I tweeted on Sunday about how I had stopped “thinking in the open”, I realise now that doing this is part of what I do. I worked out whilst in Defra that by thinking out loud ideas and concepts can be tested and become more robust.
Reading Clare’s speech over the weekend reminded me that I used to be one of those tempered radicals and the good stuff we did whilst delivering the Defra Data challenge.
Lot’s (relatively) of people ‘liking’ my tweet reassured me that they agreed (it is amazing how we interpret ‘likes’ as we choose).
So, I…
I’ve not had anything I’ve felt like writing for a while… this has changed this morning.
It is 0354 and I am not asleep in another AirBnB in London. Why can’t I sleep. Well usually I can not put my finger on it, but today I reckon it is something to do with it being the anniversary of me doing the most difficult thing.
It is seventeen years ago today I had to tell my mum that my dad had died.
He was 55.
He never saw me or my sister get married or met his (4) grandkids. He didn’t…
After having worked as Head of Business Development at the Open Data Institute (ODI) for eight months now, I feel like I am starting to know my way around a bit, and am happy to say that I am bringing my experience in government into my work in a new way.
As the next part of my Jedi training, I have been given the responsibility of leading two Research projects as part of the Research & Development Programme funded by Innovate UK.
This is quite exciting for me as it means I can start to use my brain in a…
I love what OneTeamGov represents, the cross silo mentality, the honesty of approach, the nurturing, the caring, the inclusivity. It is bloody awesome.
I attended OneTeamGovGlobal last week and spent the day helping facilitate the sessions that had been crowd sourced in the unconference.
What is an unconference, well if you don’t know by now, I recorded this video of James Arthur Cattell explaining what it is a couple of years ago.
Yes, a couple of years ago – when I was still working in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) trying to change the culture…
I think that in time this week is going to be one of great significance in my life story for 2 main reasons. One exceptionally sad and one exceptionally happy.
First the sad, I knew a few weeks ago that someone I have worked with a lot over the past 10 years was seriously ill. I found out this week that they don’t have long left with us.
This person isn't much older than me and I can honestly say that without them I wouldn't have been able to do a lot of the things that currently are in that…
I have been working at the ODI for 3 months now, just starting month 4. It is strange in some ways I feel like I have been working here for ages and in others I am still totally wet behind the ears.
It has been a really interesting cultural shock to the system moving out of government (as blogged here) and that still holds true. I have been asked my many of my #dorset friends (who see no difference to my work pattern) what the ‘new job’ is like.
In no particular order:
- It is mind blowing to be playing…
One of the most powerful experiences I had last year was working with a coach and a mentor to help me understand who I actually was. I was in a place where I felt hemmed in, career-wise, by the hard earned LLM in Intellectual Property Law I had obtained part time whilst working. I blogged before about some of this here
Did this qualification make me an IP person forever, I thought it must do. …
Yesterday David Buck posted a tweet and name checked me in it. The point of the tweet was that no-one ever leaves government once they have been in it, you can not forget what you have seen or what you have learned. This prompted me to start reflecting on things.
So being only 3 odd weeks out of working in the public sector I suspect, quite strongly, that this is true. …
