Comments for foden grealy

Comment on In praise of the Post-it by Mark Foden

Mark Foden — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:12:00 +0000

I haven't, do you mean Harrison Owen's book?

Comment on Sitting people on chairs in rows at meetings is a criminal waste by We must get more from conferences

We must get more from conferences — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:07:01 +0000

[...] Update: see Sitting people on chairs in rows at meetings is a criminal waste. [...]

Comment on In praise of the Post-it by Sara

Sara — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:49:00 +0000

My favourite facilitation tools are: post-its, string, blu-tac, flipcharts & coloured markers. Online tools like GoTo Meeting are a close second, but the physicality of Actually Doing Stuff gets much better responses in my experience.

Also, have you read Open Space Technology?

Comment on We must get more from conferences by Kevin Ashley

Kevin Ashley — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:37:00 +0000

interesting Mark and some good points. How do you replace the boring or uninteresting presentations or presenter? Where the subject sounds really interesting but the delivery just kills the presentation? Great expectations... poor outcome?

Death by powerpoint....can often kill a conference... I don't mind listening to intelligent or thought provoking challenging presentations, even if I have to sit and listen... it's just when it's the exact opposite it becomes really frustrating...

Some good points already made.... Good article well done.

Comment on We must get more from conferences by Sitting people on chairs in rows at meetings is a criminal waste

Sitting people on chairs in rows at meetings is a criminal waste — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:40:29 +0000

[...] are some ideas.) TweetRelated [...]

Comment on Creating cultures in government that cope with complexity by Mark Foden

Mark Foden — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:06:00 +0000

one of my favourites: I use it practically every day.

Comment on Creating cultures in government that cope with complexity by Bernhard Pieber

Bernhard Pieber — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:54:00 +0000

I really like this quote.
…in dealing with Complexity, it is more important to connect People with People than it is to connect People with Information.

Comment on Risk, failure, Sir Gus and obsessive compulsive incrementalism by What they say and what we hear about risk « niksilver.com

What they say and what we hear about risk « niksilver.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:10:13 +0000

[...] was thinking about this after reading Mark Foden’s excellent response to Sir Gus O’Donnell’s recent Telegraph article. If you’ve not read it, you [...]

Comment on We must get more from conferences by Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:43:00 +0000

Unicycles at lunch! Do it! I dare you....

Comment on Agile Tea and the Four Ex Model by Steve Woolston

Steve Woolston — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:20:00 +0000

Having used the 4ex business model for a few years, and found it a useful frame of reference for managing business capabilities, I've been meaning to share my thoughts...

As with any model, it's important to make sure people understand what the 4ex model is saying, especially as new people join the team. I think the Prezi highlights the key to understanding and applying the 4ex model successfully - that the axes are about current and potential future business value.

The most common mistake I've seen is to equate Experiment / Explore / Exploit with the traditional Develop / Integrate & Test / Operate cycle. In fact the dev-test-op cycle should take place in *each* of the 'Ex' boxes, as business capabilities are invented and then iterative improvements and evolutions made. I'd say that for most organisations, the majority of their capabilities will be in Explore and Exploit, and one aspect that interests me is the pros and cons of operating these on separate or shared hardware or software platforms.

Another powerful aspect of the 4ex model is the conscious focus on Exhausting capabilities that have delivered the goods for the business in the past, but won't be part of the future capability portfolio. Too often such "legacy" capabilities can consume valuable support and even development resources, so regularly reviewing and placing capabilities into Exhaust (e.g. freezing software and ceasing deep support) can free up people for innovation and experimentation - sacrificing yesterday's capabilities in order to develop tomorrow's! It can be hard to persuade the business to take the Exhaust step, even though it could be reversed, but often decommissioning follows faster than expected - showing how easily support effort could have been wasted on legacy capabilities by not taking the plunge.

But of course any model is only as good as the way it is applied, so the key is to use it to help shape business thinking, and then act on it! Well, that's my view anyway...