The publication of the advert for the new Director of Digital Engagement has prompted an outburst of commentary, with two of the most interesting contributions both coming from Steph Gray, who is systematically crowdsourcing the real requirements of the job. And of course that process works both ways: it makes visible what the crowd thinks [...]
And as one commenter observed: Shouldn’t the line extend right through the x-axis? Enough meetings and you can actually get negative work done.
And still more on paying attention – or in this case, tools to support not paying attention. There seems to be a flurry of ways of shielding people from some of the more distracting effects of emails. So here is news of a programme called Freedom which shuts down all network connections from a Mac [...]
In the spirit of paying attention to what I am paying attention to, I can’t help noticing that emails are still feeling oppressive. Dave Pollard has the answer: To all employees: Beginning August 1st, you will no longer be able to send an e-mail to another employee of our organization. After some study, we have [...]
Twenty years ago, a business case was required for the purchase of a single PC. Ten years ago, internet access was through a modem attached to a computer in a small locked room at the end of the corridor, with a book kept beside it to record sites visited. The past gets strange and distant [...]
How much time am I prepared to spend working. Within that, what’s the most important thing I need to do, and how much time should I commit to doing it. Iterate until time is accounted for. Of course in the real world that needs to take account of other people’s needs and preferences – but it also leads pretty forcibly to the conclusion that responding to every clamour for attention from emails and meetings is a rapid route to perdition.
Government doesn’t find conversation easy. Its communication models tend to be predominantly one to many and it finds the megaphone more comfortable than the ear trumpet.
Twenty years ago, I had a problem to solve. A museum was creating a database of the objects it held and needed to be able to produce reports in catalogue number order. The difficulty was that different numbering systems had been used at different times and catalogues with different numbering systems had been amalgamated without [...]
After an afternoon spent confronting an application from which the third panel could be a screen shot, this rings horribly true. Even better, in a deeply perverse kind of way, than the wry smile the cartoon prompts, are the 135 comments it has provoked on the post where it first appeared. The amount of passion [...]
Chris Anderson has two network cables: On my desk at work I have two ethernet cables. One is black and one is white. The black one is connected to our corporate network. I use that one when I want to print things. I could also use it for Internet access and stuff, but I don’t [...]