Day 104 – 10 June 2014 According to Wikipedia, an unconference is a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as fees, sponsored presentations, and top-down organization. This morning we held our first … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 104
A year of work in progress – day 68 (Minutes or Mitra)
Day 68 – 15 April 2014 and day 13 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Why Mitra? Sugata Mitra is a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University. He is developing the school in the cloud that brings learning to everyone irrespective of wealth and social standing. He’s developed learning labs in two schools … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 68 (Minutes or Mitra)
A year of work in progress – day 48
Day 48 – 13 March 2014 I woke this morning feeling a little nervous. I was up for re-election. Since Tom left Sunderland I have been the chair of the North East ICT Managers group (NEICT) and today was the Annual General Meeting. It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing and I think the group is more … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 48
A year of work in progress – day 46
Day 46 – 11 March 2014 Twelve days without paper now if you don’t count the odd bits that people shove in your hands from time to time. Last night I had my first Area Action Partnership meeting in Stanley without the white stuff. The cold sweats and night terrors are diminishing but I still … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 46
A year of work in progress – day 41
Day 41 – 28 February 2014 For personal reasons I worked from home today. I had a couple of reports to write anyway, one on a Digital Strategy following the meeting on Monday and a second which I had not expected at all. Apparently I had an update to do on Building Schools for the … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 41
A year of work in progress – day 31
Day 31 – 14 February 2014 Valentine’s Day is the day when love hangs heavy in the air. What better way to spend the morning than with BT? We have a meaty contract with them to deliver the broadband infrastructure for the Digital Durham programme and so it’s important that we maintain excellent relations throughout … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 31
Doing Lean
I’ve been fascinated by the concept of Lean ever since I read the book ‘The Machine that Changed the World’. Its description of the Toyota Production System and the dramatic effect that this had had upon automotive production was, and still is incredible. This must be at least fifteen years now and ever since I … Continue reading Doing Lean
Colchester General Hospital targets improvement
Once again another hospital finds itself in the news because of its target driven culture. This time it is Colchester General Hospital and follows an inspection by the Care Quality Commission which found inaccuracies in recorded cancer waiting time data at the hospital. The manipulation of data to give the impression that targets were being … Continue reading Colchester General Hospital targets improvement
Am I entitled to treatment?
I received a letter this week inviting me to attend an appointment at my local hospital. It is for some treatment for an on-going condition that I have put off for too long and am glad that the letter has now arrived. I can start to plan around it and soon I’ll be like new. … Continue reading Am I entitled to treatment?
Another meaningless statistic
The media in this country is fascinated by reporting on events that on the face of it look shocking but which are difficult to put into context. No doubt these sell newspapers or increase viewing figures and so make it worth their while. Today there has been a story about the number of people that … Continue reading Another meaningless statistic
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 