These notes are a tool I use for reflecting, remembering (because I can't), networking and public accountability. Read more here.
June? JUNE! 🤯
Work, work, work
I’ll be speaking at the BFI’s all-staff event next week so I’ve spent some time* prepping for that.
It’s a tight 10 mins on what becoming a “digital-first” org does and doesn’t mean, how that relates to improving our digital services, and why it’s relevant in our 92-year-old org which champions in-person experiences and physical formats and supports a digitally disrupted industry. To a mixed audience that ranges from hostile, through indifferent, to the interested and converted. Wish me luck!
It features the Loosemore definition, a joke about Mission Impossible’s Entity, and a reprise of a slide I presented in Croydon council that (hopefully) lands the point on raised expectations and holistic service design. Some tangible examples too but I never quite avoid being abstract and evangelical. Evangelism is in my JD though. Here’s a peek at the slides.
*An hour’s prep per minute of presentation holds true for me. See also Matt’s process.
News from the Neilly network:
- Sharon O’Dea is writing a book
- Emily Webber launched a course
- Janet Hughes is going to be the change she wants to see in the world (wonderful)
- Holly Garrett is now Head of Product at Trainline
- Newer chum Ash Mann published his excellent digital failure research report
I did my podcast recording for Ash’s Digital Works podcast and *think* I survived with mine and the BFI’s dignity intact. Ash was pleased with it. It was a rewarding chat, and interesting to discover the hidden economy of podcast studios that’s sprung up in random spots.
(We had an even more interesting chat off-mic afterwards about nonprofit digital professionals navigating their cognitive dissonance of believing digital can still make the world better, despite all the ways in which Big Tech is making things worse).
Cyber continues to be a focus chez BFI, zooming out from the recent shop incident to the bigger picture. Lots to be done, it’s scary out there.
We got the output of in-depth research by RedC which was heartwarming about what we’re doing right with BFI Player, and insightful about how to sharpen up. We picked the brains of a couple of our governors who were complimentary and gave wise counsel. We shipped more ‘missing basics’ for TV app users, who can now watch rentals and continue watching where they left off. Then we went live with a new channel in a new territory – but I’ll say no more to avoid spoiling PR plans. Lots to be proud of and celebrate (which I don’t think we do enough actually, hmm).
We had a directorate show and tell (Digital Donut) – uplifting, inspiring, covering a good breadth of work including a live demo of network monitoring tools from Ben in Corp Tech (always a little unnerving to be reminded what secrets they can see!) Loads of great work happening across all my depts.
I’m excited for our Film on Film festival in a couple of weeks where our projectionists are forced against their nature to come out into the light (they love it really).
Other things: an Exec Board, a good monthly strategy huddle with my 3 Directors, and a helpful 1-1 with my governor-mentor Laura
Not all work work work
Well tbh I used the long weekend and most of a couple of days off during half term to “catch up” (mission: impossible haha) so will be recouping some misspent leave. It was my choice, it’s all good.
I pre-ordered a Switch 2 with Mario Kart World and Split Fiction, and it’s days away from arriving now. Flogged the dusty PS4 to make space and offset the cost (not by much, sadly).
Dylan did 4 days of work experience at the Croydon Digital Service, my old team. So grateful to the team for organising and looking after him. He got loads out of it. I had a nice lunch with him, Tori and Asha in The Ludoquist. And worked from a weird Regus desk.
Joel and I had a really lovely long walk and lunch in CP park, which I want to remember so I’m jotting it here.
Open in new tab
Beyond the Promise: Why digital projects fail and what we can do about it
Why your manager is (probably) incompetent + Flat Organizations: Why Companies Do NOT Need Middle Managers + Toxic Meetings = Corporate Torture (Here’s How To Fix Them) + The Great Flattening – why companies are “unbossing”
Invisible infrastructure + Operating fabric + 4 questions to reconnect teams around what’s real
Metrics are easy, impact is hard
Channel 4’s AI principles [PDF]
Cyber incident grab bag for local authorities + Explaining what’s happening in a cyber attack is hard but crucial + Practical steps to becoming cyber safer
How to build trust in your team
A love letter to physical walls (and what comes next)
5 Ways Public-Sector Services are not the same as Private-Sector ones
Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds
How to get your GLAM organisation to invest in digital
The future of local government digital leadership
Working on matrix working: looking back after 4 years
[Credits: I source this stuff all over the place but regular sources include Ash’s newsletter, Chris’s newsletter, Emily’s newsletter, James’s newsletter, PD’s newsletter, Jukesie’s jobsletter, various blogs in my Inoreader, and the LinkedIn algorithm]
New word: kombinować
I missed Interesting conf (having been out too much at Tom Cruise things) but write-ups were glowing. Think I would have loved the talk about the Polish word ‘kombinować’ which has no direct English translation, and means “to scheme,” “to sort things out in an underhand way,” or “to try to find a clever, often dishonest, solution to a problem”.
Cultural consumption
🎤 Tyler the Creator (and guests) – Chromakopia Tour at the O2. Accompanied Dylan, who knows all the songs and loved it. Objectively an excellent show but I could take or leave most of the tunes tbh and the O2 is awful. But had fun hanging out with Dylan.
🎬 Magnolia in a packed NFT1, 25 years since I last saw it. TC performance and frogs as good as I remember. Shame we lost Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Obscene runtime.
🎬 Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning at WeNo Picturehouse. Tom Cruise in a Tom Cruise Production. A damp squib imho but still a fun cinema outing. Obscene runtime.
🎬 Smile 2. Enjoyable up to a point. Odd parallels with The Substance.
🎬 The Last of the Mohicans. Hadn’t seen this before. Of its time but solid.
🎬 The Beekeper and the 🎧 HDTGM episode about the same. PEAK STATHAM FUN!
📺 Started Pee Wee in his Own Words (which is remarkable), F1 Academy and The Fall of Diddy.
🎬 The Gift. Rewatched and showed the boys, it’s a cracker of a tense twisty thriller. Love it.
🎭 An Inspector Calls at New Wimbledon Theatre. Decent production of a classic but the eating and rustling throughout, and light-pollution of smartwatch notifications, drove us mental. Joy has a fantasy about carrying a toffee hammer in her pocket to smash smart watches when they light up in theatres – could catch on!
Distractions
- You are generative AI (browser game)
- Owls in towels (image gallery)
- Synchronised answering (YouTube clip)
I’m dipping in and out of SXSW London next week (around BFI boards, all-staff preso and workshops). Partly to check out the new fest in town, partly to catch some of the tech and film content. But I have to say I’m not wowed by what’s on offer, for the eye-watering ticket price, and might cut my losses to avoid also losing a bunch of time to it. I will let you know next Sunday/the one after how it went.
Thanks for reading!
