As the Hackneyed old phrase goes, change is the only constant in life. The last few weeks have felt like we’re constantly re-planning and adapting as client needs have shifted.

I think we’ve done a good job in responding to change, and I’ve found the challenge of re-planning at speed quite rewarding. But I’ve had to get more comfortable with letting go of plans and ideas, having an open mind about direction… and a very flexible diary.

Some things I did this week

We’ve been making a progress on a big intranet content programme. Our internal stakeholders have been pulled in lots of different directions, but we were able to spend time getting foundations in place so we’re in a good position to crack on next week I think.

Over on our other big programme, an announcement from elsewhere in the organisation means we’re going to have shift focus a little.  This came quite late in the week so we need to spend the early half of this coming week working out what this means for us and our planned work. More change.

Hiring a delivery lead to help us manage all of this was the best thing we did this year.

I headed down to Belgium for the 7th Digital Workplace Brussels conference. It was great to see some familiar faces, and to meet some new folks too.  I get so energised meeting people in person – perhaps because it happens so much more rarely these days – and I came away buzzing and with loads of useful takeaways.

Organiser Guy Van Leemput curated a fantastic agenda. The theme was (natch) ‘AI in the digital workplace’. It feels like every conference has AI as an add on these days, but this was the first time it felt like a mature conversation that moved beyond ‘just look at what it can do!’ to real use cases, benefits, costs, risks and challenges for communication and collaboration. A sign that we’re over the hype curve at last.

Here’s some highlights:

• Monique Zytnik’s opening keynote set the scene by talking about the need for comms to be a strategic partner, and the potential for AI to deliver immersive communications at scale. It made me reflect on some of recent client work and how we need to offer personalised, relevant communications if we want to get cut-through in a growing tide of noise. I liked the idea of AI offering people agency, for example to receive messaging in the format and language that works for them. I had lots to think about after this talk, so I grabbed Monique’s book so I can learn more.
• Sam Marshall revealed his engineering heritage and what this teaches us about the present and future of AI in internal comms.
• Marielle Harsveldt-Terlaak had a great case study on co-creating values and getting buy-in through transparency. I liked this approach as it builds lasting trust. It was especially refreshing to see this approach in financial services.

I did the last talk of the day, a tongue-in-cheek one on how to ensure your digital workplace programme fails. Here’s my key points… every one of them unfortunately learned first-hand.

1. Don’t listen to end users; you know better
2. Have a singular vision. Take inspiration from Elon Musk and don’t be dissuaded by user feedback, data, plummeting user engagement or basic logic.
3. Devolve decision-making to as many committees as possible, ideally all with very different views and objectives, give each of them an equal vote, and don’t spend a moment trying to find alignment or common ground.
4. Content is king. Forget about useful transactional tools and services. Just add more content. Generative AI can help, because it doesn’t matter if the content is any good
5. Get your metrics right. Just collect data on absolutely everything and present it in a complex dashboard, shared with tens of people who don’t have the time, skills, authority or interest in doing anything with the insight. Time spent measuring is time you’re not spending actually fixing things.
6. Build excitement, not features. Why have tools that instinctively make sense to people when you can have an adoption campaign instead?
7. Redesigns are a great way of saying “yeah, we screwed up, everything about this page is wrong,” while at the same time not really making any improvements
8. Insist that every element of your digital workplace is custom built to meet the very singular needs of your organisation. This will pile on additional cost for no reason and is guaranteed to put you years behind schedule. Even better, as these custom elements will need support and regular fixes, you can see your costs absolutely balloon for years to come.
9. Ensure that your budget is slightly smaller than your ambition and your employees’ expectations… because hearing users say “is that it?” is the finest measure of success there is.

Non-work things I did this week

A quiet week as I was out of town for some of it. I did go and see Blur: To The End at the cinema. It’s a behind-the-scenes documentary about Blur re-forming and touring in 2023. Having gone to three dates on that tour it was interesting seeing it from the other side.

Their Wembley show really was something special. Like a big homecoming hug for every 90s indie kid in London. And this film was almost like experiencing that a second time.

Connections

As well as all the folks at the DW Brussels event, I found time to catch up with Anthony and Jane Zacharewski for Belgian food and European politics chat.

At the weekend my old university pal Mark Glennon was in town for IBC, the international broadcast tech and media convention. We had a chance to catch up for dinner and a chat about us getting old (when did that happen?), Blur getting old (same), and –  going a full circle – the explosion in AI in media production.

Travel

This week’s travels saw me staying at the unspectacular-but-reliable Moxy chain. Bagged a free upgrade, which it turns out is just the same room with a balcony. Which I then failed to even step on to. But they have decent hairdryers, which I did use, so it’s swings and roundabouts I guess.

Upcoming travel: Riga this week, London the week after next.