Weekly Braindump #4
Published in
3 min readSep 30, 2016
Weekly Braindump is a curated list of things I’ve worked on, thought about, listened to or read during the last 7 days.
I’ve been working on…
- Training (well, more like public relations really) on some new systems we’ve recently launched. Up take has been slow, so it’s been a bit of an exercise in understanding where that resistance is coming from and building trust for (honest) constructive feedback. This would make a good reflective case study in why starting with user needs is important.
- Spent the best part of a day just trying to get Windows Pro 10 installed on a single laptop. Tell me again why we persist with full blown operating systems for most people? Is there an 80/20 rule for people who could function perfectly well with a docked Chromebook or iPad?
- Writing SFTP scripts to automate some back end processes between a couple of different systems. AUTOMATE ALL THE THINGS! (which might be one of my mantras for this year)
I’ve been thinking about…
- Lots of post GovCamp Cymru chin stroking. I didn’t have any huge epiphanies — but it did put more meat on the bones of things kicking around my head. I also came away with a broad feeling of “talk is cool — but I need to start doing sh*t!”.
- The distance between the people/person creating the system to the people/person using it seems critical. The bigger the distance, the more likely there’s a lack of empathy & understanding between the two. Is there a name or term for this?
- People will put up with a really (like.. REALLY) ugly user interface if it fulfils a specific user need. Conversely then, a well designed user interface won’t fly if it doesn’t meet a defined user need.
I’ve been reading…
- I’ve been digesting Liminal Thinking by Dave Gray this week. A really excellent, concise way to change the world by challenging and changing your own beliefs. Seems simple on the surface, but requires a lot of head work. Think this will be part of my toolkit for a while.
http://liminalthinking.com/ - The GovCamp Cymru Storify courtesy of Good Practice WAO.
https://storify.com/GoodPracticeWAO/govcamp-cymru-2016-57e140624b218b8c553f4f95? - Ben Proctor’s ace writeup of his GovCamp Cymru experience.
http://benproctor.co.uk/govcampcymru-2016-my-day/ - Really excellent 25 point summary of the happenings at GovCamp Connect (Nothern Ireland’s version of Govcamp). By Mary McKenna.
https://kickingassets.co.uk/2016/09/25/25-takeaways-from-northern-irelands-govcampconnect/ - How do you report potholes without even being aware of it? Hugely clever stuff using mobile phones to automatically report big bumps in the road.
http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/rohan-silva-how-our-lowcost-devices-can-make-big-cities-run-more-effectively-a3354006.html - Councils told to pull together to challenge big suppliers to change. Lots of this is very reminiscent of the social housing sector. Via Phil Rumens.
https://www.publictechnology.net/articles/news/councils-urged-work-together-challenge-big-vendors - 21 radical ideas about running an organisation — short but amazingly awesome. Via Tariq Rashid.
https://medium.com/responsive-engineering/i-have-21-radical-ideas-b428414a4efc#.8877bn6es - An open city is a better city by Peter Wells.
https://medium.com/@peterkwells/an-open-city-is-a-better-city-57e26a23d281#.bkagqn70e - This is one of my favourite (current) soap boxes. The potential for technology (and perhaps people) is being constrained because we insist on using it over the top of our silly old industrial ways of working.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/technology-problem-our-immature-way-dealing-karin-zingmark - Not content with designing for now (which most of us are struggling with) Bromford Labs are thinking about ways of placing bets to design for the the future. By Paul Taylor.
https://paulitaylor.com/2016/09/30/using-weak-signals-to-determine-your-future-organisation/ - Forget Minimum Viable Product. Time to embrace the RAT (Riskiest Assumption Test) to accelerate learning. Really interesting write up from rik.
https://medium.com/@rikhigham/the-mvp-is-dead-long-live-the-rat-233d5d16ab02#.p5673yns6 - Transformation, digital or otherwise is never done. I bloody loves this I do. By Kate Tarling.
https://hodigital.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/30/what-does-transformation-really-mean/ - Could health/care/local gov/housing adopt “Institutional YES!” rather than “Institutional NO!” for new ideas? It’s hard to get even mildly risky ideas to swim upstream. Make those nay sayers write a report to defend their position. Via Helen Bevan.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-bias-towards-yes-allows-amazon-pursue-new-ideas
I’ve been listening to…
- Freakonomics — Why are we still using cash?
http://pca.st/Ga7R - Basic Income Podcast — An overview of basic income.
http://pca.st/PqFa - Open Data Institute : Friday Lunchtime Lectures. Why joined up data is a political not technical challenge.
http://pca.st/zvx5