Do public complaints make a difference? I’m always intrigued when people take to Twitter or other social media platforms to complain about a product or service. Firstly I’m wondering, does this actually make a difference? Do things improve? Secondly, if that person is a ‘Big-Wig’ in an organisation, I’m led to thinking… ‘I wonder if […]
Customer Contact Centers After Covid. More Human, More Local, More Joyful?
It’s Down By There… I had two experiences of Customer Services this week. One was a terrible grind, the other left me feeling joyful. The terrible grind is what you might expect when trying to cancel a conscription* with a massive global company. You don’t actually get to speak to anyone human. It’s just a […]
If You Can’t Sign it, Don’t Ship it.
Owning what you create. There’s a lot to be said for feeling real sense of ‘ownership’ of the things you build, manufacture, write, create or the service you provide. Ultimately it’s all about quality. If you care about what you are doing you should be prepared to put your name to it. By ‘signing’ whatever […]
Is annoying your service users a good way to build community action?
Deliberately setting out to upset and annoy people isn’t an approach I’d routinely recommend, but please stick with me. Here are three things to think about, and how they might be combined to help to build better communities that can deliver the services they require: Doing something wrong, and then putting it right, builds stronger […]
Social Media, WH Smith Carpet, London Midland Trains and Observations from Accident & Emergency
I spent half a day in hospital this week. Nothing very serious, just a bit of digging for a fish bone stuck in my throat. To break up the boredom I did joke with a friend on Twitter that I was doing some ‘field ethnography’. From my observations I can report that I spent a […]
‘People buy from People’. A lesson for knowledge workers from Deenna Boutique and Neath Music
I know that I shouldn’t be surprised by this statement. ‘People buy from People’ is one of those truths that underpin so much human activity, particularly if this involves some sort of exchange. The exchange can involve a product, service or knowledge and information. This is where knowledge workers fit in; stick with me…….This week […]
“Every CEO should try to access the services their organisation delivers using a mobile phone, at least twice a month”
I wish I’d thought of that. It was actually said by Jon Beech (@_jonb) on twitter and sparked a conversation about how senior officials could test the ‘lived experience’ of service users by trying to access their organisation’s website using a mobile phone. It’s been rattling around inside my head for a while and found […]
Email Read Receipts. Does the misuse of minimum effort technology undermine trust between colleagues?
Do email read receipts make your spirits soar…….? Not mine. Why do people send them? Many people I’ve spoken to have, like me, been on the receiving end of read receipt misuse. Pointless, irritating and questionable behaviour. I must admit that when I get one, particularly from repeat offenders, I’m sorely tempted to just delete […]
Newsletter vrs Podcast, Who Wins? Remember, a paper newsletter can also keep you warm.
My father in law once told me about how managed the mountains of mail that landed on his desk as the Head of a large High School. One of his routines was to drop all of the newsletters neatly into a box with the intention of reading them at the end of term. Mostly they […]
What IKEA Hacking has taught me about project management and learning from failure.
I’ve used a version of this picture before (see 4 foot posts story), but it’s so uncannily accurate that it’s worth seeing again. The purpose is to illustrate some of my project management ‘issues’ and learning through failure. This was all the result of some accidental IKEA Hacking. The Project: Refurbishment of a Client’s (youngest […]
What's the PONT 