camp there for the day.  I’m one for open plan working as you know.  I am a Guerrilla Worker but there … Continue reading Unfolding plans 112 – a strange feeling

Unfolding plans 111 – work as a performance

I’ve been thinking a lot about work as a performance.  It’s something that Mike and I have been talking about.  The word covers such a wide range of meanings from entertainment, to carrying out an action and to how well something works.  In this case I am talking about something presented before an audience, potentially, … Continue reading Unfolding plans 111 – work as a performance

Unfolding plans 110 – John’s postcard challenge

We’ve got some exciting things going on with our self-service portal.  We created it to allow our customers to log their own issues into the system without having to call the Service Desk.  Since its implementation its use has grown to a point where it accounts for around twenty three per cent of incidents logged … Continue reading Unfolding plans 110 – John’s postcard challenge

Unfolding plans 109 – engaged

I have to thank my friends at OnBrand Partners, Peter and Kate, for this one.  Apparently on average, for forty seven per cent of our waking hours our minds are not where our bodies are.  You would have to ask Harvard University for more information about this nugget.  Professor Julian Birkinshaw from London Business School … Continue reading Unfolding plans 109 – engaged

Unfolding plans 108 – those little idiosyncrasies

Yes, I know it was hot the other day when I was down in London to present at a conference on ‘Transforming The Way We Work: A Vision for Mobile Public Sector.’  It felt like how it does when you step out of the plane after you have landed in the Costas.  The people of … Continue reading Unfolding plans 108 – those little idiosyncrasies

Unfolding plans 107 – Which came first?

Now we all know that the egg came before the chicken.  The first chicken came from an egg that was laid by a chicken like creature.  That is how evolution works, with small changes in genetic material leading to enhancements brought about by natural selection through the reproductive process.  We can put that one to … Continue reading Unfolding plans 107 – Which came first?