Posts By Nicholas Charney

Public Sector Microtasking

Given our propensity for micromanagement I suspect many will look at the idea of micro-tasking with come skepticism, but I think the idea is worth exploring (as do others). A primer For the uninitiated, micro-tasking is simply the breaking-down of more complex tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. The most widely talked about micro-tasking serviceRead… Read more »

Let me tell you a story

She impressed you. She was professional, articulate, quick to answer, but thoughtful and enthused. That’s why you hired her. You parade her around the office, introducing her to her new colleagues, welcoming her as the new addition to the family. It’s a flood of new faces. It’s a touch overwhelming but she’s going through theRead… Read more »

This one’s for my old man (#movember)

Friends, As you may know my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer last February, he has since undergone surgery and to the best of our family’s knowledge he is currently cancer free. But we are never really free from the cancer are we? Fear, worry, reminders of what it has done – or worse whatRead… Read more »

Finding Innovation

Last week I tried to connect the idea of disruptive innovation to Lewis Hyde’s anthropological analysis of the mythological trickster. The comparison hinged on a couple ideas, namely that both are focused on the breaking of traditional trade-offs, and that breaking those trade-offs results in a re-ordering of the status quo, a re-ordering that revealsRead… Read more »

Failure as a Competitive Advantage

Whenever I speak about failure I try to re-position it as a competitive advantage: What kind of organization would you rather work for? One that tries, fails, learns and tries again? Or one that never tries, never fails, never learns? I ask the question because I think that these two organizations are on two radicallyRead… Read more »

On Trump Cards and Gatekeepers

Make no mistake our culture is one largely defined by trump cards and gatekeepers. You undoubtedly have run into one or the other, or perhaps more rightly, the latter deploying the former as some sort of delay tactic, tripping you up on whatever you are working on. For the uninitiated, the term trump card canRead… Read more »

The Rise and Fall of Public Sector Youth Groups

I’ve spent a lot of time around departmental youth groups since joining the public service; I’ve launched them, provided informal advice to chairs, and spoken at national conferences. My general observation is that public sector youth groups are forged out of a deep sense of frustration that plagues many new public servants. It is aRead… Read more »

On Seeing Risk Differently

Whenever anyone steps up and tells you that [social media] and the public service don’t mix; when they tell you not to, and when they tell your that you are risking too much tell them that the real risk is failing to soldier on. Tell them that the truth of the matter is this: theRead… Read more »