Six Oi Conference Learning Points – all in a 6min podcast!

Posted on June 15, 2013 by whatsthepont

This week saw the fantastic Online Influence, ‘Oi!’ Conference roll into Cardiff, beautifully squeezed in-between Rhianna and John Bon Jovi (concerts). A fairly standard Cardiff week.

You can read about the fantastic speakers; Phillipa Davies (@mindhiver), Ian Cleary (@IanCleary) and Mark Schaefer (@markwschaefer) on the Oi Conference site. I’d also recommend looking at this review of #Oiconf13 by the incredible @MrTonyDowling, who is behind the whole thing.

There was a great deal of activity following the conference with examples of people putting learning into action. I’m happy to say I’ve also had a go.

Working with incredibly generous Helen Reynolds (@HelReynolds) we sat down at a different conference we were both speaking at and recorded our key learning points from Oi! Conference 2013. Here they are, hope you enjoy our 6min podcast.

So, what’s the PONT?

A recording seems to be a quicker method of sharing content than a traditional blog post (I’m sure it will be once I’ve cracked the technology).
We are hoping that it is a more effective method of sharing (the Jury is still out on that one).
I still have lots to learn. It would have been a good idea to have tested the technology before jumping in with both feet (so unlike me).

Picture: A front cover from The New Musical Express, June 18 1977, featuring ‘The Stranglers’. You’ll have to listen to the podcast to work out why this is relevant (close to the end between 5-6 mins)

Make Meetings Count – Literally, with Meeting Ticker and Clockwork Meetings.

Posted on May 11, 2013 by whatsthepont

Ask the internet and often it delivers more than you expected. Today was one of those days.

About two weeks ago I ended up in a Twitter discussion with Shirley Ayres and Paul Taylor about how much time gets wasted in meetings. It started with a post about are meetings are the symptom of bad organisation, and ended up with some ideas around calculating just how much meetings cost.

One of the things mentioned was doing the following calculation, in your head:

Number of people x Hourly pay x Hours spent meeting = Meeting Cost*

*This doesn’t include travelling to the meeting or preparation time, which probably needs to be built-in, but it’s a good starting point.

The idea is that you then compare this cost of meeting figure against the benefits that have resulted from having the meeting, simple. The benefits should be greater than the costs. However, calculating the monetary value of the benefits of a meeting is a bit more difficult to work out.

That was where I left the discussion until Shirley and Paul picked things up again this morning (I have a good reason for being absent, honest).

Say hello to Meeting Ticker and Clockwork Meetings, these are two very helpful programmes that allow you to display the costs of your meetings. To quote Nick Atkin of Halton Housing Trust, “this would shorten meetings by about 75%”. This is how they work:

Meeting Ticker was introduced by Paul this morning. This is open source software which has been developed on GitHub by Toby Tripp, Lydia Tripp, and Roy Kolak. It is worth reading the explanation of why Meeting Ticker was developed ….’expensive consultants sitting on their butts for hours on end’ was a big motivator (sound familiar?).

This is very straightforward to use; you add in the number attending, make an estimate of the hourly salaries and press start. You then watch a meter rapidly adding up the pounds and pence with “stop the bleeding” written dramatically below. It is slightly mesmerizing and would shorten meetings I’m sure.

A couple of observations:

Meeting Ticker is written on GitHub, open source software so anybody (with the necessary coding skills) could develop it further, for example to include a choice of salary ranges or a salary calculator.
It might not work using Internet Explorer. There is an advisory note saying “If this works on Internet Explorer, it is purely by accident”. Worth knowing if your organisation (there are plenty) only allows an ancient version of Internet Explorer as the web browser.

Clockwork Meetings This afternoon Ed Bullock from Halton Housing Trust came up with this free app on iTunes. It is just as easy to uses as Meeting Ticker, you add the number of attendees, hourly salary cost and press start. The big difference is the ability to set an audible ‘click’ to make a noise at set intervals. Just what you need in case you forget the fact there is ‘money on the clock’.

The discussion hasn’t ended here. There is a lot of activity ongoing to find the best on-line salary calculator that could be used in conjunction with either of these applications.

I’d suggest that you also need a large screen in the meeting room, so that everyone can see the costs rising as the meeting progresses (or drags on). Hopefully it will focus minds to think about costs and benefits.

I know we haven’t yet worked out how we measure the benefits of meetings. Maybe that’s something Shirley can encourage debate about next weekend?

So what’s the PONT?

There seems to be software programme or app for just about anything you can think of, somewhere on the internet. You just need someone to look in the right place.
A highly visible display of the costs of a meeting is likely to have an impact on how people behave and long the meeting takes.
Slight word of caution here. Don’t let this approach fall into the wrong hands. I worry that a few people might misuse ‘meeting cost measures’ and force people into hasty decisions, when a more thoughtful consideration of the evidence is required.

Picture source: Meeting Ticker
http://tobytripp.github.io/meeting-ticker/

Clockwork Meetings:
https://itunes.apple.com/ye/app/clockwork-meetings/id384045562?mt=8

Don’t spend any money on NHS Jargon Busters – it’s sorted! Download the Apps.

Posted on May 9, 2013 by whatsthepont

I’m not ashamed to admit my naivety and ignorance. In the last post I was astonished to find out there was a book available called ‘NHS Jargon Explained’. I was just scratching the surface…..

On the basis that jargon is “the specialised or technical language of a trade, profession or similar group”, and the NHS is a massive organisation with very many specialist groups, this shouldn’t be surprising. A quick search using twitter turned up some interesting examples of NHS ‘jargon busters’. These are my favourites, apologies to anyone worthy who’s not on the list.

Guardian Newspaper, Glossary of Healthcare Jargons and Acronyms. This is 2011 vintage and has about 70 examples of the most common NHS jargon. I was a bit surprised to see BT (British Telecom) feature. Apparently it’s something to do with them running the N3 Network. Have a look at the Guardian article to find out what N3 means. You also need to know that a ‘spine’ isn’t necessarily that thing in the middle of your back.

NHS Local, West Midlands. This is provided by a group of NHS organisations, Universities and private sector organisations that are “transforming healthcare by changing the conversation between patient and the NHS” (that’s not jargon is it). The jargon buster has about 70 explanations, mainly to do with maternity services. Very useful if you need to use that service. A great explanation of ‘oily fish’ can be found here.

Leicestershire NHS, Health Informatics Service. This is blog by a Communications and Marketing Officer in Leicestershire NHS, that explains about 30 Information Technology terms used in the NHS. Helpful information about the language used by another specialist group that will be of benefit to those who don’t work in IT or understand it. Unfortunately there was no explanation of exactly what ‘informatics’ means (is it just me?).

Health and Social Care Information Centre, National Casemix Office Jargon Buster. I had to use the jargon buster to understand what a ‘Casemix Office’ does: “A system whereby the complexity of the care provided to a patient is reflected in an aggregate secondary healthcare classification.” Phew, thank goodness that’s cleared up. There are about 60 definitions here, some of them pretty baffling, but it is the language of a very specialist group. Well worth a look if you want to understand what ‘complications and comorbidities’ are all about, alongside ‘cliff edges’, ‘unbundling’ and ‘spells’.

NHS Confederation Acronym Buster. This has a bumper 500 acronyms explained. There is even Application Software (an App, see the NHS Leicestershire definition) available to download for free. This is very helpful and something you could keep under the desk for emergency situations when the healthcare experts are running wild. My only gripe would be that defining acronyms is only half of the problem solved. The jargon remains.

My Health London. This is an award-winning information website for health services in London. The jargon buster is in a section focussed on young people and there is also a free App you can download called ‘Well Happy’. This is worth a look as it has very clear, jargon free explanations under headings such as ‘Sex and Relationships’ and ‘Alcohol and Addiction’. Very useful for those difficult conversations with the teenage kids.

This has been a bit of an eye opener. Specialist groups certainly do have their own language, unfortunately jargon to outsiders. There were other examples I stumbled across from the third sector, IT, property and law. Nothing I could find specifically from the world of Local Government… yet?

So, what’s the PONT?

In a large and complicated organisation like the NHS the occurrence of many specialist groups with their own technical language (jargon) is inevitable.
The specialist groups need to make sure they don’t exclude outsiders by the use of technical language that isn’t easily understood.
The good news is that may specialist groups are trying their best to share their ‘jargon busters’ which are free for everyone to use. Hopeful those who aren’t as well-developed or inclusive will pick these up and use them.

Picture Source: My Health London, Young Peoples, ‘Well Happy’ App.

https://www.myhealth.london.nhs.uk/health-communities/young-people/download

Ted Robbins, Textiles and 78rpms. My week of social media.

Posted on March 29, 2013 by whatsthepont

This week I ended up on BBC Radio Lancashire talking about textiles, Lancashire Folk and an old 78rpm record. I have absolutely no connection with Lancashire and the textile industry (as far as I know) so this was a bit of a surprise.

The only link was a 1950’s 78rpm record called ‘Lancashire Speaks’ which I wrote a blog post about. Social media intervened and this is how I ended up on the radio talking to Ted Robbins and Andrew Schofield from the North West Sound Archive.

Saturday 16^th March – I find the ‘Lancashire Speaks’ record amongst the collection that belonged to my wife’s Grandparents. I do some research on Cyril Lord who issued the record but draw a blank.
Sunday 17^th March – decide to write a blog post about how the record is an interesting early example of getting local people’s voices heard by remote decision makers. I also offered the record to a good home as an example of social history.
Monday & Tuesday – conversations on my twitter account with people commenting on the blog post and suggestions of who might be interested in the recording. The North West Sound Archive got mentioned three times so I send them an email.
Wednesday & Thursday – email and telephone conversations follow with Andrew Schofield from the North West Sound Archive. The record isn’t something Andrew is aware and they would be interested in a copy. At this point neither of us has listened to the recording.
Weekend of 23rd & 24^th March – I source suitable material to package this now precious record and send it to the NW Sound Archive at Clitheroe.
Tuesday 26^th March – Phone call from Andrew, he’s received the recording safely and it works. Two minutes of Lancashire Folk speaking about the textile industry, directed at Members of the Houses of Parliament. A bit of ‘hiss’, but what do you expect for a 60-year-old recording.
Wednesday 27^th March – emails and phone calls. Would I be prepared to talk on BBC Radio Lancashire about the recording? Gary Scott had picked it up via my blog post and they would like to talk to me. Now who is going to turn down an offer like that? Not me!
Thursday 28^th March – I get to speak with Ted Robbins and Andrew and listen to the recording for the first time. You can have a listen to the whole interview here (skip to 47-58mins). Hopefully I will have the digital recording of the Lancashire Textile Workers soon which I will add here.

One of the Tweets suggesting I contact the North West Sound Archive. People were very helpful.

So what happens next?

In Lancashire – hopefully people get in touch with the Ted Robbins show or the NW Sound Archive with some more information and we can fill in a few more of the gaps in information.

In South Wales – The only connection we think we have with the record in my Wife’s Grandfather, George William Ridgwell, who was in the Metropolitan Police (1921-1962) and the Inspector at the Houses of Parliament during the 1950’s. We think that he may have acquired the record during this time. It would be interesting to know.

Has social media helped in solving this mystery?

Thinking about the alternatives I probably wouldn’t have bothered doing anything other than putting the record back in the box. With relative ease I wrote a blog post which ended up with an interview with the radio station at the heart of Lancashire. I don’t think alternative methods would have achieved such wide coverage. Here are some numbers (imagine what we could have achieved if I was really good at this sort of thing):

My original ‘Lancashire Speaks’ blog post was viewed almost 200 times,
Through twitter links to the post have been shared 35 times
BBC Radio Lancashire has over 200 thousand listeners a week

So, what’s the PONT?

Blogging and social media have helped me to share a bit of social history which otherwise might have remained ‘lost’ in a box.
It might help piece a few more bits of the jigsaw together, in Lancashire and some family history back here in South Wales.
Is been great fun. I’ve spoken with Ted Robbins, Andrew Schofield and created a bit of excitement in work and with the family and friends.

One final thing. Cyril Lord was an interesting character. I’d love to know if he really did have a cameo appearance in a Batman episode as the ‘Carpet King’.

Photo Source: Ted Robbins from BBC Radio Lancashire. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/robbins

Heron Corn Mill were very helpful.

‘Lancashire Speaks’ (issued by Cyril Lord). Textile Workers Voices 1950’s style.

Posted on March 17, 2013 by whatsthepont

I’ve just found this 78rpm vinyl recording of Lancashire textile workers. It’s called ‘Lancashire Speaks’ and was issued as record by Cyril Lord sometime in the 1950’s (I think).

I don’t have a 78 rpm record player so the exact nature and quality of the recording in a bit of a mystery. The best I can do is a sheet of paper (picture at end of post) I found inside the blank, brown paper sleeve which says: “these are the messages recorded in Lancashire by the people really concerned with the future of the textile industry”

Mrs Susan Burrows of Padiham,
Mrs Marjorie Rothwell of Oldham,
Mr Albert Hurst of The Lily Mills, and
Cyril Lord

From what I’ve found out, Cyril Lord was a self-made textile entrepreneur who is linked to a number of innovations in the textile industry between the 1940’s and 1970’s. A few of his innovations were not wholly successful (blue Astroturf) and he was also known for his imaginative approaches to advertising and marketing. There is some material online about a Cyril Lord cameo in a Batman Episode as the Carpet King! (might be a coincidence, I’m not sure about that one).

The ‘Lancashire Speaks’ records seem to have been directed at Members of Parliament (MP’s) as part of a campaign by Cyril Lord to get reforms to help the struggling Lancashire textile industry. There is also some interesting material available in a British Pathé film of a protest meeting involving what look like lots of textile workers. ‘Lancashire Speaks’ could be a useful record of the time and the views of textile workers. If anyone knows any more about it, or could suggest a good home for a piece of ancient vinyl, I’m happy to pass it on.

Thinking about Cyril Lord’s approach, this might have been the cutting edge of 1950’s communications and influencing. Here is a vinyl record that was distributed directly to Members of Parliament, with the voices of workers speaking (in a different accent) about something that is important to them. If the alternative was writing a letter, or the costly trip of travelling to meet MP’s in London this was pretty high impact.

I’m not sure if record players to ‘listen to the voice of constituents’ were allowed as MP’s expenses back then, but it’s an interesting thought. Sixty plus years later; Twitter, FaceBook, You Tube videos, Skype and dozens of other platforms allow MP’s to hear from their constituents and ‘citizens with a view’ pretty much constantly. I wonder if some of them would be happier with slipping on the occasional 78rpm vinyl record?

So, what’s the PONT?

Communication and innovation seem to go hand in hand; ‘Workers Voice’ records in the 1950’s may well have been the equivalent of a modern Twitter campaign.
Capturing and using authentic voices to tell the story is an approach that has been around for a while.
If anyone can suggest a good home for the record, happy to pass it on.

Photos: My own

Links: Fascinating read by Philip Ollerenshaw, University of the West of England on: Innovation and Corporate Failure: Cyril Lord in UK Textiles 1945-1968
http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers2/Olleren.pdf

LATEST NEWS!!!! The record is off to a good home.

The record is on its way to the North West Sound Archive in Clitheroe Castle Museum. Thanks to the internet and Twitter I’ve spoken to people at the archive and they would like the recording as they don’t have it. I hope it survives the journey (it is very well packed – see the picture) and it is playable.

“Every CEO should try to access the services their organisation delivers using a mobile phone, at least twice a month”

Posted on February 21, 2013 by whatsthepont

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 its way out in the surroundings of a WordPress Users Wales meeting this week on responsive design.

I knew this was an important point when I first read it, and this is how it makes sense to me after the meeting. A few factual statements first:

People use websites to find out what services are delivered by organisations;
For large parts of society the Internet is the primary route they use;
Many people are using mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets etc) to access the Internet;
The percentage of people using mobile devices to do this is continuing to increase;
Many websites have historically been designed to be viewed from a desktop or laptop computer; and
Viewing a website designed for a large desktop screen, on a much smaller mobile phone screen can be a real hassle (go and try it out for yourself).

This is was why I was listening to James Cryer talk about responsive design at the WordPress meeting. In essence, responsive web design is about how websites are ‘responsive’ to the device on which they are viewed. The way that content is displayed will change to ensure that the reader has the best possible viewing experience for the size of screen they are using. This isn’t just about getting smaller (desktop to mobile), James pointed out that getting bigger (desktop to large screen TV) also offers challenges.

Using responsive design is helpful if you want your service users to understand what your organisation does. The easier it is to find and read the content on your website, using whatever device people choose (increasingly likely to be a mobile phone), the better it is for everyone.

So, why should this matter to your average CEO?

In the busy life of a CEO it is going to be difficult to ‘go back to the floor”, visit every department or take part in a ‘mystery shopper’ exercise. However, trying to access one of your services using a mobile phone is something you could do in a spare 5 minutes waiting for a train, sitting in a taxi or quietly in a senior management team meeting. This straight forward exercise would put you directly in the shoes of service users, a sort of virtual mystery shopper exercise. If your website isn’t responsive, I wonder how it will feel? It is a relatively low effort and possibly high impact activity, why not have a go?

Back to the WordPress responsive design ‘live demo’ session. Someone suggested it would be interesting to see if there were any good examples of responsive public sector websites in Wales……….. errrr….right.

Anyway, have a look at one we found for the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust. I’ve included a few screen shots of the site on a tablet and a phone. The point to note here is the location of clinics and other facilities is responsive and works brilliantly on the small screens. Just what you need if you are using a mobile phone and need to find the location of a facility. Interestingly the responsive elements of this site were developed involving someone who that was at the WordPress meeting and works in Wales, Craig Cartwright at precedent.co.uk. Nice one!

So, what’s the PONT?

The move towards greater use of mobile devices means that websites need to be designed with this in mind.
Responsive design is a way of changing web content to fit different devices and make it easier to read the content.
Checking services using only a mobile phone would be a cheap and effective method for CEO’s to do some virtual mystery shopping, and see things from the perspective of a service user.

Thanks very much to James Cryer for an excellent presentation at the WordPress Users Wales meeting. You can pick up James’ presentation here.

Going Responsive with WordPress from jamescryer

Picture Source: This looks interesting. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust Mystery Shopper Programme.
http://www.combined.nhs.uk/ourservices/Pages/shopper.aspx

Explanatory leaflet available here:
http://www.combined.nhs.uk/dc/Documents/Mystery%20Shopper%20faqs.pdf

Central London Community Healthcare ‘locations’ viewed on a tablet, followed by the same information on a mobile phone, try it out yourself.

Improving Email Behaviour. End of Campaign Report and Four Recommendations

Posted on January 20, 2013 by whatsthepont

It’s funny how things turn out. Six weeks ago I wouldn’t have predicted I was about to embark upon writing a series of blog posts about email behaviours. We’ll I’ve done it, had a few surprises and learnt a lot. Now it’s time to pause and reflect.

It all started with a post about how to deal with the email backlog on the 2nd January. The main message here was just delete everything; the important stuff will find its way back to you. Quite a radical suggestion, apparently, which attracted a few comments, included one which led me into the next post. The email ‘cc’ option is undermining the very fabric of society, in a dystopian 1984 manner, was also quite a radical thing to say. My logic was based upon the misuse of the email ‘cc’ option and its impact upon trust between colleagues. A fair few people seemed to agree so I went for the treble with a mauling of the misuse of email read receipts .

Reflecting on what has been my busiest and most viewed blogging period here are a few of the things I’ve learnt:

People are very generous in their support. This was in terms of the re-tweets/ shares and comments on the posts;
People are very balanced, thoughtful and positive in their comments. One of my anxieties when I started blogging was negative comments, thankfully I experienced none;
People are willing to share knowledge. Where I’ve missed something or posed a question, someone will offer the answer. At the end of the posts or in the comments you will see things where someone has pointed me in the right direction;
Technology is great, but if misused it can cause a few unexpected problems (like cc’s and read receipts), our behaviours are key. Final learning point;
You can never go wrong with a cat picture in your blog post. Obviously it needs to be relevant and tasteful. Gratuitous cat pictures are no good, which is why you need a top-notch cat picture consultant.

That’s it for this stage of this stage of my campaign for better email behaviour but there are four things I would recommend you look at:

The Email Charter, 10 Rules to Reverse the Email Spiral. Good behavioural advice, remember; “emails don’t send emails, people do…..”, we all need to do our bit.
Should I send this email? A fantastic Infographic on how to manage email overload. The cat picture email question is addresses here, along with some startling statistics on the impact of un-necessary emails on business.
A prediction that emails will be dead by 2018 . This post, by David Christopher at Stop!ThinkSocial explains the thinking behind the prediction that was made in 2008. Keep an eye on progress.
Practical Action. Predictions are fine, but what we all want is some practical down to earth experience. It doesn’t get more down to earth than a social housing provider in the North West of England, Halton Housing Trust. Their Chief Executive Nick Atkin (@nickatkin_hht) is on a campaign to ban internal staff emails which you can read about in this Guardian article. I’ll be eagerly following progress.

So, what’s the PONT?

Inappropriately used technology can cause as many problems as it solves.
Our behaviour is key, “emails don’t send emails (or do the other annoying stuff) people do”.
People have been very generous, kind and helpful in response to my blogging and tweeting on this topic. Thank you.

Secondary cat picture. Need to check which is most appropriate with consultant.

Newsletter vrs Podcast, Who Wins? Remember, a paper newsletter can also keep you warm.

Posted on December 16, 2012 by whatsthepont

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 ended up on the bonfire, unread. This was pre recycling days but I don’t think much has changed.

This week I encountered several people who enthusiastically described how they were going to ‘change the world’ by sending newsletters (I’m exaggerating a bit, not like me I know). The point is that their passion for the cause, energy and commitment were not in doubt. Sadly though I felt their enthusiasm it was a bit unrealistic and miss-directed. Haven’t we been down the well trodden ‘let’s send out a newsletter and change the world’ path many times before? Just to illustrate here are a few learning points from the week.

There are apps to automatically remove newsletters. I know I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but there are. Unroll.me is an app that does this under the banner ‘End Email Overload’. Here is a description of how Sarah Kessler reduced 271 subscriptions to 17 and packaged had them into a single email using unroll.me

The underlying motivation seems to be that most newsletter subscriptions are a nuisance that should be removed from your email inbox. Something newsletter editors might want to think about?

Prevention is better than cure. There are plenty of people advocating the ‘just say no’ approach. If you search online for information on how to deal with email overload it’s not long before you encounter advice telling you not to sign up for email newsletters in the first place and un-subscribe from any you currently receive.

The emailcharter.org has got some very helpful advice on how to prevent email overload, focused upon individuals taking responsibility for their actions. When it comes to newsletters I particularly like their ‘Join Our Mailing List’ button. This has a note next to it saying “Don’t Click This! “ Go and click it and see what happens

Newsletters seem to have acquired the status of ‘problem’. Something that clogs up your inbox which you’ll never ever read.

Paper newsletters don’t get treated any better. Saturday morning at home is time to sort through the week’s post. This week generated six newsletters that went directly from package to recycling bin without passing through the brain. OK, there were some things like the ‘Greyhound Rescue Shelter News’, but you get the point.

The carefully crafted design, eloquently written content and cost of printing don’t count for much if the newsletter closely follows the junk mail into the recycling bin (I think I might actually take more in if I were glancing at them before throwing them onto the bonfire…..?).

Good News, there is another way…….Podcasts. While I was engaged in my Saturday morning chores I had a podcast playing. This was the disruptive social care podcast from Shirley Ayres and Stuart Arnott. Listening to Shirley, Stuart and their guests is one my most useful learning experiences (it’s like Radio 4, but better….).

This podcast is in a completely different league to newsletters and as it happens the guest this week picked up on the point. Richard Humphries, Senior Research Fellow at The Kings Fund made a comment along the lines of…. ‘the social care sector produces lots of outputs, reports, papers etc which he struggles to keep up with. However, he always finds time to listen to the podcast which provides a fresh perspective’ I think that pretty much says it all.

Do have a listen to the disruptive social care podcast for yourself, it’s a great example of how to share knowledge. Even if social care isn’t your main area of interest, it’s surprising what you can learn.

So, what’s the PONT?

Knowledge exchange is a complicated area where multiple channels of communication are possible. Knowing what works for your target audience is essential.
The trusty old newsletters (paper or digital) do get treated a bit like spam or junk mail. Something editors need to recognise.
Podcasts offer a fresh perspective which is very engaging for many people. The time will come when they are the ‘standard approach’ that the newsletter used to be.

Document Management is not Knowledge Management….. ask any London Cab Driver with ‘The Knowledge’

Posted on November 20, 2012 by whatsthepont

Have you ever noticed people riding mopeds around London with a clipboard on the front holding a route map? (apologies to Londoners for my provincial naivety).

These are the Knowledge Boys and Girls undertaking the extremely challenging training necessary to become a licensed London Black Cab driver. The requirements are astonishingly difficult and include things like memorising 320 standard routes across London, the location of 25,000 streets and the sequence of theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue. It takes on average 34 months, a lot of London driving (plus a number other requirements) to acquire The Knowledge. It’s so mentally demanding that this BBC article reports that the brain of a Knowledge Boy/Girl swells during training.

That’s very interesting, but what’s it got to with documents and knowledge? The answer lies in this post by Dave Snowden where he illustrates the difference between information and knowledge with the example of using a map of a city to navigate (document containing information) compared to what a London taxi driver possesses (knowledge). In the context of London Cabs, information could consist of route plans, landmark descriptions, traffic reports, maps and other documents. Knowledge however is different. It has developed through experience, insight and a lot of hard graft. Quite appropriately, ‘The Knowledge’ is a phrase that has a great deal of kudos when associated with London Cab Drivers.

Back to document management vs. knowledge management debate. The example of the London Black Cab Divers and The Knowledge has helped my understanding of the differences between the two. So that I don’t forget here are a few points to remind myself of why a document management system (a very necessary requirement for all sorts of reasons) will not provide what is needed for knowledge management.

Most documents are not knowledge. Very few documents capture real knowledge. The insight and experience that accounts for knowledge rarely gets translated into written documents. What we write down is only a fraction of what we actually know.

Knowledge can only be volunteered, not conscripted. Another Dave Snowden quote. I have written about this previously where I also suggested that some documents (even those in a document management system) would be at the best incomplete and possibly wrong. People tend to write versions of events that meet the requirement of organisational procedures and policies, rather than what actually happened. It’s not a great basis for a sound knowledge management system if your ‘building blocks’ are incomplete and possibly wrong.

Document management systems don’t claim to be knowledge management systems. Well at least they don’t in the Wikipedia definition. I enjoyed reading this definition, it makes no reference to knowledge management…….”A document management system is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents. It is usually also capable of keeping track of the different versions modified by different users“. I find the rest of the article just as helpful and will be re-reading it regularly to avoid any confusion with knowledge management.

Ultimately this leaves a big question ‘how do you approach knowledge management?’ Given the social nature of knowledge (it’s about what people know and think), there has to be huge scope for linking knowledge management with social media approaches, a subject for future posts.

One final definition, information will tell you a tomato is a fruit, but knowledge tells you not to put them in the fruit salad.

So, what’s the PONT?

Document management is not knowledge management.
Knowledge is something people hold in their heads which has been gained through experience, insight and effort. Sharing this knowledge is a deeply social process, not easily achieved through a document management system.
If you had options for crossing London, at rush hour, who would you choose? Someone using a top end ‘sat nav’, radio traffic updates and a glossy map; or a London Cab Driver with The Knowledge?

Linked posts: Why is good practice such a bad traveller?
http://whatsthepont.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/why-is-good-practice-such-a-bad-traveller/

Picture source:
http://hurryupandwaitblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/for-love-of-knowledge-knowledge.html

http://www.taxitradepromotions.co.uk/keep-calm-ive-got-the-knowledge/keep-calm-ive-got-the-knowledge-print.html

Opportunity in Adversity. Glass Half Full Thinking at Arriva Trains Wales (@ArrivaTW)

Posted on September 9, 2012 by whatsthepont

Here’s quick follow up to the post about Arriva Trains Wales and their journey to improved customer service.

Last week saw another blip on the tracks. On Tuesday morning damaged signaling cable caused significant disruption. I know because I was due to meet people who were stuck at Newport (and I picked it up through Twitter).

It was interesting to observe that those people making use of Twitter (following the various train companies and Twitter hash tags #) were far better informed (and less stressed) than those who weren’t, but that’s another story……

What has grabbed my attention is the request ATW put out on Twitter for feedback on how communication worked during the disruption. I think this approach is interesting in a number of ways. My observations:

You have been horribly delayed in your journey (not actually ATW’s fault), but they have tried their best to communicate with you while it was happening;
They have been honest and open about the limitations of their current communication methods (no live tweeting on the disruption, see picture below);
But they do care about how they communicate with you, so they are asking how things worked on Tuesday so that they can make things better;
Sending this ‘how can we get better’ message takes some the heat out of the situation (in my opinion);
Gathering feedback in a structured manner while the issue is still live should capture information that is ‘fresh in the mind’, so it’s probably more accurate;
In my view, this is better than something six months down the track when a generic customer service questionnaire asks a potentially vague question about ‘communication during disruption’; and.
How good is your memory of the communication aspects of the event likely to be in 2 weeks time, let alone 6 months? This (almost) real-time feedback has got to be more useful.

I really like what ATW are trying to do here. It’s a good attempt at trying to engage with service users through Twitter as part of the improvement journey. Even though it was a difficult situation they have seen an opportunity to try and make things better. Real ‘glass half full’ thinking, nice one ATW.

I wonder if any other public service providers might have a go at something like this?

So, what’s the PONT?

During disruption, service users really appreciate knowing what’s going on. Twitter offers an opportunity to do that.
Being open and honest about your limitations and asking for information on ‘how do we improve’ is a good way of engaging service users.
Gathering feedback while the situation is still ‘fresh in the mind’ should provide information which is more accurate than a survey months later.

Open and honest communication with @_LaurenCook_. Followed by a few screen shots of the survey. A wide range of communication channels available. I count 12!

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