Monday 29 January 2018

Two excellent ideas that for Jersey: Data Protection Award + CharityIndex Rankings




DATA PROTECTION EXCELLENCE AWARD CREATED BY INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

The ICO Practitioner Award for Excellence in Data Protection recognises those practitioners who go above and beyond when it comes to data protection.

Contenders for the award will likely be those who have shown inspiring data protection practice and leadership, particularly in the areas of accountability and privacy by design, and have made good use of the resources available from the ICO to help organisations live up to their obligations and inspire public trust and confidence in how they handle personal information.

More detail here
https://tinyurl.com/y8gqzg8r

MACMILLAN TOPS YOUGOV CHARITYINDEX RANKINGS ONCE MORE

CharityIndex measures the public’s perception of charities on a daily basis across a range of measures.

The annual list shows the organisation retains its position at the head of the list while Cancer Research UK stays in second. The British Heart Foundation is in third, up from seventh next year. Guide Dogs rises to fourth (from ninth), ahead of Dogs Trust and RNLI in joint fifth.

More detail here
https://tinyurl.com/y9dtv5kc


CONTACT
TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingCompany.Com
+447797762051 Skype: timhjrogers TimHJRogers@gmail.com


Sunday 28 January 2018

How achievable is your portfolio of projects in 2018?



How achievable is your portfolio of projects in 2018?


In his excellent blog Paul Every, Solitaire Consulting outlines some of the challenges of managing projects.

Key points

1.      By January you will have agreed delivery strategy supported by business cases
2.      You have budget and plans, but not necessary resources
3.      You have non-strategic projects that are demanding attention

He then offered some simple but useful self-assessment questions about how realistic your ambition is and the offers a list of benefits of using a PMO (Project Management Office) to help co-ordinate and manage and external project delivery resources to help deliver.

I won’t offer the detail because I’d like to encourage people to have a read of the article, which you can find here.


SOME REFLECTIONS

My experience is that surprisingly few organisations have an agreed delivery strategy supported by business cases. At best they have a vague idea of what they want to achieve but less about how. Today’s businesses are more agile and responsive, which impairs the ability to design, communicate and deliver a consistent and coherent plan.

In a world of mission, vision, sound-bites and style, business cases, budgets and plans are generally a tool of persuasion than a blue-print for delivery. Often they contain more rhetoric than understanding.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

A Project Manager is someone who can deliver exactly what is required, on-time, on-budget, to-specification with low-risk and high-communications

A Project Leader is someone who can help the client develop clarity on exactly what they need. This may be by workshop, facilitation or prototyping. Once that clarity is there developing and delivering is much more straight-forward.

There is no doubt that businesses can benefit from a PMO and external project delivery resources to help deliver. But first and foremost what is needed is the ability to understand the aim and context and then manage the necessary coalition of compromise in order to do a few things well rather than many things badly.

IMPACT OF FAILURE

The failure to co-ordinate and manage is less about the non-delivery of projects but the impact it has on the people who become cynical, suffer change fatigue, and ultimately loose trust in the vision and leadership of the organisation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is a Qualified Change Practitioner and PRINCE2 Project Manager, with an MBA in Management Consultancy. Past projects have included the incorporation of Ports of Jersey and Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI and NatWest. He is a tutor/lecturer for the Chartered Management Institute. 

CONTACT

TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingCompany.Com
+447797762051 Skype: timhjrogers TimHJRogers@gmail.com

Saturday 27 January 2018

Microsoft Fights Search Warrants for Overseas Emails in the Supreme Court

Brad Smith - President and Chief Legal Officer at Microsoft says U.S. government can use a search warrant to force a company to seize a customer’s private emails stored in Ireland [and potentially anywhere else] and import them to the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice’s attempt to seize foreign customers’ emails from other countries ignores borders, treaties and international law

The stakes for user privacy in the court’s decision are extremely high. Governments around the world may feel empowered to snoop on the countless emails, chats, and other online communications that cross international boundaries if the court sides with the government.

This is about U.S. warrants to compel U.S. Internet companies to disclose users’ email and digital content stored outside the United States.

Depending on the outcome this will have some GDPR implications and possibly have a huge impact on the future of Microsoft. Who would want an Azure stack if all the data was available to the US government.

ADDITIONAL READING LINKS

https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2018/01/19/something-extraordinary-happened-washington-d-c-yesterday/

https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/01/21/2052258/microsoft-fights-search-warrants-for-overseas-emails-in-the-supreme-court

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/01/eff-supreme-court-protect-privacy-cross-border-data

https://herbapproach.com/network/microsoft-fights-search-warrants-for-overseas-emails-in-the-supreme-court/

NEED SUPPORT WITH GDPR?
  
Jersey Community Partnership and Association of Jersey Charities GDPR update
St Paul's Centre, Tuesday 30th January from 1pm to 3pm.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gdpr-tickets-42277671654

Jersey Charities Q&A
https://gdprjersey.blogspot.com/

Jersey Data Protection Association list of GDPR events
https://www.eventbrite.com/d/jersey--saint-helier/jersey-data-protection-association/

Data Protection Reform in the Channel Islands
https://thinkgdpr.org/
https://thinkgdpr.org/article/gdpr-guidance/

CONTACT

TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingCompany.Com
+447797762051 Skype: timhjrogers TimHJRogers@gmail.com




Thursday 25 January 2018

DEFINING, DEVELOPING AND DELIVERING DELIVERABLES




One of the key tenants of PRINCE2 and Project Delivery is to be very clear on what needs to be delivered, by whom, when, and against what criteria.

A “product description” or “deliverable detail” should describe the item, possibly including format, content, specification depending on whether is a intangible item (eg review, report, policy, process) or tangible item (eg a PC, house, oil rig) .

It might also detail the author, owner, and approver (or equivalent which might be architect, builder, QS, owner) and the acceptance process so that there is clarity on what is or is not acceptable.

If you do all this there is a risk you spend more time describing the product and process than you actually spend developing and delivering it.  However the other risk is that you spend time developing and delivering something that is not suitable, feasible, acceptable or agreed.

It can be tricky to get the balance right.

There are plenty of good guides and template, particularly for PRINCE2

PROJECT MANAGER V PROJECT LEADER

Often a client knows they have a need, but are not 100% clear on the solution or indeed the components and criteria necessary to satisfy their needs.

A Project Manager is someone who can deliver exactly what is required, on-time, on-budget, to-specification with low-risk and high-communications

A Project Leader is someone who can help the client develop clarity on exactly what they need. This may be by workshop, facilitation or prototyping. Once that clarity is there developing and delivering is much more straight-forward.

CLARITY V COMPLEXITY

As noted above, the level of detail that goes into describing and documenting what is required can either add clarity or complexity. Too little detail and there is ambiguity of product, roles, responsibility, time-scale or cost. Too much detail and “…it all looks too difficult..”


One approach is to use a database and then switch-on or off the elements that you and the client feel need documentation.

This then allows you to dial-up or down the clarity v complexity ideally to the point where everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet and that hymn sheet has both words and music necessary for each project participant.

Below is an example of some headings which you might consider.

DELIVERABLENAME:  This is the name, title or short description identifier

REQUIREMENT:  It is important to briefly outline the need, so as to be clear what the requirement is that needs to be satisfied.

PURPOSE:  It is also useful to clarity the purpose. Whilst the need is what needs to be delivered, the purpose is why. To…[be faster, cheaper, better, safer, compliant]

INSCOPE:  It is useful to be clear what is included, and what is not included. If there are changes of requirement having a clear scope will help assess the impact of changes on time, budget, or quality of output or outcome.

OUTSCOPE: It is useful to be clear what is included, and what is not included. Taking the time to say what is not included may be useful to managing stakeholders who want to extend the work or scope to satisfy their own ends. This “scope-creep” can push up costs and add to time, without adding value to the outputs or outcome.

CRITERIA:  It is useful to be clear on acceptance criteria, which may be passing an audit or standard ISO or SOC or perhaps satisfying a key output or outcome, possibly measured by KPIs

GUIDANCE:  You might want to refer to relevant guidance including laws and regulations, or policy, procedures and processes

FORMAT:  If it is intangible the output may be a report, certification, perhaps in a .doc, .pdf, .xls or other format. If it is tangible the output may be described in a specification eg bicycle, moped, motorbike, car, van or bus.

CONTENT:  If it is intangible the output may be a report headings: Introduction; Executive Summary; Method; Report; Recommendations. If it is tangible the output may be described in a specification eg blue-prints, architects drawings, technical details.

AUTHOR:  The supplier
OWNER:  The customer
APPROVER:  The authority

METHOD:  In some cases the process is as important as the outcome. This is true where there are many stakeholders, different views, change or cultural implications. Being clear on the approach is useful. It might be simply gather agreed information and inputs (including existing policy, process, paperwork); Meet agreed stakeholders; Draft report; Consult; Review; Finalise report


DAYS:  Estimating days is always difficult because the availability of people and resources can speed things up or slow things down. Try however to give a realistic indication of time, based on sensible assumptions about the availability of data, people, process and technology. It is also important to differentiate between time on the clock (“I spent 5 hours on this”) and elapsed time (“it took 5 days to meet everyone and get everything done”). Finally, if time is related to cost, then this needs to be clear: Is time per hour, per half-day, per day or fixed for the deliverable?

LIMITATIONS:  It is important to outline any risks or limitations. For example progress and content may be dependent upon availability of people and data, and consequently subject to variation. [Albeit within the control of Owner/Approver as regards resources and priority] Other constraining factors may be time or budget.a

NOTES:  You might want to include additional notes or comments.

Doing all the above may be onerous but in some cases may be worth the invested of time and thought.

In an effort to simplify you might combine elements. For example requirement + purpose. You could combine criteria + guidance + format + content.

I recommend you talk with the client or customer and agree the best approach to ensure mutual understanding and a shared commitment to delivery.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is a Qualified Change Practitioner and PRINCE2 Project Manager, with an MBA in Management Consultancy. Past projects have included the incorporation of Ports of Jersey and Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI and NatWest. He is a tutor/lecturer for the Chartered Management Institute. 

CONTACT

TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingCompany.Com
+447797762051 Skype: timhjrogers TimHJRogers@gmail.com

Wednesday 24 January 2018

Effective digital marketing campaigns for charities (or anyone else!)


CAMPAIGN AIM

So, what is your campaign aim? Whether it’s to achieve a certain fundraising target, improve your site’s authority, drive increased traffic to your site, or boost followers on your social media accounts; anything is achievable. Just ensure that everyone on the campaign is moving towards the same goal and make your objectives precise, measurable and realistic

UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE

You need to understand your audience and be aware of social and economic factors that might affect them engaging with your campaign.

Create a typical target audience member. You can find out interests, likes and motivations using your website’s analytics, as well as they’re typical gender, age and location. Who’s following your organisation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? These are also people who might engage with your campaign.

UTILISE SOCIAL MEDIA

Also, you should utilise social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to find out which posts/Tweets get likes and which don’t — this also lets you know what content might work in your campaign. Also, don’t forget to make the most your email list. Fire off a survey to these contacts for a better understanding of who they are.

Be aware however of GDPR and whether you have agreement to fire off a survey to these contacts, otherwise you may be better to simply host a survey and let people volunteer to complete it.

THE ISSUE YOU WANT TO SOLVE

What do you want people to think about after you’ve launched your campaign? In other words, what do you want people to associate with your charity and what it does? This differs from your campaign goal, as it’s more to do with: the issue you want to solve, the answer that you propose and the action the audience can take.
You don’t want people to forget who you are, so your campaign needs to be special to your organisation.

Use Instagram and Facebook to get quality images of your charity at work out there. You can even use the photos on roll-up banners and place these in busy public spaces. Record interviews, upload pictures, create memes, and even do a ‘day-in-the-life-of’ detailing a colleague or recent beneficiary of your charity and upload this to YouTube. After all, showing people what your charity can do is far more effective than just telling them.

There’s no better way to reach a lot of people in very little time for free than social media. Use your charity’s online platforms —Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — to boost your campaign and encourage people to share your posts, videos, photos and Tweets.

Although digital marketing is highly effective when your aim is to create a campaign on a budget, you can also use some print marketing materials in order to engage with audience members that aren’t active online.

IMAGES AND INSIGHTFUL VIDEOS

Experts predict a sizeable shift towards video content as a form of marketing, socialising and engaging online. If that’s the case, why not get ahead of the game and start creating plenty of video content to push your campaign today? Aside from being a faster and easier way for the public to engage with your campaign material, video and image content is also free to capture using a smartphone!

Just remember, that powerful images and insightful videos can only do so much. You must merge these with strong, emotive and informative copy to support them. Content online varies from words you’d read in a book or in a magazine, so you need to be aware of the differences to maximise on its potential. Online content needs to be punchy, short and powerful.

Although you might be dealing with hard-hitting issues, digital copy must retain a chatty, familiar tone at all times. A light-hearted persona is key if you want people to carry on reading — nobody wants a lecture when they’re scrolling through Twitter or reading their emails during a break.

Achieving your marketing potential using digital tactics is a tough, but reachable goal. If your charity has little cash to spare, follow these digital marketing tips to help cut the costs of creating a successful campaign.

DATA PROTECTION AND DIGITAL MARKETING

There is some god guidance on the dos and donts of Data Protection and digital marketing here
http://gdprjersey.blogspot.com/2017/12/jersey-charity-advice-on-gdpr-and.html


SOURCE
https://tinyurl.com/y949jtkd

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Rogers is a Qualified Change Practitioner and PRINCE2 Project Manager, with an MBA in Management Consultancy. Past projects have included the incorporation of Ports of Jersey and Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI and NatWest. He is a tutor/lecturer for the Chartered Management Institute. 

CONTACT
TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingCompany.Com
+447797762051 Skype: timhjrogers TimHJRogers@gmail.com