There’s a couple of lines of argument about how we do public policy in this country (and in other comparable countries for that matter) that have been on my mind recently. One line is that we’re no good at it. Or at least not as good at it now as we once were in a […]
Seven public sector trends
I gave a presentation today to the senior executive team at the NSW Department of Justice, led by Secretary Andrew Cappie-Wood. These are the notes I used for the talk on seven public sector trends. Framing 1 The first frame reinforces the fact that the work of government is changing. The public sector has been […]
The art and practice of intelligence design
Or what are collective intelligence assemblies and why are they the game we must learn to play so we can play the game? Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11098.html Geoff Mulgan, Princeton University Press 2017 “Better together” increasingly goes the mantra when the conversation turns to solving big problems whose characteristics combine […]
The digital transformation of government: half a conversation
This piece from Matthew Cain, who is the Head of Digital at the London borough of Hackney in the UK, is well worth a read. I’m inclined to simply copy and paste the whole thing because it says most of the things I, and perhaps many others, tend to think about digital transformation in government. […]
Ask not…pianos and the immortal human spirit: reflections on democratic renewal
Now, if this spirit is of the essence of democracy, can we rightly say that we have understood or practised it. For, if man is to be adjusted to man, if we are to live together in mutual amity and justice, if we are to be dignified without being proud or overbearing, we must be […]
The 21st century public servant: take on talent II
I wrote a piece recently looking at an OECD report that proffered six attributes of future public servants in a world that is becoming more connected, complex and (sometimes) confusing. These were the six -iteration, data literacy, user centricity, curiosity, storytelling and (a personal favourite) insurgency. This time I’m looking at a couple of linked […]
