Sometimes life turns full circle. When I first left Durham and set up Guerrilla Working, one of the first contracts I won was to deliver The Rural Cultural Business Innovation Programme, as part of Creative Fuse North East. I say I won it but it was a collaboration with my good friend Justin Souter. It … Continue reading Creative fuse 2.0
The existential threat of nationalism
I have been listening to ‘The End of the World with Josh Clark’ a podcast on iHeartRadio. It was recommended to me by my eldest daughter and while I am fairly new to podcasts, I am enjoying the experience, even if the series is very disturbing. I won’t spoil it for you but each episode … Continue reading The existential threat of nationalism
The human touch
Like many of us, I have been stuck at home for thirteen days now. In reality this is no great hardship as I am still well fed, have company and have things to keep me going. There are people far worse off than me and so I am not complaining. I do miss the human … Continue reading The human touch
First days
First days are horrible. You have to go by yourself to places that you have never been before, speak to strangers and start to learn a whole new string of processes and procedures. You don’t know where anything is, you don’t know how anything works and you latch onto the first friendly face you see … Continue reading First days
Why I joined Dynamo
More than five years ago now, when I was still working at Durham and involved with the North East ICT Managers’ group, we became aware of a new tech group in the region. Charlie Hoult, of Hoult’s Yard and Bob Paton from Accenture had created Dynamo, volunteer led group set up with the core mission … Continue reading Why I joined Dynamo
Be a role model
Everyone has the role to be a role model. What a great quote. I heard it at the update of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership's Economic Plan. It was so good that I had to tweet it and unfortunately forget who said it. It’s an age thing. The point though is that we all … Continue reading Be a role model
North East Collaboration
How times have changed. For the first time ever, I found myself on a female only panel. Did it feel odd? No, not really as apart from Vicki who I had only spoken with on the phone I knew all of the other panelists. The panel had nothing to do with gender anyway, yet it … Continue reading North East Collaboration
Fixed term
I have now been Chair of the North East ICT Managers group, or Partnership as it is really called, for over four years. How time flies’ when you are enjoying yourself. A part of me feels like it is longer. It was our annual general meeting this week and I was, once again, elected for … Continue reading Fixed term
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
A year of work in progress – day 139
Day 139 – 19 August 2014 The back of my neck and shoulders were stiff this morning. A plasterer once told me how it took several days for the muscles in his arms to get used to the work again after his holidays. That was a long time ago and it’s funny how you remember … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 139