Many people have highlighted how governance can hinder rather than support delivery, particularly delivery of agile/digital projects & products.

But it needn’t be like that. I know from my own experience that governance can be a service that responds to the needs of those who use it.

Nonetheless, beyond helpful principles, practical suggestions of how to improve governance are rare, and in particular I’ve not seen many case studies of things people have tried to make things better. That’s why, a few years ago, I decided to write about what I had done to design corporate governance as a service…

This year I’ve been writing reflective notes at the end of each month, based on a set of questions. I’ve found writing these notes helpful in nudging me to think about, articulate and record things that otherwise I wouldn’t have, and hopefully it’s also helping me to learn.

So here I am again.

We were in the Lake District for the first week of July, continuing our 2-week holiday there that started in June.

July was the month when the hollyhocks came. They’re back and bigger than ever before— some are at least 8 foot tall and tower over me.

1. What well went?

• …

Yesterday I partipated for the first time as a panellist in a Twitter chat. It was a fast-paced and enjoyable hour, organised by Fellow app. I enjoyed hearing the perspectives and advice fron the other panellists. Rather than leave my answers scattered across the Internet, I thought that I’d gather them together in one place and also include some answers I particularly appreciated from other panellists too.

Q1. Introduce yourself! Tell us a bit about your background, your career journey, or anything else you’d like us to know.

Hi, I’m Richard. I’ve been managing people and teams for 20 years. My career journey is unusual. I started as a teacher: I taught English in France, and French in England. I worked…

This year I’ve been writing reflective notes at the end of each month.
I’ve found writing them helpful in getting me to think about, articulate and record things that otherwise I wouldn’t have, and hopefully it’s also helping me to learn.

So I’m back again. Slightly different this month perhaps, because we spent the last week of June on holiday in the Lake District, and that’s where my mind is as we’re still there as I finish these notes.

1. Who inspired you?

• Cassie Robinson.

Cassie wrote a beautiful explanation of the value of working in the open. I don’t think my reasons for…

This year I’ve been writing reflective notes at the end of each month.
I’ve found writing them helpful in getting me to think about, articulate and record things that otherwise I wouldn’t have, and hopefully it’s also helping me to learn

So I’m back again.

1. Working with people in different functions

Last month, I shared my frustration at parallel work happening within our oganisation and the consequent waste and risk of duplication. But this month, we’ve stopped/merged two pieces of work that were happening in parallel to a project I’m doing, in order to combine and align efforts. Feels like real progress. …

I’ve got history with meetings.

All my professional life (20 years), I’ve been involved in running meetings. I’ve planned and run meetings for parliamentary committees, Law Lords, boards, charity trustees, executives, non-executives, a former Cabinet Secretary, even the Archbishop of Cantebury (who, I learnt, goes by the amazing acronym ‘ABC’)…

I’ve organised meetings that have decided stuff, meetings that people have enjoyed and talked about months afterwards, and meetings that sucked.

Some people love to talk about meetings (I’ve even seen a Slack channel dedicated to the topic) — what makes a good meeting, how to run meetings, and so…

This year I’ve started writing reflective notes at the end of each month.
I’ve found writing them helpful in getting me to think about, articulate and record things that otherwise I wouldn’t have, and hopefully it’s also helping me to learn.

So here I am again.

1. What did you fail with?

• I failed to move a project forward like I’d been wanting and planning to do

I’d been lining up my ducks for a couple of months to get ready to kick off the project, and then I failed to get final sign off.

It was a good lesson for me in two things.

First…

For the past couple of months, I’ve experimented with writing some notes reflecting on the month just gone. I’ve quite enjoyed writing them, and they didn’t take too long to write.

I’ve also found the process helpful in getting me to think about and to articulate and record things that otherwise I wouldn’t have. So I’m keeping going with it.

1. What went well?

• I ran a workshop for our team to sustain and embed what we’d learnt on some training we’d done together on inclusive leadership and to further build the level of psychological safety in our team

I wasn’t at all sure…