Round Up: February 11

Here is an interesting account of why Twitter works so well and why to tweet or not to tweet is a decision making process. To be honest I was playing around in Twitter but quickly saw its potential and I have already had the good fortune to meet many people, to have conversations with them, to get links from them, and be asked to lend a hand in activities that are of interest to me. There is even some talk of Twitter being to Google what Google was to AOL.

I would encourage you all to check out twitter yourself.
Maybe you could consider creating your own social media strategy? If you need some help you can always read this post or this post, both c/o Chris Brogan. We have already written here at length about the usefulness of a behind the firewall twitter service (such as yammer).

Etienne has posted a series of blogs chalked full of links for your viewing pleasure.

In my attempts to learn more about social media usage in Canada I came across this great tool from Forrester.

Peter Smith has some interesting points to make about innovation in the public sector, complete with a great video.

Big h/t to dbhume for this great article on how Cisco has rebuilt itself into one of the most innovative companies today.

If you are looking for some innovation right here within the GoC, look no further then the Privacy Commissioner's Blog and their video contest.

Canadian Government Executive Magazine is looking to engage youth via their online forums, the latest question they asked is: Why did you join the PS?

Cheers,

Ps - I made some slight modifications to the website, so if you are subscribing by RSS it might be worth just taking a look every now and again.

Round up: February 7th (Yeah that's right a Saturday Roundup!)

First of all I would just like to give a h/t to Laura who pointed us at this podcast featuring Seth Godin on how the internet is changing leadership.

While I got a lot out of the podcast, if I had to break it down to five simple statements it would look something like this:

1. People don't line up to follow defend the status quo, they line up to follow people who make change.
2. People aren't leaders because they are charismatic, they are charismatic because they are leaders.
3. Leaders need to secure enough in their future to make things happen but isn't so entangled with the religion of the status quo (e.g. bureaucratic tendency for risk aversion) that they are afraid to do something new.
4. Leaders need to be humble enough to recognize that connecting people and identifying opportunities is more important then recognition.
5. Shake things up now, ask permission later because very few people get fired for creative instigation (aka virtuous scheming).

The podcast was enough to prompt me to downloaded Seth's audio-book Tribes (which is available for free download here) and will give it a whirl despite Etienne's review, also you can see some of Laura's thoughts here.

Second, you may or may not notice that we now have a new favicon for the site. Ironically enough I checked my site from my work and my department blocks images from the site I am using to host the image, so if you are behind the same firewall as I am, you don't get to see it!

Third, here is a link to the GCPEDIA summary of the You and the Evolving Public Service Conference, where I am delivering a workshop on networking for public servants and the Keynote Address on Scheming Virtuously (Yes, its now a deck!). Mike was invited but couldn't make it.

Info & Links to Share

Colin McKay (Office of the Privacy Commissioner) posted a government job on craigslist (awesome!).

The NCVM has released their First Annual Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet on the Status of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service

CGEM has published their February issue which includes an article written by Etienne, in fact the entire issue focuses on renewal. I obviously haven't gotten to all of it yet, but I plan to.

The PM has decided to fold the Public Service Agency into Treasury Board; you can read Etienne's take on it here.


News (MSM)

1. 44% say work interferes with family time (Downturn strains ability to find elusive work-life balance)
2. Assault on the bureaucrats: Ottawa may be planning civil service wage freeze
3. When real work disappears, bring on the busywork
   

Blogs

1. If You’re a Government 2.0 Guru, You have no Business in Government 2.0 c/o Techno Sailor
   
2. US Air Force Social Engagement Process c/o Peter Smith
   
3. Canada Revenue Agency announces YouTube contest c/o Mike Kujawski (Make sure to read the comments, and follow them to the spoof video, where the real 'convo' happened).
4. Performance Management and Measurement c/o Etienne
5. Statistics Canada launched a census forum c/o Mike Kujawski
6. GCPEDIA: Government of Canada gets it when it comes to wikis and open-source c/o Douglas Bastien and/or GCPEDIA update c/o Peter Smith (both make some great points, but the latter post also includes some great tweets by @thornley.
   

BTW, where was my invite? I am looking at you Doug, Joe, Peter, and even Jeff! I have been in communication with all of you in the last 2 weeks!)

Final Reaction

Doug blogged some advice, namely, do not start a blog about the government of Canada. Which prompted Etienne to respond in kind.

Doug raises some key points and to be honest, my initial advice would be similar - don't start a blog about the government of Canada, not unless you are willing to bare out the (potentially numerous) consequences. I feel for both Etienne who has already, and Doug, who seems to be currently, undergoing rigourous reviews. Something that thus far, Mike and I have been able to avoid.

Etienne - I know we haven't chatted in a while now, sadly both Mike and I have been very busy in both our professional and personal lives, which obviously makes making time for side projects such as this blog more difficult to secure. We may in fact have inadvertently reduced the number of posts on the blog but to be honest, producing the roundups is a difficult and time consuming task given the amount of information we come across in a given week. Consider the size of this round up, the amount of information it shares (e.g. outbound links) and the date on which it is posted and well, I suppose I don't even need to finish the sentence - you understand the commitment well enough. With that said, I hope that all of you find the roundups informative and worthwhile.

Thanks everyone for checking in, today's round up was probably more then you bargained for!

No Updates This Week

My Fellow Public Servants,

I will not be able to post any round ups nor a weekly column this week.

Sadly, my wife's younger brother, CPL Gregory Hudson CAF, was injured in the roadside bomb that claimed the life of his good friend and brother in arms, Sapper Sean Greenfield.

Gregory is recovering and has taken on the responsibility of accompanying Sapper Greenfield's body home for delivery to his family.

My family and I are attending the repatriation of the Sapper Greenfield's body Tuesday at 2pm in Trenton.

Thank you so much for your continued support.

- Nick Charney