A man came up to me after the Socitm meeting. We had just broken for lunch but he clearly wanted to speak to me. I had claimed my seat and was walking back to the carvery when he approached. I had said hello already when he arrived, I try to welcome everyone who comes. I … Continue reading A spoonful of humour
A0
I've been trying to get our ICT strategy onto a page. A single page. It is proving to be quite difficult because of all the complexity and the enormous list of things we get involved in. I've tried words and I've tried pictures. I would really like it to be like an infographic, all modern … Continue reading A0
Cyber security
Cyber is not one of those things I write a lot about. It's not the easiest of things to build a tale around, yet it lies at the very heart of what we do as organisations. It is a hugely important subject and should occupy the mind of anyone who has a responsibility to lead an … Continue reading Cyber security
Random benchmarking
Is comparison with another organisation ever worthwhile? I am not so sure. Every now and then the question of benchmarking raises its ugly head. Ugly to me that is. Tom and I have ended up having a conversation over its merits. Benchmarking in itself is not bad. It is what is done in the name … Continue reading Random benchmarking
Another bad habit
Of the twenty bad habits that senior managers have, according to Marshal Goldsmith, twenty things that they do that hold them back, I have fessed up to three of them. I have re-evaluated that up to four. They are listed in his excellent book ‘What got you here won't get you there.’ I have already … Continue reading Another bad habit
A visit to the Archive
During all of the seven years that I've wandered the corridors of County Hall I have never visited the County Records Office. I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it is because it is somewhere the public go rather than being just an office, or maybe I just have not found an excuse. As if I … Continue reading A visit to the Archive
A rollercoaster
Life is filled with ups and downs. Like grandma said in ‘Parenthood’ it's like a rollercoaster ride. There are highs and lows. Sometimes you feel like your underwater, inundated with too much work, and then you rise to the surface to gasp for air only to find the sun is shining. Once more everything is alright … Continue reading A rollercoaster
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
Block chain
I would like to talk about blockchain, if I really knew want one of those was. In my mind it is a way of linking related data from multiple data sources in a continuous link. Wikipedia says it is a distributed database that maintains a continuously-growing list of ordered records called blocks. We are like … Continue reading Block chain
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 