Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca I still remember when I got my first invitation to speak. It was a Scheming Virtuously double bill in Calgary then Edmonton. I took vacation from one department while another paid my travel because it was just easier than getting approvals. I’d never done any public speaking before so I volunteeredRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca I was asked recently to give a talk on injecting creativity in the civil service. The timing of the request is somewhat ironic given that I just left on an interchange and that one of the reasons I left was because I wanted more opportunities for creativity in the workplace. IronyRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca I first met Bob Chartier a few years ago in Calgary. We shared a stage at an event put on by the National Managers Community at the Fairmont hotel. I was the opening act, there to speak about how technology was changing government. He was the main attraction, there to speakRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca The Thinker by Darwin Bell Last year I wrote a lengthy piece that argued that understanding the future of evidence based policy meant understanding the confluence of big data and social media (See: Big Data, Social Media and the Long Tail of Public Policy). Today I want to further qualify myRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca Right before the holidays Kent and I sat down to discuss how our partnership was going thus far. As we sat in the local pub on a Friday evening we were flanked by a group of staffers doing as staffers do and snow falling as snow does just outside the window.Read… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca Last week I picked up Malcom Gladwell’s latest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants, and crushed it over the course of a couple of days*. The book explores the power asymmetries between incumbents and upstarts and how successful upstarts exploit those asymmetries by engaging inRead… Read more »
Originally published at cpsrenewal.ca This year has been incredibly humbling for me. I had surgery, was immobilized for 12 weeks and had to learn to walk, run and play hockey again. My folks are in the middle of a terrible separation. My mother moved into my home and I haven’t spoken to my father inRead… Read more »
While the Government of Canada’s forthcoming move towards a single website has been met with skepticism, the move is congruent with the trend and presents some significant downstream opportunities to innovate on the service delivery front. First, the trendWhile this approach was used by the province of Ontario and the City of Calgary (among others)Read… Read more »
Originally published on cpsrenewal.ca Or at least we will be, eventually. That’s the argument Kent made on Wednesday in What We Lost in the Fire, We Gain in the Flood, and it’s the argument I want to build on today. But first a quick recap of Kent’s line of reasoning. Street-level bureaucrats have traditionally beenRead… Read more »
A couple of weeks ago I read an article in Rolling Stone entitled “The Future of Movies: How Will Google Glass Change Filmmaking?“. While it was obviously focused on the how Glass will impact the film industry, reading it sparked an idea about how organizations could lever Glass to better understand their day-to-day operations. TheRead… Read more »