Category Archives: clarity of purpose

The Kung Fu Panda principle.

Posted on September 23, 2017 by

Imagine you want to buy a bar of chocolate from a supermarket. You are sitting at home, so you need to get in your car, you need to drive to the supermarket, you need to park the car, you need … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, command and control, purpose, systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

I am a police officer. 

Posted on August 23, 2017 by

When people ask me, “So what do you do, where’d you work?” I reply… I’m a Policy Officer And inevitably people mishear that as police officer. “Oh really!” they exclaim, looking me up and down with surprise. Then I have … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

If it’s too complicated to understand it’s probably total nonsense

Posted on March 18, 2017 by

I stand on the periphery of “improvement activities” going on elsewhere in the organisation. I see things second and third hand through organisational gossip, i.e. people mentioning phrases or names of IT companies doing work elsewhere, somewhere. I’ve got no involvement … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, command and control, public sector, systems thinking | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why killing Sweat Angels is the most valuable work I do all day

Posted on January 4, 2017 by

Most readers of this blog probably sit behind a desk all day, like me. Sipping tea in nice surroundings with nice people. They don’t have to push a mop around the floor cleaning up after others. Dreaming about the dignity … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, command and control, purpose, systems thinking, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Cloud cuckoo-land

Posted on December 27, 2016 by

“What matters to me as a customer is getting everything for free. I’d appreciate it if all organisations could just go ahead and arrange that please. No, I didn’t think so.” This comment left on a recent post shows the typical command … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, command and control, customer, Demand, systems thinking, vanguard method | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

One weird trick to design your organisation, in one easy step! (Management consultants will HATE you!)

Posted on December 11, 2016 by

Don’t design your organisation for efficiency for managing demand for digital by default to achieve strategic priorities by copying best practice So what do you do then? Do Design against customer purpose That’s it. The predictable value demands presented by … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, command and control, customer, purpose, systems thinking, vanguard method | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Computers are weird

Posted on November 25, 2016 by

Computers are weird. People sit with both open hands held next to each other in front of their body, their palms down. Fingers wiggling. They call this work. They call it work cos they’re at work, and that’s where they … Continue reading →

Posted in clarity of purpose, command and control, purpose, systems thinking, vanguard method | Tagged , , | 4 Comments