Richard Barton
@richardbarton.bsky.social
Discovery Lead and Agile Coach at Cornwall Council. Volunteer with Cornwall TechJam
www.cioportfolio.co.uk
www.cioportfolio.co.uk
You are one of the reasons I joined a Council a few years ago. Thank you! You’ve had an outsized impact on the sector so far so can’t wait to see what’s next.
August 25, 2025 at 6:36 PM
You are one of the reasons I joined a Council a few years ago. Thank you! You’ve had an outsized impact on the sector so far so can’t wait to see what’s next.
No one thinks they slow down delivery. It’s other people that slow it down. Guess how those other people see it.
August 21, 2025 at 6:30 AM
No one thinks they slow down delivery. It’s other people that slow it down. Guess how those other people see it.
Might be a practical reason youtube.com/shorts/rVlmb...
Why you should be polite to AI
YouTube video by Hannah Fry
youtube.com
July 25, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Might be a practical reason youtube.com/shorts/rVlmb...
I’ve worked on shared services in the commercial world and various flavours of public service. I think pooling the funding and spending authority is the first step to something valuable and sustainable. Maybe the Local Gov restructure can create the conditions for this?
June 7, 2025 at 7:25 AM
I’ve worked on shared services in the commercial world and various flavours of public service. I think pooling the funding and spending authority is the first step to something valuable and sustainable. Maybe the Local Gov restructure can create the conditions for this?
We’ve been trying to do this and being small hasn’t made it easier. A unitary authority is the most complex thing I’ve worked in. Global companies and central government, like DWP, don’t get close.
February 25, 2025 at 8:55 AM
We’ve been trying to do this and being small hasn’t made it easier. A unitary authority is the most complex thing I’ve worked in. Global companies and central government, like DWP, don’t get close.
Just tried Thonny and it seems to play nicely with the microbes.
December 13, 2024 at 7:33 AM
Just tried Thonny and it seems to play nicely with the microbes.
Worth chatting to people in the third-sector too as some lessons about scaling, or not, may help. Sometimes the difference between success and failure of an innovation is the passion and energy of the people involved and that can be very hard to repeat, relocate or scale in other ways.
November 28, 2024 at 12:20 PM
Worth chatting to people in the third-sector too as some lessons about scaling, or not, may help. Sometimes the difference between success and failure of an innovation is the passion and energy of the people involved and that can be very hard to repeat, relocate or scale in other ways.
If I had some influence I would go for the design patterns first as they can be shared in a lot of different contexts e.g. what are good patterns for review and approval of generated notes that help people stay alert and engaged and not just tick boxes like they do for website terms and conditions?
October 25, 2024 at 11:53 AM
If I had some influence I would go for the design patterns first as they can be shared in a lot of different contexts e.g. what are good patterns for review and approval of generated notes that help people stay alert and engaged and not just tick boxes like they do for website terms and conditions?
I’m anxious about wasting all this energy and water even when we have an overwhelming welfare case to use this tech in public services. We need cigarette-style health warnings on this stuff.
October 12, 2024 at 6:16 PM
I’m anxious about wasting all this energy and water even when we have an overwhelming welfare case to use this tech in public services. We need cigarette-style health warnings on this stuff.
Yes, please and more working in the open. We need to be ready for some of the challenges that come up in measuring things like tech enabled care. Is the research saying important things about the new tools or are we just confirming that a randomised, unresponsive implementation won’t work?
October 4, 2024 at 11:13 AM
Yes, please and more working in the open. We need to be ready for some of the challenges that come up in measuring things like tech enabled care. Is the research saying important things about the new tools or are we just confirming that a randomised, unresponsive implementation won’t work?
Fighting the urge to make an over engineered version of this (e.g. LLM vs other types of AI) but wonder if we should acknowledge and talk about some of the worrying models too e.g. no public servant in the chain?
October 4, 2024 at 10:53 AM
Fighting the urge to make an over engineered version of this (e.g. LLM vs other types of AI) but wonder if we should acknowledge and talk about some of the worrying models too e.g. no public servant in the chain?
Thanks for calling out the local gang. Just put point 5 first and you’ve nailed it.
October 3, 2024 at 6:22 AM
Thanks for calling out the local gang. Just put point 5 first and you’ve nailed it.
After some experiments we are starting trials where front line staff think it will make a difference. As a council there is much about the care system we can’t change but better voice to text could be an all round win - assuming the industry can solve the energy consumption and other issues.
September 30, 2024 at 7:13 AM
After some experiments we are starting trials where front line staff think it will make a difference. As a council there is much about the care system we can’t change but better voice to text could be an all round win - assuming the industry can solve the energy consumption and other issues.
Sad that we’re still giving this work special treatment and not helping people find the real change they need to manage. Agile, digital and IT will always be involved but they are never the point. First line should be “if you are reading this you need more help than a guide like this can provide.”
September 3, 2024 at 5:51 AM
Sad that we’re still giving this work special treatment and not helping people find the real change they need to manage. Agile, digital and IT will always be involved but they are never the point. First line should be “if you are reading this you need more help than a guide like this can provide.”
Why does anyone want to scale agile? It is a bit like wanting to scale a kettle.
July 30, 2024 at 1:08 PM
Why does anyone want to scale agile? It is a bit like wanting to scale a kettle.
I guess that is like analysing flow for decisions? I might do a bit of “follow the order” observation to see what is going on in our case.
July 21, 2024 at 6:19 AM
I guess that is like analysing flow for decisions? I might do a bit of “follow the order” observation to see what is going on in our case.
Thank you. I’ve seen this before and then neglected it. Time for a refresh.
July 21, 2024 at 6:09 AM
Thank you. I’ve seen this before and then neglected it. Time for a refresh.
We have some higher level flow metrics (how long stuff is left waiting). Should be able to use that as a proxy with a little work.
July 20, 2024 at 6:34 AM
We have some higher level flow metrics (how long stuff is left waiting). Should be able to use that as a proxy with a little work.
There might be something about power and trust but could just be too overloaded to change the habits.
July 20, 2024 at 6:31 AM
There might be something about power and trust but could just be too overloaded to change the habits.