Back at work and making changes

Hi all,

I arrived safe and sound last week from a pretty decent flight back from Vancouver and I’m glad to say jet lag has now gone and I’m back in the swing of things at work – albeit with Starbucks withdrawal symptoms!

One of my top tasks to do when I get time is to type up my report to details everything I learnt. Currently my notes are a bit fragmented and I need to consolidate them! The only problem is finding time. One of my current projects goes live next Friday, plus I’ve got another web project which has hit a bit of a bump and needs sorting. Not to mention manage the full-time CMS replacement project which this award so importantly is going to help with.

I’m pleased to say I’m remaining in daily contact with my colleagues in Vancouver who are providing updates on their project and I’m bouncing ideas back with them. One of the main tools I learnt in Vancouver, regarding User Experience, is a piece of software called Treejack . It’s a great bit of software that let’s you do user testing on the navigation of a website. Essentially you define the layout/hierarchy (otherwise known as a taxonomy) of a site, define some tasks then ask users to complete them by clicking through your taxonomy. The site then counts the clicks and presents a really friendly visual on the results. 

The screenshot below is a mockup I created for my colleagues to demo how it can be used. One of my next big things is to undertake a current “as-is” test of our current taxonomy on our site and use this to fuel the requirements and future design of our site.

Interesting stuff and it’s great to know that my colleagues in the UK are listening to what I say, taking on board my ideas/change proposals and are giving me the backing and support needed to implement them.

Changing subject, I’ve also recently received an invite to the next SOCITM conference in April which I’m really excited about as it’ll be my first opportunity to meet with my SOCITM peers to talk about my trip, learn about G-Cloud which is a new term that’s buzzing around my project, network with people and attend a black-tie President’s Drinks and Dinner in the evening.  Can’t wait.

I’ll provide more updates as I crack on with my CMS project and as I use tools and techniques learnt in Vancouver.

All the best,

Steve

Last day in the office

So today is my last day in the Vancouver office.

It’s been an absolutely amazing experience.  I did a presentation today to my colleagues on what I’ve learnt and what I’ve noticed which I’ve attached to this blog.  It’s quite one sided (e.g. UK colleagues probably won’t understand the context of a lot of things) but feel free to look.

Observations Presentation

This trip has been special for a number of reasons:

1) I’ve understood a lot more on how User Experience and User Centered Design techniques are used in another organisation. It appears we use the same techniques, albeit with slight differences. What has been most helpful though is studying the problems of these techniques such as managing stakeholders and getting management buy-in.

2) I’ve had first hand experience of learning about a Content Management System (CMS) project from an outsider/consultancy perspective. Not many people can say they’ve spent 4 weeks learning about a CMS in development without it being a project in their portfolio. I’m really looking forward to putting all I’ve learnt into practice now back home.

3) I’ve learnt so much on topics outside my knowledge domain such as Change Management, Content Strategy, Consultancy, Information Architecture, Leadership strategies and many more topics. Without this trip, I don’t think I’d have learnt these skills as much as I’ve done.

4) It’s boosted my presentation skills. I’ve done 4 major presentations since I’ve been here ranging from 20-40 people and I’ve become more confident as I’ve gone. Which is apt as I’ll be presenting at various SOCITM conferences and there will be a lot more than 40 people there!

5) Finally, all of the above will improve my career and make me a little more unique on paper when I consider my career in years to come.

Non-work related, I’ve had a great time exploring such a brilliant City. Highlights have included skiing in deep powder on Whistler, night skiing above Vancouver, going to see the Canucks (win) at Ice Hockey, visiting Granville Market, chatting to random local people in the bars (very friendly people) and being told I sound Australian a lot.

So to round off this blog, thanks firstly to SOCITM, in particular to Adrian, for giving me this award and amazing opportunity.  I hope I’ve given you some interesting information and I look forward to working closely with you in the future.

Secondly, thanks to my Canadian colleagues here in the City of Vancouver for your time and hospitality and for making me feel like a member of your team. If any of you are in or around Cambridge let me know! This is a picture of some of the team I’ve been working with. (L-R, Julien, Jerome, Becky, Kirsten, Kennedy, Laurie B, Melissa, Sharon R, Sharon T, John, Tony and Dragos.  Not shown, Rahel, Francesca, Sam, Wayne, Jonathan, Lori B, Linda and Lisa).

The CoV team

Thirdly, thanks to my UK colleagues for letting me leave the team for this time. I hope my day to day notes have been helpful and you’ve not been hassled too much by my projects!  As far as I can tell they’re still on target so at least I won’t be getting in trouble when I get back 🙂 Thanks also to our Chief Executive Mark Lloyd for promoting my trip while I’ve been here to all the employees of CCC.

This isn’t the end of the blog though, I’ll still be blogging once I get back with other lessons that might not have been realised now and also progress on my relationship with SOCITM and with how my project is getting on.

Steve

Contact Centre and Cake

Hi,

Quite a random title but I’ll explain!

Over the last few days I’ve been busy tidying up loose ends and learning as much as I can about how the City of Vancouver works as an organisation.

Whilst studying how different stakeholders impact the delivery of the web I met with Darcey Wilson the Contact Centre Manager.  I asked if I could have a tour of their contact centre and he obliged!  I’ll start with the pics as they’re quite impressive.  For my UK contact centre colleagues in St. Ives, I’m sorry – their office/view is a bit nicer 🙂

Outside

The main corridor

Canteen view

Inside

What’s really impressive with their building is the feel of the place.  They’ve got different colours of paint on the walls and different carpets  to help counter the sun moving throughout the day to make it still feel light and airy and they’ve got desks which raise up to waist level and vice-versa so people can choose to stand for a bit, then sit again. Very clever!

The most important thing I noticed though was how the agents rely on their website for information. I sat with an agent for 40 mins and listened in on the calls and most of it were information requests such as “what time does this open”, “where is this located”.  They essentially have their Vancouver.ca website open on another screen and find it by mining through the sub menus. Very impressive stuff and it makes me appreciate how important it’ll be to make sure we use our Contact Centre to influence the CMS project which I’m managing. We’ve got a Contact Centre representative on the project board but I think when it comes to figuring out how we’ll be displaying our content to the public, we’ll need to get more input from the contact centre agents in Cambridgeshire. Vancouver have actually got a 311 agent (their contact centre is called 311 – you just dial it and it goes through to them) working on the project and he’s been key turning business requirements into public requirements e.g. the business might say that a service should be provided like this, but he says “actually, members of the public look for it like this”.  I hope that makes sense.

So apart from my visit with Darcey and his team, I also met with Andrea Reimer who is a City Councillor here and had a great chat about leadership, collaboration and innovation and I’m pleased to say she was really keen on the services SOCITM provide. We discussed the Winter Olympics here back in 2010 and it seems that the Olympics was a big catalyst to enable large-scale leadership change and collaboration. To summarise, it’s likely that without the Olympics happening, leadership and collaboration would still be “set in its ways” and that by having an event that can’t be ignored, it caused everyone to work together and dust off their leadership skills. It’ll be interesting to see if Councils in London post-Olympics have improved leadership and processes. I hope I speak on behalf of my Canadian colleagues that I interpreted this right.

And on to cake. During our daily stand up (the web project team meet to discuss problems) the team kindly gave me a nice card and some cake!  A lady called Linda was also leaving so it was for both of us, but though I think I ate more than her 🙂

Multi-cheesecake cake and rich chocolate cake

I’ve got loads more things to talk about but I’m seeing the Vancouver Canucks play ice hockey tonight so I have to get ready! Tomorrow the team and I are going bowling after work, then a few drinks ready for my final weekend here. A few of the team are meeting on Saturday and we’re going to tick off the other places to see here and then Sunday I *might* go skiing in Whistler again. If not, I’ll have a chilled day – probably skiing on the local Grouse mountain instead 😉

Right, time to go.  Speak soon.