What a fascinating book ‘The Divided Self’ by RD Laing is. It is perhaps not the kind of book I would normally pick up but it was lying around and it is quite thin. I would urge anyone who has any interest in the workings of humanity to give it a go. Why? Because the … Continue reading The Divided Self
Complexity in the real world
The Bee book by Craig Smith and Paul Rigby has got me thinking. It is an allegorical tale of a hive of bees that is faced with a catastrophic change in their environment. The hive needs to take decisive action if it is to survive. It as a clear metaphor for the way that organisations … Continue reading Complexity in the real world
Uberisation
Technology has been a threat to jobs ever since it was first used. I get that. All technology must improve efficiency in order to lower the cost of the previous technology it is replacing. This covers everything from the car, to the food-processor to the radio. Technology allows us to do things that would have … Continue reading Uberisation
Digital Leads
Those who have been in my company for more than fourteen seconds will know that I have a great interest in the success of the North East region. I have been trying for many years to work with its component parts to improve collaboration. Sometimes I have been successful and at other times not but … Continue reading Digital Leads
Underused tech
Some days can be very trying. Today was one of them, born of frustration. I have tried to bite my tongue but not always successfully. You see my problem is that I have been involved in a number of workshops about digital – whatever that means. The thing is that technology can do anything as … Continue reading Underused tech
Another year of @NEICT
That’s another year over for the North East ICT Managers group. Calendar year that is rather than financial year. Of course that starts in April. This year has been fun. We’ve seen some comings and a number of new faces to replace some goings. The group is supposed to be the ICT heads from the … Continue reading Another year of @NEICT
Stressful work
Stress at work is a big problem, so I am led to believe. It is a difficult thing to manage however as the causes are manyfold and may not be related to the working environment. It is certainly a contributing factor. I know this, as I have recently completed my ‘Recognising and managing stress in … Continue reading Stressful work
Talent management
We’re tucking into our elephant. Every so often we cut off another slice and chew away at those seemingly intractable problems that get in our way. Yummy! We’ve had a first look at some of our performance management systems and this morning a small group of us got together to think about talent management. Now … Continue reading Talent management
We’re no basket case
It seems to be a bit of a sport these days to paint the North East as a bit of a difficult area, with the differing authorities at logger heads and each secretly scheming up plans at the others’ expense yet this is a picture that is far from true. Yes, we do have our … Continue reading We’re no basket case
Collaborating now
The demonstration was impressive but then again they always are. Microsoft had done a good job in setting up some mock environments to show their newest technology in action. It all went on in the banqueting suite at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, which seems to be the favourite domain of the big tech … Continue reading Collaborating now
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 