On freelancing
The giant of local government social media at the coalface, Dan Slee, has gone freelance. I’m not sure why I’ve not written up Dan as one of my digital heroes here before, because he certainly is one....
View ArticleFour more years
Four years ago, I left the Civil Service and started trading, rather than simply blogging, as Helpful Technology. This time last year, we’d become a team of three, and by this July, we’ll be six...
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Doing the right thing right
Our office partners, Claremont, have a new motto: Do the right thing right. It’s annoying, because it’s probably what I’d choose if I were choosing a motto for what we do. More than kudos, more than...
View ArticleBuzzfeed, Lego and government communication
Every Scot would be £1,400 better off each year by staying part of the UK, Government analysis shows, apparently. Some people feel it’s wrong that civil service communicators are campaigning against a...
View ArticleSmall umbrellas
Here’s a conversation that I have quite frequently during training courses when we play Dave Briggs’ evergreen Digital Engagement Game: Me: So, tell me how you’ll implement your plan… Team: Well, we’ll...
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The digital comms planner
At Helpful HQ we’re a big fan of tools like the Lean Canvas or our friends Comms2Point0’s Comms Planning tool (PDF). A simple plan on a page or two that sets out what you’re trying to achieve, how...
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The great offices of State
I’m something of a closet nerd when it comes to Government buildings. I’ve been in and out of dozens of them for over a decade now: agency-side, at the late-lamented COI and as an assiduous, networking...
View ArticleSimpler, clearer, fairer
I attended the launch of Labour’s Digital Government Review tonight: the culmination of a few days’ fiddling and some heroic web publishing by my colleague Al, helping the Review team get the report...
View ArticleDay 1
I was sorry to see the Science & Innovation minister get the chop. Over the previous few months, we’d done some remarkably creative things: one of the early commentable policy documents, and a...
View ArticleDigital people by the ounce
Five years ago, I remember being in Government trying to buy an enterprise licence for Huddle, an innovative UK cloud-based project management tool. In those days, the technical co-founder himself...
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