By an accident of timing, the anniversary of starting my consulting business coincides with the tax year. Early April tends to inspire a little self reflection. Last year, these were the thoughts brought to mind. This past year has been spent mostly on helping organisations consider how and if to go about digital learning initiatives.… Continue reading Six years in and what do I know?
Category: Digital capabilities
The four horsepeople of learning tech?
Who asks you to solve a problem defines the problem as much as the real challenge itself. This phenomenon dogs so many learning technology efforts. The framing of objectives and success by a combination of IT (and its ‘People Systems’ cousin), Finance, Procurement and PMO departments can squeeze the life out of what might be… Continue reading The four horsepeople of learning tech?
Pragmatism and data – the way forward
Roy and I held this event on the basis that best practice is all well and good, but it is rare. Very rare. Further, best practice is helpful for inspiration and guidance, yet we learn the most from the hard times – those projects and initiatives where the wheels wobble and sometimes come off altogether.… Continue reading Pragmatism and data – the way forward
Managing products for learning: stories from the coalface
On Thursday 10th March at 11am (UK) we are hosting a conversation about the messy and complicated reality of managing products for learning. In the recognition that genuine Best Practice is hard to come by, we will be sharing lessons learned from the challenges and barriers confronted in the real world of the work place.… Continue reading Managing products for learning: stories from the coalface
They are not us.
“You are not the user” has been a rallying cry of the user experience design profession for some time. That cry is still needed in so many areas, as decisions are taken from false consensus about what people want and what they think. There is a strong tendency for us to believe that people are… Continue reading They are not us.
The robot writers are here
“Although AI tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, they can’t replace human writers entirely.” That last word jarred me from my coffee and news peering this morning. Human writers will not be completely replaced by machines. Nice. What will be left for us, then? Crumbs of proofing and pre-publishing edits, or the nutrition of ideas and… Continue reading The robot writers are here
Does learning analytics feel good?
This autumn has been a season of data analytics work. I realise that we are not all fans of data analysis, but I have found this to be cause for some modest celebration. It is a largely absent topic of work in learning – rarely something we chose to do whilst recognising that we should.… Continue reading Does learning analytics feel good?
Design needs to work and sometimes boring is OK
That is not an entirely representative title of a post to summarise our conversation this week. Although some attendees may claim that we took this advice too seriously and caused a quieter conversation. (If you were there, do tell). We were gathered to discuss “Learning, design and Products”, the call for boring was a thread… Continue reading Design needs to work and sometimes boring is OK
Another conversation about product management for learning
On Thursday the 8th of July, we hosted a second conversation about product management for learning. Our previous event (summarised here) focused on what we mean by product management and why it is vital for success in the learning world. This time we delved a little further into the characteristics and capabilities of the role… Continue reading Another conversation about product management for learning
Who should run your digital learning organisation?
The question in the title is worded poorly, I admit. It ought to read: “Who should run your learning organisation?”. The need, and I do believe there still is one, to use the digital qualifier ought to be redundant by now. I do not believe it is, though. Digital is still seen as something to… Continue reading Who should run your digital learning organisation?
MR Digital & Learning 