Thanksgiving

I received a really nice email this week from the president of a group I work with. She was thanking me for working the greeting/nametag table at a their annual member event. Appreciated my tearing myself away from the party. Got me thinking. I run one of their biggest activities, with hundreds of volunteers. IRead… Read more »

Federal Salary: It’s About Principles, Not Pay

In case you missed it, the latest study from the official Federal Salary Council (FSC) asserts that white-collar federal employees (“feds”) are paid a whopping 35% less than their private sector equivalents. Are federal executives really being short changed by more than one-third of their salary versus private sector peers? Feds don’t work in governmentRead… Read more »

Project Transparency

One of my teams is transitioning from using Kanban to Scrum for discrete development. We’ll probably continue using both because some of what we do is specific to a particular release of a product, and some of the work is support work. I’m excited because we are taking another step in the right direction towardsRead… Read more »

Having a website crash due to high traffic is a failure of management, not load

Today has provided an interesting lesson for several organisations, with the crash of both the David Jones and ClickFrenzy websites in Australia. But first, some background. ClickFrenzy is a new 24-hour sale for Australian online retailers starting from 7pm on Tuesday 20 November. Based on the US ‘Cyber Monday’ sale, which now attracts over 10Read… Read more »

Aloha Honolulu! Mahalo Forest.

It’s time to say thanks to the dedicated public servants that helped our Fellows navigate City Hall and champion our mission. And to the Cities that opened their doors, their minds, and their databases to the 2012 Fellows. When I first heard I was going to Honolulu, I thought, “That’s amazing! The beach, surfing, exploringRead… Read more »

Confessions of a justified camper

A little while ago, Paul Coxon wrote a blog post querying the long term viability of unconferences in the public sector. I didn’t respond, because I felt I couldn’t do so without sounding defensive and chippy. This evening, the weekly Twitter chat, #lgovsm, was based on Paul’s ideas. I did decide to involve myself, andRead… Read more »

Having a website crash due to high traffic is a failure of management, not load

Today has provided an interesting lesson for several organisations, with the crash of both the David Jones and ClickFrenzy websites in Australia. But first, some background. ClickFrenzy is a new 24-hour sale for Australian online retailers starting from 7pm on Tuesday 20 November. Based on the US ‘Cyber Monday’ sale, which now attracts over 10Read… Read more »

The Cure for Social Media Pitfalls – 5 Guidelines for Getting Recognized

With the constant barrage of social media status updates and endless marketing ploys that rage around you, how can you ensure you are heard above all the static? How can you use social media to effectively communicate your image and message? Last week I discussed a few social media personalities that drive me crazy. ThisRead… Read more »