Weeknotes 331
This week I did:
Technology strategy
I worked on a strategy for how to better manage the different technologies we use to ensure quality, maximize value, and ensure business continuity. It’s an interesting problem to solve.
Copy and paste
The copy and paste function we all take for granted is probably one of the most important productivity hacks and steps in defining human/computer interaction.
NaBloPoMo
Managed to complete NaBloPoMo and write a blog post every day in November. I’m still unsure about the value of doing it. It seems like it adds more pressure to publish, which results in low quality writing, rather building a good writing habit. Better to try to get into the habit of writing when I have ideas.
AIBloPoMo
Started playing with OpenAI to generate blog post text. Might make this my next writing experiment.
And I read:
Charities are too ‘respectable’ to win change
This interesting piece from Janey Starling reflects some of the wider thinking about the role the charity sector plays in society and the role charities play in bringing about change. My take is that it’s time for charities to move into a third means of creating change. If campaigning and political influencing (the second means of change) is become less effective (for a number of reasons) then charities need to adapt, change, and use technology to create systems change.
Superstitious learning
This article explores why improvement efforts so often fail to produce lasting results. It describes how many improvement efforts fail because managers mistakenly attribute the source of problems to the people in the system, not to the processes. Over time, managers receive feedback that seems to confirm their initial beliefs. This is called “superstitious learning” because people develop strong, but false and often harmful, beliefs. Perhaps the way to tackle these biases is to start by solving problems at the systems level first.
Evaluating and supporting Neurodifferences at work
This guide from The Society of Occupational Medicine for employers who are considering referring their staff for a diagnostic assessment of or services to support ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Tourette’s Syndrome and/or similar. It outlines what to look out for in staff, different options available for support and legal duties of employers.
Vision chasm
Tom Kerwin talks about the vision chasm, the gap between what an organisation says it’s trying to achieve and how it goes about achieving it. It’s same kind of problem as ‘Think big, start small’. It assumes some connection between two very different things but doesn’t define it. No answers yet.
And thought about:
Types of work
There are three types of work. The work we do as part of our job, the work we call work. And then there’s the meta-work, the work we do to organise and coordinate the work. And there are other things we spend time on that aren’t part of the work we do. When we talk about how to optimise work, reduce work in progress, focus, we only talk about the first type of work. To truly optimise how we work, we should consider all of our activities.
Systematise
The only way to really scale work, outcomes and impact is to systematise it. But creating systems for work isn’t easy. So, what to do about it? Create systems for creating systems?
Charity content distribution
I was wondering why charities don’t do more to distribute their content. They spend lots of time and effort creating helpful information and then keep it on their website and expect people to come to them to find it. Why not also put in on Medium, in Twitter threads, as YouTube videos, etc., etc.? Why not put it where more people go?