Matt Hancock, the Heath Secretary is proud of the NHS’s latest app. It is designed to help patients find the accident and emergency department with the shortest waiting time. He claims that the app will be’ good for patients, good for clinicians’. It won’t work for two reasons, firstly it is tackling the wrong problem … Continue reading A&E App
50:50 Future
I like getting involved in new things. It might be my fickleness as a Gemini or my magpie like approach to life but there is always something else interesting to have a go at. Lots of people ask me if I can help out and my default position is yes, if I can spare the … Continue reading 50:50 Future
Something always happens when I present
I deliver a lot of presentations. Even now that I have left more formal employment they are something I get involved in. My work with the Dynamo cyber cluster, in particular, has lead to a rich vein of opportunity to stand on stage and spout my stuff. I have always said that I am not … Continue reading Something always happens when I present
Getting suppliers involved early
Perhaps it seems counter-intuitive that getting potential suppliers involved early will help shape a procurement yet it is beyond doubt true. So many requests for goods and services are issued without much thought as to whether the market exists to realise them and this will ultimately result in either poor purchases or dissatisfied customers. I … Continue reading Getting suppliers involved early
Freeconomy
Free is a four letter word! Freeconomy has nine letters. I first came across the word consciously in the Economist’s new magazine 1843 in an article about how people are playing the system. They scour the media for offers promising free stuff and use their technical skills to create spreadsheets and algorithms to maximize the … Continue reading Freeconomy
Cake is a powerful weapon
Earlier last week I was at the Dynamo North East office for one of our regular weekly meetings. To be honest, they are regular but I am not. Due to, in the main self-imposed time restraints and diary clashes I have only been able to attend sporadically, so infrequently in fact that I don’t … Continue reading Cake is a powerful weapon
All people are…
I shudder these days when I read the news, especially online. I say news yet what I really mean is opinion. With all this talk of fake news it is difficult to separate the reporting of events from the writer’s perspective. Much of what I come across these days is little more than propaganda. One … Continue reading All people are…
Building credibility
How can you build credibility? By being credible of course. It is easily said but not so easily done. Hopefully you are aware that I am trying to help build a cyber (information security) cluster in the North East. I want to see the region positioned as a leading player in this important and growing … Continue reading Building credibility
In praise of naivete
Often I have been told that I am naive and that is not the way the world works. At times I think that is an unfair criticism. It is clear that I have a lot of experience and believe I can offer wisdom and use good judgement. I appear naive then, not because I don’t … Continue reading In praise of naivete
Let’s agglomerate
A few months ago I went to buy some perfume for my wife’s birthday. She had been dropping hints for a couple of weeks and so I thought I was on a safe bet. I set off for the Metro Centre, a shopping mall not far from where I live and went into Debenhams. The … Continue reading Let’s agglomerate
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 