It was my first VentureFest and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. When I started out on my own, this was one of must attend events that everyone seemed to be talking about. It promised so much, it was at St James’ Park and it was free. What more could I ask? I … Continue reading My first VentureFest
Is open plan a bad thing?
According to the Harvard Business Review, it is easier to focus in a coffee shop than in an open-plan office. This is yet another attack on a style of working that has been very much in vogue. Walls have been ripped down and we have all been expected to work with colleagues as far as … Continue reading Is open plan a bad thing?
Sufferings of the world
‘You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, this is something you are free to do and is in accord with your nature, but perhaps precisely this holding back is the only suffering that you may be able to avoid.’ I have always liked Kafka. His work describes the frustrations of being … Continue reading Sufferings of the world
Digital Exclusion
It is an old story, probably old as technology itself. Some people have it and some don’t. The arrival of digital has opened up old fracture lines of social inequality. Some people are on the right side of the digital divide and some are on the other, the side of digital exclusion. Yet with digital … Continue reading Digital Exclusion
Rise to the challenge
This week is National Customer Services Week, or CSW, an opportunity to celebrate the relationship that all businesses have with their customers. I have been a member of the Institute of Customer Service for many years now and this week is one of the highlights of their calendar. More details can be found here. This … Continue reading Rise to the challenge
The Voice of the customer
This week is National Customer Services Week, or CSW, an opportunity to celebrate the relationship that all businesses have with their customers. I have been a member of the Institute of Customer Service for many years now and this week is one of the highlights of their calendar. More details can be found here. At … Continue reading The Voice of the customer
Time to come out of the shadows
In too many organisations ICT Is something that happens in the background. It is an unseen force that keeps things going that people don’t think about until it goes wrong. It is a bit like electricity, it is just there. You flick the switch and on it comes and you don’t stop to think of … Continue reading Time to come out of the shadows
Memory foam
What is all the fuss with memory foam? How hard is it to remember that you are an oblong? These days you can’t watch television for very long before seeing an advert for a memory foam mattress. I don’t get them to be honest. I have slept on a few and found them not to … Continue reading Memory foam
Back to school
It was a very weird experience, sitting in front of a class full of students from my old school. OK, it was a long long time ago since I sat in its drab and dusty classrooms and we were sitting in Campus North rather than the school itself yet it was still an odd experience. … Continue reading Back to school
Hard cyber
I’m not sure if cyber is a word that is used much outside the pages of a William Gibson novel or the Cyber security industry itself. It may not be many people’s vernacular yet it is a word that has come to dominate a lot of my time, both as an employ of the local … Continue reading Hard cyber
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 