An online notebook
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An online notebook
I had a fun chat last week with Richard Godfrey of Syncity. Richard, like me, has a big interest in how local councils use technology, particularly acknowledging the need for more traditional IT to be modernised alongside the sexier digital…
The local digital declaration is three years old as I go to keyboard. I was privileged enough to be around at the time it was being put together, had some small input into it, and helped to promote it. I…
A few months ago, I recorded this chat with Kit Collingwood, from the Royal Borough of Greenwich, about her work at the council, the new digital strategy she authored, and how she and her team are tackling the many challenges…
When Nokia people looked at the first iPhone, they saw a not-great phone with some cool features that they were going to build too, being produced at a small fraction of the volumes they were selling. They shrugged. “No 3G,…
This was originally published as the lead article in my weekly email newsletter. If you’d like to get more of this sort of thing on a regular basis, sign up! I’m sure folk get bored of people like me banging on…
But the real answer to the question depends on how IT is defined. If narrow definition is used and IT is taken to mean nothing more than base infrastructure, then Carr’s viewpoint remains correct. If, however, the definition of IT…
Bezos’ letters make splendid material for a Business School course on Strategy and Communication. A caveat applies, however. Most of the strategies and practices advocated by Amazon’s founder have broad applicability, but a central mystery remains: Bezos himself, his combination…
Great short-ish summary of the rise of aggregating platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon from the ever-insightful Ben Thompson:
I recently went through the rather painful process of applying for a senior digital transformation role in local government and not getting it. I might write in more detail at some point about it all, but right now I am…
One thing that has been taking up quite a bit of my attention lately is how, in the real world, an organisation can do the kind or big picture, strategic transformation that’s almost certainly needed whilst making progress on what…
Quite a mixture of stuff this week – plenty to dig into over the weekend. Interesting job at GDS, promoting the use of gov.uk Verify in local government. You have until the end of Sunday 2nd July to apply –…
As part of the work putting together a Technology Strategy (think IT + digital) for my current employer, I came up with six principles of good technology. The idea is that each of these principles must be met by any…
I rather like this diagram that appeared in a post talking about Microsoft (which is well worth reading in and of itself). It describes all the elements that make up what an organisation is and does. At the top, there…
Increasingly, following a bit of a chat, it turns out you don’t. I’ve been delivering training on digital tools, including social media, for a fair few years now. I’d like to think I’m quite good at it, and that those…
Do you need a digital engagement strategy to get it right? Perhaps you don’t, but it can’t not help, surely. Start with a vision. What do we want to achieve? Where do we want to end up? Pick an arbitrary…
I do a fair bit of training on digital engagement to public sector bodies up and down the country and most of the time it means very different things to very different people.
To some, it means running a corporate Twitter account or Facebook page - which, of course, it does.
To others it means teams delivering services making use of digital tools to engage with service users, to improve the quality of the service being provided - which, of course, it does.
To another group, it means bringing social technology into the organisation, to improve the way people work, learn and generally get stuff done - which, of course, it does.
Then there are those to whom it means an approach to consultation on a particular decision, policy, campaign or project - which, of course, it does.
So all of these things, and a fair few others as well, are a part of what digital engagement means. Often the trouble is that they aren't always considered by those looking to implement digital engagement.
I spend a fair bit of time talking to local councils and the like about taking a strategic approach to digital stuff, although usually it is mostly around engagement, and a bit of communications.
It's important - simply to know what you want to achieve and why. As soon as you have those things figure out then it's easy to choose the right tools and channels to help you get there.
Taking a strategic approach though doesn't necessarily mean you need a bit of paper, with 'strategy' written on it. Sometimes just having thought about the issues is all you need to do. A quick look on Twitter or Facebook and it's pretty straightforward to spot those that haven't even done that!
However, there are times when a bit more of an in depth look at all things digital are required. After all, the bits of an organisation like a local council that are affected by the internet go way beyond just the communications team.
I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. SOCIAL PLAN: 11 Golden Rules for Social Media in an Organisation – Some nice tips from Dan. OGP Take Aways : Tim’s Blog – "In an attempt to use reflective…
Once again, the quality commentary on the latest reports into government IT spending is coming from blogs. Simon Dickson: The real story, such as it is, is the Committee’s apparent recognition that the current process – reliant on a small…
I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Reaping the benefits of shared services – Interesting interview with @terryhuggins on the shared services arrangement between South Holland and East Lindsay councils. UK IT Strategy Sets the Pace for…