A change is as good as a rest, or so the saying goes. But this week’s involved a lot of change and not much rest and, well, I’m just really bloody tired.

So apologies, but I’m going to skip the laboured intro this week. I’m on a plane for the fourth time in under a week and this week note is late and I just can’t brain anymore today.

Some stuff I did this week

My big focus this week was Camp Digital, the annual event from the folks at Nexer Digital on digital, design and UX. Every year they put on a brilliant, inspirational day which really forces us to think about what good digital is and should be. A world away from the endless vendor presentations you see at so many events.

My highlights:

Finally hearing Lou Downe talk about bad (and good) services, and the impact service design has on real lives.

Refreshing and honest lessons from Katy Arnold on design leadership in the unforgiving context of central government. So many useful lessons there which are equally applicable in corporates. We need to bring people (and leadership) with us to drive real change, and digital teams are often bad at making friends across the wider organisation.

Bringing 300 Seconds to the Camp Digital stage for the second time. Our four new speakers – Laura McKendrick, Galina Ostroumova, Candy Ogbebor and Aershey Khan – all bought fresh stories, perspectives and experiences to the agenda. 

As I said in my intro to this session, the ideas we share from the podium have currency beyond the room. They become part of our industry dialogue, and feed into what we do. 

If we want digital services that work for everyone we need to broaden that dialogue. Our four speakers did exactly that – and brilliantly too. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of them all.

The *other* goal of our 300 Seconds x Camp Digital session is to build a pipeline of speakers for future years. So it was fantastic to witness Coco Chan‘s progress from doing her first lightning talk last year to running her own (hugely oversubscribed) session this year.

The day ended on a smashing, surreal note with Seb Lee-Delisle‘s rapid-fire presentation on massive laser installations. It meandered from burning holes in your walls by having lasers on at home to lighting up a city in lockdown from your balcony to a huge audience-volume-controlled game of Flappy Bird.

All in, a fantastic and inspirational day. See you again next year, Campers.

No sooner did I get home than I hit the road again, to plan and deliver a workshop for a client who have a number of complex, inter-related workstreams. 

I really enjoy creating workshops. Thinking of ways to focus minds, encourage honest discussion and feedback, and turning that into alignment and action. I’m on my way home now, knackered but generally feeling positive about a job well done.

What I’ve been reading

But What Can I Do? by Alastair Campbell addresses the pressing (yet entirely understandable) issue of political disengagement and disillusionment. With his trademark directness and clarity, Campbell outlines practical strategies for ordinary folk to become more involved in political and social activism. 

With an eye on the forthcoming election (dear God can they just put everyone out of their misery), Campbell offers a potent blend of inspiration and practicality, aiming to reignite the public’s commitment to civic duty. This is a clarion call for action, urging individuals to reclaim their agency and contribute to the democratic process. For those of us feeling disillusioned or powerless in today’s way-too-much-all-the-time political climate, Campbell’s work serves as both a guidebook and a source of renewed hope. And that’s something we all need right now.

Connections

Loads! Camp Digital is something of a reunion of digital government OGs. It was fantastic to catch up with Sarah Drummond, Lou Downe and Katy Arnold at the speakers’ dinner, and to meet Seb Lee-Delisle for the first time. I introduced Sarah and Lou to my ‘100 people’ mission to intentionally keep up with my network, and I think I have a couple of converts.

I’m lucky that a good number of ‘industry contacts’ have become friends, and it was a great opportunity to catch up with so many of them. But the less said about the secret karaoke toilet, the better.

The hotel review no one asked for

This week saw me at the Maldron Hotel in Manchester City Centre. Not a bad spot at all. 

But while they’ve eschewed the infuriatingly tiny water glasses favoured by so many hotels, they’ve replaced them with cartons of plant-based water which just raise more questions.