I’m a fan of the long tail. You may recall that I’ve already mapped both internal communications and the public sector adage of “fearless advice and loyal implementation” along the long tail distribution; and while those maps have value, they are just a subset of examples of a much larger phenomenon. We are fast becomingRead… Read more »
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: our career expectations are totally messed up. You know what else I think? The school system, a system that we spend the better part of our lives in, is a key contributor. In school the curriculum is linear and clearly defined; teachers check homework daily;Read… Read more »
Last week I sat down with Alex, an Epidemiologist (and fellow public servant), and we worked through a redesign of the information systems he and his team use to track infectious diseases that may be threatening Canada. Although to be honest, that was never the intention. We originally met to discuss how (if) tablet computersRead… Read more »
Hey Everyone – Here is a mixed bag of things in my brain right now … Food for thought … Here is a quick list of articles that I’ve read recently that I found interesting: Digital Storytelling and the Rise of the Layered Narrative Hard and Soft Power in Enterprise 2.0 I Can’t Think! LeadingRead… Read more »
I attended the President’s Breakfast for the Public Service yesterday (a fund raising event for the Ottawa Hospital), the Clerk gave the opening remarks. After the event I happened to run into him on the escalator. I had literally 240 seconds alone to speak with him. I asked him what he thought a majority parliamentRead… Read more »
It is election time again in Canada. For public servants that means increased public scrutiny (real or perceived) and constant (very real) reminders about our obligations as professional, non-partisan public servants. There is something happening here My interests in civic life span far beyond the traditional left-right spectrum of partisan politics. I think that healthyRead… Read more »
I recently spent some time researching the proactive disclosure of federal grants and contributions in Canada; here are some of my key findings about how the data is presented: Each department publishes their own G&C data (i.e. there is no single repository) The actual path to the endpoint data varies considerably across the landscape DespiteRead… Read more »
Do you want to know how you can change your office culture in a single day? Blow it up That’s right, blow it up. Have everyone come in jeans and t-shirts and break out the power tools and tear the walls down. Why you never would Your gut reaction tells you that you can’t. YouRead… Read more »
I traveled across British Columbia last month, visiting a series of three Employment Insurance (EI) processing plants, to deliver talks about engagement and career development. I met a lot of dedicated public servants, made new friends, and learned more about front-line service delivery than many Ottawa-based policy wonks do this early in their career. I’veRead… Read more »
I’ve beaten wikis to death in this space. I’ve presented arguments about how we can use them more effectively, why we need to shift how our organizations look at them, and even tried to explain how enterprise wikis change the traditional relationship between accountability and responsibility. In so doing, I think I may have overlookedRead… Read more »