The public cause takes priority over individual needs according to Lieutenant D’Agosto of the New York Police Homicide Division. Okay, so he is a made up character from the Prendergast series by Preston and Child but is he really speaking the truth? Life is complicated, at one end lies totalitarianism and at the other liberalism. … Continue reading The public cause
Delivering the goods
Me and trains. I do like them, I confess. I outed as a train spotter a long time ago. In truth it is the engines, the locomotives that I like, especially diesel. Perhaps that is too much information. My fascination spills over into my television viewing habits. I enjoyed ‘A slow train across Africa’ with … Continue reading Delivering the goods
Hacking for our people
I like working with Waterstons. I would have said I love working with them but my father in law used to say you can only love people not things. May he rest in peace. He is still remembered. I could say I love working with the people of Waterstons. Vic would be happy with that. … Continue reading Hacking for our people
Describing the amorphous
Our processes support the definite. They struggle with the more amorphous. It is difficult to use our processes to conceptualise. This always catches me out. I am a person who likes to do his thinking in public. I like to come to meetings with half-baked ideas. I want to use the discussions to help shape … Continue reading Describing the amorphous
Forget about me
The right to be forgotten, as part of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), is exercising my mind. It's not really called that, it is actually called ‘The right to erasure’. The broad principle underpinning this right is to enable an individual to request the deletion or removal of personal data whether there is no … Continue reading Forget about me
Learn from play
Children learn from play. Hold the front page. Who could believe it? Whatever will they think of next? I heard it on the news so it must be true, yet anyone who has ever had children knows this to be self-evident. Children learn the social norms of interaction, collaboration and hierarchy through play. Anyone who … Continue reading Learn from play
A glowing ego
I am enjoying mentoring, or is it coaching? No matter how many times I have been told what the difference is it never seems to stick. Either way, I am doing it as part of the Executive Women in ICT course we have helped put on. It is going well. I enjoy being a mentor. … Continue reading A glowing ego
Cumulating
The cloud will be the saviour of all mankind if you believe the hype. It will feed the hungry, liberate the poor and satiate our warring bloodlust. The world will be a better place thanks to the cloud. But how can a simple hosting arrangement, the rewriting of software or a transfer of revenue make … Continue reading Cumulating
Stick to the rules
What do you do if someone breaks the rules? Discipline them? Perhaps, but you can't go down this route unless you expect to carry it through which means ultimately, the threat of dismissal. People who break the rules should expect the threat of the sack. That may be fine if it is something big, such … Continue reading Stick to the rules
The Divided Self
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
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 