Liminality at the Dentist. I’ve a (possibly strange) observation to make. I quite like sitting in the Dentist’s waiting room. The Doctors Surgery waiting room isn’t bad either, as are the foyers and reception areas of some big municipal buildings, Newport Civic Centre is a good one. It doesn’t work in the waiting area of […]
Measurement is a Smorgasbord.
Buffet v Smorgasbord. A ‘buffet’ is a cornerstone of society round these parts. From the most ‘interesting’ of family gatherings through to the most soul draining of organisational morale boosters; there’s always a buffet. Basically a mixture of foodstuffs, something that will more or less please everyone. The range and randomness can vary a lot, […]
The Ministry of the Predictable. Eliminating Uncertainty, Risk, and Resilience.
For every complex human problem, there is an answer that is simple, obvious and WRONG!* But it is the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the Ministry of the Predictable (MOP). The MOP work by; developing universal policies, providing conditional funding, linking funding to milestones in a project plan/programme and measuring your progress against the targets […]
Crowdsourcing Covid Recovery Ideas. Do I Panic and Scream or Do I Rejoice?
Is it just me… or are there an overwhelming number of ‘bright idea schemes’ floating around at the moment? All of them searching for the big idea that will make life better after COVID. A lot of what I’m seeing are versions of ‘crowdsourcing’. Ask lots of people a question, and they will eventually come […]
Ordinary Clay, Not Gold and Silver #Cynefin21
Clai cyffredin nid aur ac arian. Being ordinary doesn’t feel like much of a goal does it. It’s certainly not aspirational in the sense of the ‘happy clappy’ vision statements you see in lots of corporate documents. But ordinary and mundane are essential. This is the stuff of everyday life, the fabric of society, the […]
Does involving Service Users lead to better decisions? A case for Co-production?
This is the third in a series of posts (second one here) about some work using SenseMaker to get a better understanding of attitudes to risk. This final post explains how we used SenseMaker in a new way for us, looking at X-Y plots and possible correlations between data sets. It is very much […]
Is common sense more useful than the rule book when you are making decisions
This is the second of three post (First one here) about some work using SenseMaker to trying and get a better understanding of attitudes towards risk. In particular how ‘well manged risk’ works in relation to innovation and major changes. Text from the original post is below, with the hopefully familiar ‘What’s the PONT?’ added at the […]
Safe to Fail Pilots, Well Managed Risk, Context is Everything and a bit of SenseMaker
I don’t usually mix work and what I write here (well not in any sort of way that is too obvious). For the next three posts I’m crossing the line. These posts are all about some work using SenseMaker to get into the area of attitudes towards risk. In particular how ‘well manged risk’ works […]
Groundhog Day and the Tyranny of Best Practice
Today is Groundhog Day. I’m not joking the 2nd February really is Groundhog Day. Groundhog day is a much loved North American tradition, but according to the Oxford Dictionaries, it also stands for something else; “a series of unwelcome or tedious events that keep recurring in exactly the same way”. In other words, a continuous loop of the same old […]
“Failure is not an option…..” Daleks, the enforcers of Best Practice.
I don’t think this is an actual Dalek quote, but it should be….. “Failure is not an option…. exterminate!” I’m back to pursuing learning from failure after listening to an episode of The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4, featuring Professor Dame Wendy Hall. In response to a question (27mins) on why the UK doesn’t […]
What's the PONT 