The (over) Enthusiasm of Youth. A long time ago (over quarter of a century), in a Galaxy far, far away (St. Mellons, East Cardiff) I learnt all about Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and my life was enriched. I was freshly equipped with a science degree, doing science based things at work and RCA fitted perfectly. […]
Fixing the Bike(shed). A conversation about how to deal with Bikeshedding
Have you ever been in a meeting where you spend an eternity discussing something relatively trivial, and then microseconds on something significant? If the answer is yes, the chances are you’ve been Bikeshedding… Bikeshedding is the common name for Parkinson’s Law of Triviality: … ‘the amount of time a committee will spend discussing an item […]
Regulation is a Social Process. A Contact Sport… People Doing Things With Other People.
Audit is also a Social Process. When I got a job with the District Audit Service about 20 years ago my Father in Law (one of the wisest people I’ve ever known, just like his daughter) told me a joke. QUESTION: How do you know you’ve met an extrovert Auditor? ANSWER: When they were talking […]
Ritual Dissent, Facilitation that Goes Beyond Comfortable Consensus
Ritual Dissent: “We do that here. It’s just that the dissent happens once people have gone back to their desks and they destroy the idea” Anon. Just for the record, what I’m talking about here is: Dissent as a strongly held difference of opinion and Ritual as a set of fixed actions that are part […]
The negative side of autonomous vehicles – no more AA Roadside Recovery Service
I’m not excited about autonomous vehicles. There’s a lot been said about the benefits of the autonomous vehicles that we’ve been promised will arrive in the next few years. On-demand use, energy efficiency, less congestion, improved safety, high reliability etc etc. But I’m not so sure… The ‘reliability thing’ (never breaking down and leaving you […]
Baugespann: Can Service Design Learn Anything from Swiss Planning Regulations?
This post isn’t as weird as the title suggests, so please stick with me. It does however sit in the ‘curious things you learn when you are walking the dog’ folder. The reason for the cardboard office picture will be explained shortly, I promise. Baugespann, Bauprofile and Aussteckung. These are all lovely words from the […]
Thailand Flood Hacks. Plastic Bottles, Expatiation and Innovation
Seriously, what cat would wear that colour? Image Source: Thai Flood Hacks https://thai-flood-hacks.tumblr.com/post/12826178385/water-bottle-swimming-vest-for-cats-via#notes Everything is wrong with this picture. There is no cat I’ve ever known that would permit me (or anyone else) to: Put a vest on it, Sew plastic water-bottles into the vest, and Sit around to have its picture taken wearing the […]
3 Mystery Shopper Tasks for; Executives, Non Executives, Directors and Chiefs
Moai – buried, but that one looks a bit toppled I’m thrilled with my latest T-Shirt purchase,“something buried in the dirt cannot topple”, it’s all about the slogan….. My interpretation; if you are deeply involved to something at a practical level (buried in the dirt), you are less likely to be easily disrupted (toppled) […]
Good Practice Case Studies, No #Failure? You’re Doing It Wrong.
Good practice case studies are like Hollywood movie trailers…… they only show you the best bits of what happened (with some exceptions). Sorry if that’s upset anyone, I am trying to be helpful. There is a great deal that can be learnt from the things that ‘didn’t quite go to plan’ (failure in many cases). […]
Checklists don’t work* (*sometimes, particularly if you get implementation wrong)
This isn’t an anti-checklists post. It’s an illustration of why picking up an example of good practice in one location, and dropping down in another doesn’t always work. No matter how brilliantly conceived, beautifully constructed or obviously ‘good’ the original good practice might be. So, next time a politician or clever speaker at a conference […]
