Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/html/themself/wp-content/themes/mesocolumn/lib/functions/theme-functions.php on line 502
Guest Blog for Government Digital Service
I was asked to do a guest blog for GDS on my experience as a Service Manager on one of their early service assessments. You can see what I have been doing at work of late, including a screenshot from the passport online appointment booking service and the project's agile kanban board, which I stole the idea for from the Government Digital Service. So here it is - Learning from assessments Related articles Learning from assessments Government leads the way on Online Digital Services. Eh? What??
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/html/themself/wp-content/themes/mesocolumn/lib/functions/theme-functions.php on line 502
Book Review – In the Face of the Enemy by Ernest Powdrill
In the Face of the Enemy: A Battery Sergeant Major in Action in the Second World War by Ernest A. Powdrill My rating: 5 of 5 stars I borrowed this from the library and liked it so much that I bought my own copy. I found it very interesting because it is unusual for an other rank to write a memoir. Especially one where the author was a battery sergeant major who also had access to the battery clerk's notes. So, much of the 1944-45 campaign is very well documented with grid references for gun positions, ammo expenditure and times of moves. It is a fantastic reference book for WW2 operations of a Royal Horse Artillery battery in self propelled guns. There is also some of the human element to it as well. I was especially moved by the mystery…
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/html/themself/wp-content/themes/mesocolumn/lib/functions/theme-functions.php on line 502
The Power of Free – Exodus Perfect ebook on Smashwords
So having spent some time thinking on it I have decided two things. That Exodus: Perfects is the best start to the series (it is the start of the main arc of the story). That obscurity is the biggest threat to being an author. So given both 1 & 2 above the solution is a more or less permanently free ebook of Exodus Perfects. Now that the exclusivity of Exodus Perfects to Amazon has expired I can make it available through other sources. Free Ebook on Amazon Kindle When you sign up for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) it offers you a 90 day tie in to their KDP Select programme, which allows you to give your title away for free 5 days out of 90. At first sight it seems to be the only way to make your book free…
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/html/themself/wp-content/themes/mesocolumn/lib/functions/theme-functions.php on line 502
Book Review – Young Lions by Andrew Mackay
A book review of Young Lions by Andrew Mackay, the first in a series of four books featuring the two characters so far. Overview Young Lions is an alternate history set in a WW2 where Operation Sealion worked and the Germans managed to invade the UK. The book followed two teenage boys that are members of their school's cadet force and get involved in both the initial fighting and then the British Resistance to occupation. Book Review This is a boy's own adventure, with a horrific body count. Andrew Mackay is a history teacher, and it shows in the level of detail in the story. The history is very well researched and the detail ensures that the story remains consistent throughout and nothing jars the narrative flow. The Young Lions of the title are both teenage boys in their fourth…
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/html/themself/wp-content/themes/mesocolumn/lib/functions/theme-functions.php on line 502
Book Review – New Model Army by Adam Roberts
In summary Adam Robert's New Model Army is a fabulous concept that doesn't quite work for me. Book Review New Model Army has a Fab Concept. However it doesn't quite work. Some of it is too heavy handed and not well enough researched to be credible. New Model Armies I bought this book because I liked the premise, a change in the nature of warfare brought about by better information available to the whole army through a wiki style network. It has promise for some very interesting stories, but the author instead wrote a political polemic based on very old fashioned stereotypes and without bothering to do his research. Accepting that our narrator is probably unreliable, given he is definitely going insane, and the twist that happens at the end (no spoilers) it is clear that we cannot rely on…