Daily notes

Said this a few time this week – you can do amazing work with a good team, good culture, plenty of enthusiasm and terrible tech. With great tech and rubbish everything else, not so much.

Have made it onto Bluesky, just in time for it to die probably. But if you are there, come say hello! https://bsky.app/profile/davebriggs.bsky.social. Thanks to Jukesie for the invite code 🙂

This is good from TPX Impact – feels like we need a lot more of this kind of analysis across local gov: https://www.tpximpact.com/knowledge-hub/insights/harnessing-potential-social-housing-technology/

It’s almost like we need something kind of Gartner-esque but focusing on the technology and services providers working with local government. We ask why the same old vendors are so successful, but really, why wouldn’t they? Where’s the independent advice coming from?

A take on Twitter that is worth sharing if only for it’s remarkable length: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2023/7/6/how-to-blow-up-a-timeline

I’m getting some good reaction to the regular blogging here, and I think the newsletter is going alright, although it’s early days for that. What I have not done in a while is any longer, advisory type blogging, which usually gets posted over at https://sensibletech.co.uk/ – and I probably ought to do some of that soon.

Another newsletter went out this morning: https://daveslist.substack.com/p/daves-list-vol-3-issue-3

ClassicPress is WordPress like it used to be https://www.classicpress.net/

For years I lived in Evernote. This by Harry McCracken captures some of what made it great https://www.technologizer.com/2023/07/09/for-your-eyes-only-my-unedited-2013-time-magazine-story-about-evernote/

I knew vaguely of Vivian Stanshall, but I definitely know more having read this: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/12/on-best-behaviour-he-was-a-joy-the-lost-archive-of-english-pop-eccentric-vivian-stanshall

I like this! “Build your own “On This Day” page for WordPress” https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/07/build-your-own-on-this-day-page-for-wordpress/

I had the pleasure earlier this week to speak for the first time to Doug Belshaw. I have been following Doug’s stuff online for years and always found it useful and interesting. Never actually spoken though, so it was lovely to do so. I recommend it! https://dougbelshaw.com/about/

I just can’t help myself. It’s like a sickness https://t2.social/davebriggs

Episode 2 of our daughter Jade’s podcast is out. It’s all about the job of being a social media manager at an agency. It’s good! https://shows.acast.com/the-social-sisters-podcast/episodes/episode-2-what-does-a-social-media-manager-actually-do

“Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.” https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

I’ve read more about David Foster Wallace than I have David Foster Wallace. This is a great piece: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n14/patricia-lockwood/where-be-your-jibes-now

Ben Thompson on Threads and the state of social media: https://stratechery.com/2023/threads-and-the-social-communications-map/

Just published my newsletter – a few opinions and a lot of links (and the usual photo of a daft dog) https://daveslist.substack.com/p/daves-list-vol-3-issue-2

“Reviewing the Local Digital Declaration 5 years on: Update on the discovery project” https://dluhcdigital.blog.gov.uk/2023/07/03/reviewing-the-local-digital-declaration-5-years-on-update-on-the-discovery-project/

On reflection, my honest view is that, 5 years in, councils that have signed the declaration really ought to be doing an awful lot more of the things they signed up to do. The declaration’s content is fine. It just needs to be acted on.

Here’s a council that actually is acting on the declaration: “Establishing an Agile Delivery Management Community” https://servicetransformation.blog.essex.gov.uk/2023/07/07/establishing-an-agile-delivery-management-community/

This is one of those articles that goes after a sacred cow or two, and is pretty excorciating in places. I don’t agree with much of it, but it sure is a useful challenge: “Beware the Digital Whiteboard” https://www.wired.com/story/beware-the-digital-whiteboard/

Such a good job going at such a good council: https://ats-adurworthing.jgp.co.uk/vacancies/244465?ga_client_id=d7e337cd-2454-49b5-9dc7-3ef60845d457

Some lovely reflections from Lloyd: “What was all that about then?” https://perfectpath.co.uk/2023/07/10/what-was-all-that-about-then/

A decision I made when I took my current gig at Lambeth was just to do 4 days a week, so I had a day a week to pootle about doing other things. The first of those days is today and ngl it feels a bit odd!

I was around when this idea was first being mooted, and it’s brill to see it live. It’s a genuine digital age capability that can be slotted into many a service, making life easier for service users as well as making the back office a bit more efficient. What’s not to like? https://www.madetech.com/blog/evidence-saas-product/

I love this definition of ‘legacy’ from Coté: “Software you need to change, but are afraid to change” https://newsletter.cote.io/p/how-to-use-chatgpt-at-schools-to-help-students

“10 years on – what’s changed for the 21st Century Public Servant?” https://21stcenturypublicservant.wordpress.com/2023/07/06/updating-the-21st-century-public-servant/

“Perhaps we’ve been wrong to frame public service digital as a way to save money” https://jasonkitcat.com/2023/07/07/perhaps-weve-been-wrong-to-frame-public-service-digital-as-a-way-to-save-money/

For a few years now, I have been advising councils not to seek savings through digital work, but to use digital to make the savings they were demanding from their services anyway tolerable for their service users and staff.

This means being more creative about how to fund digital work, beyond simple invest to save capital spend.