Paypal Policy Updates

We make every effort to ensure that the information contained in our correspondence, reports, on the website(s) and given verbally by our directors, officers and staff is accurate to the best of our belief at the time the information is provided. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of all such information in all circumstances and contexts, and no reliance should be placed on such information by you.

You'd be ashamed if you had to say "you can't trust anything our directors, officers or staff say", wouldn't you?

Another anti TV licence rant.

We all must pay £129 a year for tv channels that alot of us do not watch anyway, so why do we still have to pay for it... all the other terrestrial tv channels in the uk pay their own way,, usually with adverts, so why are we still forced to pay for a licence for a channel that we do not want.... If bbc still want to run, now is the time for them to start puting advertisments on their channels. If you agree with me go to the link below and sign the pettition to get it aboilished..... is a legitamate petition at the no 10 website if enough people sign it,,, they might just abolish it

Many people have issues with paying for the TV Licence. This one rather amused me with the obvious passion overcoming the ability to spell or punctuate.

I like "why are we force to pay for ... that we do not want."

I can think of many things I don't want to pay for. Probably one of the best spoken word radio channels in the world, a major outlet for comedians and writers, one of the best online web presences in the world, a world-class news organisation, cutting edge music stations don't figure highly there.

If you want to see how the licence fee is spent, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/licencefee/

Kallokain: Are Nash Equilibriums Killing Agile Initiatives?

Successfully introducing Agile requires a paradigm shift for the entire organization. Most organizations are not prepared for that. Few Agile initiatives have top management support allowing them to change parts of the organization outside the software development department.

That is not to say change is impossible. It is not. It is merely very difficult. On the up side, the difficulties are to a large extent inherent in the organizational structure of most companies. Once a company goes Agile successfully, it will have a more adaptable organizational structure, which makes it the organization easier to change in the future.

Thanks to @flowchainsensei and @mattek for the pointer to this. The full article gives a more detailed explanation of how a singleton unit going agile can actually be *worse* off; which is crazy. How's your agile initiative going?

Six Fundamental Shifts in the Way We Work - John Hagel III and John Seely Brown - Harvard Business Review

executives tend to focus on talent acquisition and retention, but do not invest much time on talent development throughout the firm. When they think about talent development, they spend time designing training programs rather than re-thinking the work environment to accelerate talent development. If they took on-the-job talent development seriously, they would reassess all aspects of the firm - strategy, operations, organization and information technology platforms - to find ways to foster even more rapid talent development.

Of course, moving to Systems Thinking would be a *most* effective shift...

Crowd Sourcing Loses Steam - Newsweek - how to keep the pressure up?

Yelp has more than 40 “community managers” scattered around the world, who throw parties for prolific reviewers. (At one recent event for the “Elite Squad,” for instance, the snacks included squid-ink risotto.) And comment-driven news and aggregation sites like Gawker and The Huffington Post, where part of the fun is reading what the peanut gallery has to say, have decided to show the peanut gallery more love: mostly in the form of badges, stars, and special privileges. Even YouTube has added inducements, giving users the chance to play at Carnegie Hall—with a music contest—and partnering with the Guggenheim Museum to help them show off their art.

So far it seems to be working. After Gawker introduced its Star system, which gave preference to the work of “Starred” commentators, participation on the comment boards rose to a new high. The Huffington Post, which offers its best users digital merit badges and special rights (like the ability to delete other people’s posts), boasts the most active commenters of any news site.

So recognise the contributors in your community to keep them involved?

@jemimakiss, tax evasion and benefit fraud

In an acerbic tweet , @jemimakiss says

Tax evasion costs the UK £15bn while benefit fraud costs £1.5bn, says @carolinelucas. But let's target the poor first eh, David Cameron?

Bones of a good article there; how much does the average benefit fraud case cost, and what's the deterrent effect; what's the average tax evasion case cost, and the deterrent effect there.

You could even follow it up with the massive progress made on tax evasion under the last government, tangentially touching on on the scandal of the Inland Revenue selling its own buildings to avoid tax; you could look at the scandal of successive governments - of all hues -  manipulating jobless figures by use of disability etc.

Above and Beyond KM » Blog Archive » SharePoint Puzzle

No business uses? No policies?  I thought this was a violation of the rules everyone learned in the IT 101 course on implementing new technology.  What’s worse is that the survey reports that 26% of the respondents claim that their “implementation is being driven by the the IT department with no input from information management professionals.” If this is true, then in a quarter of all cases, the IT professionals have acted contrary to the restrictions they impose on the rest of their organization.

An astonishing, frightening, and worryingly familiar story.

Why Do Great KM Programs Fail?

Check to make sure that your KM program is well managed, with clear goals, vibrant communities of practice, effective use of IT and social media (though without excessive reliance on IT), and valid metrics of the KM program’s contributions.

 That's what you need to do.

What are the causes? Amongst other things

  •  
    •  assumption is that the standard practices of traditional management—hierarchy, command-and-control, tightly planned work, competition through economies of scale and cost reduction, impersonal communications—are a success
    • view employees as “human resources” i.e. things that can be controlled and manipulated and exploited. 

I recommend the post.

CEO Guide to Sales Management

Sales Managers sit in the middle. They’re the shock absorber in the system. Taking the heat from the C suite on everything the sales guys do. Taking the heat from the sales guys about ineffective marketing, unrealistic pricing, poor customer service or late delivery. In every business, the rubber meets the road with the sales team, and the sales manager navigates a way through everybody’s failings to keep the wheels turning. Without good sales management, turnover of sales people is high, revenue disappoints and low margins show up in the bottom line. And the one who ends up paying for that is most often the CEO, with his or her job.

I'm indebted to @stevenreeves (and his alterego @frontofficebox) for introducing me to the phrase C suite.

As I get older I note with amusement just how many job titles start with "Director", "Head of", "Chiefxx" many of them several levels down from where the buck stops...