Unfolding plans 196 – App hype

There is such hype about apps.  Everyone uses them.  Everyone has to have them.  You’re just not out there if your firm doesn’t have an app.  A lot of people agree.  There are at least three million of the things to download onto your smartphone or tablet.  Beware however as only around five per cent … Continue reading Unfolding plans 196 – App hype

Unfolding plans 195 – let them get on with their jobs.

I finished ‘Maverick’ by Ricardo Semler a week or so back.  Mike had lent me the book some time ago and it had been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.  There was something about the cover that made me leave it.  Perhaps it was waiting for the right time. Any book though that … Continue reading Unfolding plans 195 – let them get on with their jobs.

Unfolding plans 193 – Buying or selling

We were waiting outside the director’s meeting room in the upper floor of North Tyneside’s office in Cobalt.  It was some time ago yet I can recall it vividly.  A colleague of mine and I were waiting to be called into a meeting with the directors and neither of us had warmed to the prospect.  … Continue reading Unfolding plans 193 – Buying or selling

Unfolding plans 192 – Google has got it wrong @sharemindfully @lldzne #GuerrillaWorking

Google has got it wrong apparently.  According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the open office trend is destroying the work place and what is needed are more walls rather than less.  It was a good piece yet short on supporting evidence and seems to have been based entirely upon the experiences of the … Continue reading Unfolding plans 192 – Google has got it wrong @sharemindfully @lldzne #GuerrillaWorking

Unfolding plans 191 – Great staff

Another day, another award ceremony.  This time it was our very own Great Staff Great stuff awards.  It is an opportunity for us to celebrate all of the great work that goes on in the Council.  It is very easy to knock what we do and just as easy to highlight the mistakes, the failures … Continue reading Unfolding plans 191 – Great staff

Unfolding plans 190 – The world is my office

For nearly two years now I haven’t had an office or a desk.  I have been a nomad, wandering from place to place.  I go where the work is or where the opportunity lies.  I try to be where I add most value. I get in and back out again before I get too bogged … Continue reading Unfolding plans 190 – The world is my office

Unfolding plans 189 – Scrum down

It looks like I’m going to get to use scrum.  We’re going agile with our project methodology.  Goodbye PRINCE2, farewell Managing Successful Programmes and hello modernity.  Well, not quite but at least it’s a start. Project management is a bit like Enterprise Resource Planning systems.  They work very well in certain environments but don’t necessarily … Continue reading Unfolding plans 189 – Scrum down

Unfolding plans 188 – Open Data

Is open data the same as big data?  Well no, not really. Open data is stuff that is out there which can be freely used, shared and messed about with by anyone, anywhere, at any time and for whatever purpose they choose.  It is the wildebeest of the data world, able to roam free across … Continue reading Unfolding plans 188 – Open Data

Unfolding plans 187 – Does it work?

A Frenchmen once said to me ‘I know it works in practice but does it work in theory?’  He asked me in English, though I was in Paris at the time and it seemed a very funny thing to say.  It was a long time ago and I have only just come to realise what … Continue reading Unfolding plans 187 – Does it work?

Unfolding plans 186 – Dynamo think tank

Yesterday we had our first Dynamo North East think tank.  It was held at Sage head office.  They are the only technology led FTSE100 company and it is based right here in the heart of the region. More than twenty of us attended.  Everyone was a member of the organisation and we had come together … Continue reading Unfolding plans 186 – Dynamo think tank