The Bumble Bee

Data mining made easy with DMF

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:58:02 +0000

Data Mining, a hi-tech buzzword for many years, is about excavating useful patterns which are hidden deep in your data to give you valuable insights you could not otherwise find. I was looking for a data mining tool in the same broad price bracket as Excel but which was also robust and did not require you to be a mathematics genius to use it. Surprisingly I managed to find a product which exactly met my needs!

Smart Bees first to solve complex mathematical problem

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:08:51 +0000

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London and Royal Holloway have discovered that bees learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they discover the flowers in a different order. In doing this they are effectively solving the challenging 'Travelling Salesman Problem' and despite their small brains are the first creatures discovered who can do this.

Building an Integrated Social Media Dashboard

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:13:47 +0000

I have been looking for way to monitor and track all my websites/blogs plus all my social media accounts (linkedIN, Twitter etc) from a single dashboard. I figured this would be pretty easy - a thing that most people would want to do! Not so - despite the abundance of great social media tools I found it surprisingly difficult to find one which met all my requirements.

Data visualisation - which diagram should I use?

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:34:17 +0000

Here is an excellent web link plus two great books which address the question which diagram or chart should I use to best communicate different types of information visually. With at least 40 types of diagram and new ones/variants constantly being invented this is a hot topic!

Instant Customer Data Analysis using Excel: worked example

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:12:55 +0000

One of the most useful aspects of Microsoft Excel is its ability to quickly slice and dice customer data from live systems to identify important trends and behaviors which can inform strategy. In this article and screencast I share a 7-step plan, illustrated with a worked example, for Instant Customer Analytics using Excel.

Iphone 4s: constant loss of mobile signal problem

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:54:33 +0000

In early December 2011 I upgraded from an iphone 3G to iphone 4s on the Orange UK network. Since upgrading, a month ago, the iphone 4s has been losing the mobile signal at least 10-15 times per day for periods ranging from a few minutes to one hour. During this time it is not possible to make or receive phone calls or texts. In my view there is an unacknowledged issue with the iphone 4s - my advice would be NOT to purchase one until it is resolved - watch this space!

The River Diagram: Strategic community change management

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:40:49 +0000

I am always on the lookout for good simple visualisation techniques to support change management. Chris Collison has introduced me to The River Diagram - a great strategic tool for moving a community of groups forward via common initiatives and best practice sharing.

All you ever learned about meetings is wrong

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:07:24 +0000

I have been piloting a radically different approach to meetings which I am calling "Egoless Meetings" which addresses three popular unwritten rules about good meeting practices which are unfortunately totally wrong. RULE 1 is that everybody gets to speak. RULE 2 is that discussions in themselves can be useful. RULE 3 is that when you meet you must work as a team not as individuals.

Google, Amazon - Whisple?

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:11:31 +0000

One of the most interesting collaborative business networks to emerge recently is a group of ambitious Northern Irish technology companies who have founded Whisple and are now actively recruiting new members from software and service companies who need a ready-made platform into the multi-billion global cloud-services market.

Bioteams and the beliefs of high performing teams

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:17:10 +0000

Team Beliefs are the fuel which can really energise or kill team effectiveness. Unfortunately this is often the most neglected aspect of a high-performing team initiative. In this article I remind people of the key beliefs of high-performing teams.

Is your collaboration SAFE: a simple model for collaborative viability

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:04:30 +0000

Most collaborative ventures don't turn out quite the way we envisage. It would be great if we could determine in advance if a particular collaborative project or joint venture will be worth the required investment. Here is a simple way you can assess the merits of any collaborative endeavour BEFORE you invest time, effort and money in failing to make it work.

New City Community building simulation game

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:16:10 +0000

Building Community and Computer Simulation are two of my hot topics. So it really grabbed my attention when Channel 4 Education announced a forthcoming game, Fallen City, to let us explore how our cities might be mended by empowering communities.

Bioteams and Quorum Sensing

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:24:28 +0000

Very interesting article in The Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize, Bacteria and the power of teamwork, which reveals the amazing ability of bacteria to "quorum sense" - i.e. know when they have critical mass to achieve their objective. Quorum Sensing is hugely important for human groups and one we often get badly wrong!

Virtual Teams spreading but not tipping yet - new research

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 18:42:32 +0000

The latest report (September 2011) on Virtual Teams, Virtual Work Environments in the Post-Recession Era, from Brandman University, includes very interesting results of a survey commissioned from Forrester in 2010 on Virtual Teams.

The Power of Trust and Mistrust

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:06:39 +0000

When trust levels are high, so is the quality and performance of business and the reverse is also true. These facts are demonstrated dramatically when we look at the financial outcomes of companies that are among the best to work for and their peer companies that aren't.

Bioteams, collaboration and the Mobile Cloud

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:16:14 +0000

I was part of a fascinating panel session "Mobility, Teams, The Cloud and Collaboration" at the recent Mobile Cloud Summit (London: 21 September). The summit and the session was chaired by Jeffrey Peel of Quadriga Consulting and my co-panelists were Brian Caulfield of DFJ Esprit and Chris Horn of Movirtu.

What Ants Can Teach the Enterprise About Teamwork

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:09:00 +0000

Congratulations to the Socialcast blog for an excellent summary of Bioteams plus a truly awesome poster "Unlocking the Bioteams formula" which gives a great introduction to bioteams - all in a single picture.

Brainstorming - 7 Do's and 6 Don'ts

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:55:33 +0000

Brainstorming is one of those things which some people believe is natural and easy - they are wrong! There are 7 things which will make your team brainstorm go brilliantly .... and 6 things which will absolutely kill it. Find out what they are here.

Ken Thompsons Videos on Vimeo

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 23:12:16 +0000

I thought it might be useful to provide a single page link to the full collection of videos and animations I have posted on Vimeo over the last year. I upgraded to Vimeo Plus which allows me to publish videos in HD and also to view the videos very effectively on the leading smart phones.

Instant Business Guide to LinkedIn

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:49:29 +0000

I have been amazed at how many people have asked me for a really simple and very short guide to LinkedIN for small businesses and independent consultants. So here it is:

Leadership, Connectivity, Execution, Organization

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:27:04 +0000

Very nice short article by Harold Jarche in his blog "Life in Perpetual Beta" which revisits the 4 key zones of Bioteams: Leadership, Connectivity, Execution, Organization.

Ten practical tips to profitable business relationships

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:42:48 +0000

Bioteams.com has previously published a number of articles on Social Networking which have addressed the Analysis perspective. I am delighted to round out the coverage of this crucial area with an excellent guest article by business networking guru Tony Altham which offers ten practical tips for creating, building and sustaining profitable business relationships.

Another Bioteams lesson in teamwork from the ant

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:21:11 +0000

The BBC Nature site reports on research published in the journal Naturwissenschaften which has discovered that a certain species of stinging ant may grab a fellow worker in their jaws and take them with them to help manage large food items they cannot carry by themselves.

European Innovation and Creativity Conference September 2011 Portugal

Tue, 31 May 2011 12:31:04 +0000

I am looking forward to speaking and running a workshop on High Performing Teams at ECCIXII - the 12th European Conference on Innovation and Creativity in Portugal (Faro) from September 14-17.

5 Things video games teach us better than reality

Tue, 17 May 2011 10:30:26 +0000

In an excellent article in The Observer, Keith Stuart argues that the reason video games are so popular is not because we are simply escaping reality but because the best of these games provide us with valuable experiences in learning, autonomy, authority, feedback and risk-taking. This argument also resonates with a book I am reading "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal.

New High-Performing Teams Online Game

Wed, 11 May 2011 14:04:08 +0000

I have been thinking for a long time about developing an online game for High-Performing Teams which was complex enough to be useful but simple enough to be usable! I am pleased to introduce the A4 Team Game (Alignment, Attitudes, Attention and Autonomy) which can be configured for different team challenges and runs on the desktop, the web or even embedded in other applications.

The Lost Secrets of High-Performing Teams

Thu, 05 May 2011 11:54:55 +0000

I spoke at the inaugural TEDx event in Belfast on March 23. My argument was that we have all experienced high-performing teams but mostly not at work (sports, music, adventures, holidays, family etc)! In the video The Lost Secrets of High-Performing Teams I remind us of what we may have forgotten about great teams and make a plea to bring these sensibilities back into our work teams.

Workforce Democracy: Put heart back in the workplace

Wed, 04 May 2011 09:08:51 +0000

Mark Dowds, from Brainpark, is a leading thinker and practitioner in the emerging area of Workforce Democracy - an innovation which is beginning to radically change work places by replacing 'command and control' with self-organisation. I invited Mark to write a short intro on the subject as part of my "Think Differently" series because it resonates strongly with Bioteams.

The reason why top performers sometimes choke?

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:38:40 +0000

Very interesting article by Matthew Syed, a former Commonwealth table tennis champion. which suggests that experts (Unconsciously Competent) can suddenly flip under stress to "beginner mode" (Consciously Competent) with the accompanying degradation in their performance.

The Bioteaming Manifesto: 6 years old!

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 09:19:35 +0000

This week marks the 6th anniversary of the publication in April 2005 of The Bioteaming Manifesto by ChangeThis. The manifesto is the foundation of the Bioteams book, published March 2008, and is a comprehensive conceptual framework for the effective management of today's Virtual Teams, Multi-Enterprise Teams and Cross-Functional teams. Download it here