Season’s Greetings
December 25, 2009 1 Comment
All the best in 2010.
What are you actually doing?
December 24, 2009 4 Comments
This morning I woke up reminiscing about Twitter’s days of ‘What are you doing?’. (Now, of course, it is ‘What’s happening?’.)
When you remove the micro-blog-scopic tendency to answer the question at face value – there is such fantastic depth to it. What are you doing? What role are you playing? What change are you making? What are your actions resulting in? What impact will you have on the world? How can you transform thoughts and ideas into reality? Can you see your objectives and goals through to completion?
For me, what an individual is doing is one of the most attractive qualities they can embody. I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about where you came from, what you are on paper, what you look like, who you have in your networks, where you live – it’s what you have done and what you are currently doing. Your goals, ambitions and vision are definitely important but it’s when they’ve been chipped away at – that the beauty blossoms. If you are capable of doing, then you are capable of doing anything.
The following is probably cliché, but I believe if you really want to do what you set out to do, you do need to be optimistic, confident, patient, persistent, flexible and pragmatic (yes, as well as many other things). It’s also a fairly big claim to make, but the more I do, the happier I become. Obviously, a lot of other factors are in play but it’s been great to identify something so simple and bring it to top of mind.
This year, I’ve met such a diverse spectrum of people who are actually doing stuff and it’s been so refreshing. When you are around people who are doing, you are encouraged to do. It’s infectious. It’s also incredibly energetic. And I thank those people who I’ve come across.
I hope to meet many more in 2010.
A discussion about journalism’s future from Trampoline Day
December 22, 2009 Leave a comment
In October, the second Trampoline Day for 2009 was held. Trampoline is a grassroots unconference event that attracts a diverse range of people from across industry. People nominate certain topics to speak on during the gathering and the community then decide using the rule of two feet as to what sessions they would like to hear. I mediated a discussion on ‘The Future of Journalism’ – yes, the topic is very broad but it was deliberately so to allow a generalistic look at it, where many could get involved and share their ideas and thoughts. For a more specialised look at journalism and where it is heading, I recommend checking out some of the stuff that came out of Media 140, which was held in Sydney in November.
Merric Reese kindly filmed the half-hour slot in three videos. The first is included below with links to part two and three below that. There was lots to discuss in little time, and I’m sure we could have gone on for hours – nevertheless it was great to get some perspective from the attendees. Enjoy!
Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukQKca0-la4
Part three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=manSCJ85Wio
Dunbar’s number
December 21, 2009 2 Comments
I find that as I focus more time on strengthening relationships with people, I say goodbye to some connections along the way as time and attention are consumables. So, would you rather touch more people less (breadth) or touch less people more (depth)? I’m currently trying to find the balance.
Abstract journalism
December 17, 2009 3 Comments
A while ago I posted this twitpic of a rough diagram I crudely drew in a free online paint program.
I didn’t get any comment back at the time, but as people do with charts, feel I now need to labour the point.
What a good journalist can do is take all ‘matter‘ within their beat, and interpret and communicate it succinctly to an audience. Sounds simple, but it can be bloody hard and quite scientific. Without the journalist, you have all the universe at your disposal but no tool to manage it. Yes, I may be overestimating their role but am I talking about ‘good’ journalists here. Or as they’ve started to be known online as – ‘content curators‘.
BTW, it’s always worth checking out the definition of the word ‘zeitgeist’ to get further comprehension – see here.
Thoughts? Let’s kick off a discussion (someone please leave a charity comment now).
The non-technical new age of technical management
December 14, 2009 3 Comments
I was passed on a great quote recently by a member of my team (HT – James).
The quote is from Archibald Putt in 1976 and while it’s famous within the technology set, I had not heard it before.
“Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage. Those who manage what they do not understand.”
It got me thinking about how I am perceived as a manager of a technical team and if I was in fact the latter. (Hopefully not in an IT Crowd kind of way!) Heading back to the technosphere in the ’70s, I have no doubt I would be; I would have been lost in Limbo and crucified alive. After all, it’s hard work keeping up with a group of people when you don’t speak the ‘language’. But with the pace of tech evolution in the last few decades and especially with the explosion of Web 2.0 tools, everything has become so much more accessible, communicable and humanised. Thus, I find it almost impossible to not have some sort understanding of everything from the programming language used, to server infrastructure, DNS management, right through to the strategy and planning. Understanding and doing are two different things of course, but if you can communicate clearly – regularly bringing projects back to the bigger picture and keeping it transparent for members – the world is your oyster. You can get things done.
I wonder… in general, do we need to care for buzz terminology any more? For overtly-technical convoluted language? Or rather, do we just want and need to know how it makes us feel? What it will do for us? What will it mean for us? How will it change us? If technology is really about the people, then if you understand people – you understand the technology. I’d like to think I understand people, or at least I make it a life-long aim so presumably technological understanding and I are one.
Poor nerds… they worked so hard to develop a place to call home… only for it then to become so easy for people to enter. But for which, I am eternally grateful.
Guess the Twitter bio
December 12, 2009 9 Comments
Okay, a little game for your weekend. It’s called ‘Guess the Twitter bio’. If you know which bio belongs to who, list your answer in the comment area below.
- “Live Your Best Life”
- “British Actor, Writer, Lord of Dance, Prince of Swimwear & Blogger”
- “I’m under the loft. I make videos and find some comfort in knowing at least i’m liked online”
- “The hottest Twitter news, Twitter tips and Twitter help. Plus, the best social media links around!”
- “Using stories to bring brands and consumers together”
- “I am a keen supporter of both whippets and Western Bulldogs. And yes, I do spend too much time on the net.”
- “I play tennis.”
- “Curious Journalist”
- “Recording/Sandwich Artist”
- “The Internet Newspaper”
Will reveal all when the signs of frustration appear. :-P
Kate Kendall
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There is no competition
December 27, 2009 1 Comment
A while ago I spent a lot of time thinking about our competition – it was very consuming. Too consuming. Especially because of the context of the media environment – one of the most competitive industries to be in.
Markets move so quickly, points of differences change daily and the players evolve quickly. So, when your energy goes into trying to keep up and beat the competition, you drain your mind of the much-needed creative out-of-the-box innovative thinking. You set the bar at a certain level, when there really should be no bar at all. If there is a benchmark or a level, then that is all that you’ll try to reach. Heights should have no limits.
Competitive advantages lie in the future and not the present. Concentrating on what is the present is not dynamic enough for the future.
Business isn’t some sort of sporting field where you only have one opposition. There is opposition at every corner. If you focus on trying to beat the competition with reactive tactics then you will only have a small area of the field covered. I say, forget the competition – keep them in sight but don’t keep them as a priority. Focus on what you can do. Try imagining the ultimate competitor instead – your worst nightmare. Everything you always wanted to be. Then manoeuvre your objectives around becoming that.
Yes, my argument may see almost naive, but the more I think about it – the more I come to the conclusion that really… there is no competition.
Filed under Comment Tagged with business strategy, competition, competitive advantage, innovation, mindset