Blog

Technology to tackle online harms: addressing the urgent need for kinder online communities

As a society, we love social media – it’s the perfect way to fill a dull moment. But we’re becoming increasingly uncomfortable about the lack of emotional safety. Social media can be a cruel playground. The anonymity and ease-of-use allow impulsive emotional outbursts, as well as targeted attacks. Harassment, bullying and intimidation cause serious harm […]

Patterns and insights for distributed design teams

Paper by Philip Cash, Elies Dekoninck, and Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen Distributed design teams are commonplace, with globalisation, where parts of the value chain are offshored or outsourced. Today, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-co-located design teams are everywhere. Shared understanding is central to a design team’s performance and to the success of distributed development […]

Empowering key workers in the NHS

What do frontline NHS workers need to use their time more effectively – especially in this COVID-19 crisis? A way to cut through red-tape and quickly communicate their needs to those who can help. In partnership with Ropes & Gray and Methods Analytics, we have built a prototype for a simple communication tool: a survey […]

Digital Transformation – Time to burn the boats?

In a new blog article published at Digital Leaders, Professor Alan Brown asks whether the recent acceleration in digital transformation is a significant permanent step forward or a temporary blip. Here is a short introduction: ——————– The global economy is struggling to cope with the unprecedented challenges of the last few weeks as we proceed […]

Presentations for The Oxford Group

Recently, our Professor Alan Brown presented a series of short lectures for The Oxford Group. These videos are now available online, covering a range of topics from sustainable recovery to digital transformation. Five dilemmas Risk, trust, value Digital Transformation directions Sustainable recovery  

Innovation in a time of crisis is all about speed…but also requires direction

An important and thoughtful piece this week by Roan Conway from the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) reminding us that speed is just one of the levers for innovation. https://medium.com/iipp-blog/purpose-driven-innovation-in-a-time-of-covid-19-296e9d05cb   He points out that a lot of the rhetoric from the UK government is quite rightly about the urgent need for […]

Post-COVID: re-organising Localism around 3 digital principles

On Tuesday, I keynoted a senior leadership session for Birmingham City Council. The session was for leaders, councillors, and senior executives – about 35 in total – to discuss post-COVID re-organisation and management. We discussed a range of pressing issues confronting the Council. These included: data trusts, data security, supply chain resilience, efficiencies, and cross-silo […]

The Invincible Company

Just released in the last few days is the latest book by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur entitled “The Invincible Company: How to constantly reinvent your organization with inspiration from the worlds best business models”. https://www.strategyzer.com/books/the-invincible-company In line with their previous books, this builds on their success with the business model canvas to explore its […]

Community and Public Service Post-COVID

On 17th April I participated in a TechUK panel of people considering the impact COVID-19 is having on local public services, together with the themes that will be very important in shaping our Place-based post-COVID future.  I was joined by Paul Brewer, Director for Digital & Resources, Adur & Worthing Councils, Helen Gerling, Managing Director, […]

Living through a digital revolution – what’s next for large established organisations?

Just published at Digital Leaders, Professor Alan Brown has been considering the implications of the current crisis on digital transformation at Large Established Organizations (LEOs). For LEOs the impact of moving to digital ways of working is a complex journey. With all such change, major barriers must be addressed, especially for LEOs. Overcoming inertia, dealing […]