Daily notes

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.

This is a lovely piece by Giles Turnbull and I will be first in the queue for the book when it emerges! https://howteamsremember.com/

“I created Clippy”:

I’ve signed up for and downloaded Threads. I don’t like the lack of a web interface, if I’m honest and it makes a mockery of my no-social-media phone policy. Hopefully one will come soon. It’s also full of a lot of “suggested content” that I’ve not chosen to see and there’s no apparent way to turn that off. Which is a turn off.

John Gruber’s take seems to hit all the nails on their heads https://daringfireball.net/2023/07/threads

“The Local Authority Data Explorer
for the Office for Local Government (Oflog)” https://oflog.data.gov.uk/

“New recurring payments and webhook features available through GOV.UK Pay” https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2023/07/05/new-recurring-payments-and-webhook-features-available-through-gov-uk-pay/

I wonder if there’s a tweak to Betteridge’s law of headlines that states that when the headline ending in a question mark is related to AI, the NO answering it is even more emphatic than normal? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

“Bringing Digital Skills to Public Purpose Organisations” https://public.digital/2023/07/03/bringing-digital-skills-to-public-purpose-organisations

Someone asked me about CRM today and I was able to point to my answer from 2018 which is still broadly what I think: https://da.vebrig.gs/2018/06/15/do-you-need-to-buy-a-crm/

New newsletter out today, which I have switched to Substack. It does feel like building personal networks through things like email might be the answer to the breakdown of more public social media like Twitter etc https://daveslist.substack.com/p/daves-list-vol-3-issue-1

Anyway, I would be grateful for any feedback.

The best non-fiction tech books of all time – https://www.theverge.com/c/23771068/best-tech-books-nonfiction-recommendations

I can’t believe the above doesn’t include Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy or What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry by John Markoff!

Haringey Council have launched a new blog on my localgov.blog service, chatting about their website redevelopment project. Do check it out, and if your council wants a free blog, you know where to find me. https://haringey.localgov.blog/

I do need to have a think about localgov.blog and what I ought to do with it. Right now it’s fine and it ticks along quite nicely, but there are improvements that in an ideal world I would like to make. Currently though, am not sure the effort would really be justified!

I still haven’t reinstalled any social media apps on my phone, and I am still ok with it. Am I spending less time on my phone as a result? Maybe, but think I’m browsing the open web a bit more than I was.

This is infuriating: https://neal.fun/password-game/

Whenever Catherine Howe posts, it’s usually a good idea to read it: https://curiouscatherinehowe.medium.com/taking-the-red-pill-c30839bedb7f

More Twitter woes: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/07/03/everything-continues-to-be-going-just-great-at-twitter

“So where are we all supposed to go now?” https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/3/23782607/social-web-public-apps-end-reddit-twitter-mastodon

This is a good and challenging read on what even is an online community these days “The End Of Platform-Centric Strategies” https://www.feverbee.com/communityeverywhere/

Yet another note taking application for me to tinker with: https://www.qownnotes.org/

THIS from Dave Winer: “I wonder if now what I’ve been trying to do with RSS, blogging and podcasting, get underneath the bigco’s and live on a plane that doesn’t require any one of them, makes a bit more sense now.” It sure does http://scripting.com/2023/07/03.html#a143645

More fedi-fun: run your own YouTube clone with PeerTube. Sounds like a good way to bankrupt yourself if you aren’t careful – https://joinpeertube.org/

“Marc Andreessen Is (Mostly) Wrong This Time [about AI]” https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-marc-andreessen-labor-politics/