Daveslist Volume 3 Issue 9 🙀

Visions of cats. No, visions *and* cats

Oi, oi!

Dexter, before his adventure

It’s been a busy week this one, with 2 whole days spent out of the house, on site with clients. I won’t lie - I am exhausted by this and so haven’t the energy to write anything too interesting here. Sorry.

No photo of Merlin the dog this time, but you do get to see another member of the family, Dexter. He went missing earlier in the week, resulting in much panic, worry and frantic activity: flyers through neighbours’ doors, posters on lamposts, desperate messages on social media.

He eventually sauntered in at 4am on Tuesday morning, looking bedraggled, filthy and utterly unrepentant.

I prefer dogs.

I spent some time with a council who are just starting out on a new plan to modernise their digital and technology approach this week. Particularly in smaller organisations, where things have been the same way for a long time, it’s really helpful to keep everyone as aware as possible of the purpose of the change, and articulate as clearly as possible where things need to get to, and why.

So we spent a fair bit of time looking at things like visions, and principles. No doubt some people are rolling their eyes at this, and in some circumstances, such things aren’t helpful. It’s a bit like the whole ‘do you need a digital strategy’ question. It really does depend! Very mature organisations probably can weave ‘digital’ through their other strategies, so it doesn’t sit apart. But, seriously, how many organisations are really that mature?

If change is necessary, it must be explained to people clearly, particularly when they are used to things being usual. That means taking the time to work on some of this high level thinking. It just increases everyone’s confidence - your team will be more likely to think you know what you’re talking about; your peers will see you as being credible, with a sensible story to tell; and perhaps more importantly, you will feel more confident in yourself, with hopefully at least one or two fewer doubts in your mind that you are doing the right thing.

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I’m always delighted if the things I write about are of use to people. Sometimes folk need a bit more help - in which case my advisory services might be just the thing they are looking for.

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This issue’s links

The Wildlife Trust - which I can’t help but feel would be a great place to work - have a job going as a Data Analyst. If that’s your bag, you should apply.

“Digital proof: where one service ends, another begins” is a really interesting piece from Harry Scott-Trimble, outlining a means for data to be more easily shared between services.

Consider this your regular reminder that wholly outsourcing your technology function is destructive and I can’t believe it is still happening.

I've long been looking for a decent Evernote replacement. Keep It looks like a potential winner. Mac only, sorry.

I heartily approve of this message - keep it in your pocket for any AI / machine learning suggestions from helpful colleagues.

"Why I no longer believe in Content Design" by Nicole Alexandra Michaelis.

I wrote a quick and snarky post about Cipfa's recent report about blockchain. Given the difficulties council’s have with implementing traditional financial management systems, encouraging them onto the blockchain sounds like utter madness to me.

"Why does PDF content persist when it sucks so much, and how can you get rid of it?" by Lauren Pope.

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That’s it for this issue. Don’t forget to hit reply if you have any feedback, or forward this on to anyone you think may enjoy it.

Until next time,

Dave ❤️