​The countdown to our next Milk Bar is on! In less than 2 weeks, on Friday 11 November, we’ll be exploring the Future of Work with engaging talks and sessions led by some of Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs.

​What brings you to the Milk Bar?

It's the sense of 'Kindred Spirit'! For me, the Milk Bar offers an innovative discussion space where a diverse group of people get to connect not only in person but in our thinking! They say that some of the best ideas started on a napkin - well, I believe that someday soon someone will say that some of the best ideas started at the Milk Bar!

In your opinion how will technology change the future of work?

Whether we like it or not, technology will continue to advance and transform our world and our current norms. I often find myself in conversation with people from each side of the fence - those who embrace and those who resist. My passion and hope centres on how well we succeed in applying technologies as an enabler to a better world of work and living in general. How do we use it to enhance our human connection rather than disconnect? In my opinion, it is our ability to align our innate emotional intelligence with the ever advancing artificial intelligence that will truly matter!

Do you agree that companies who see workplace flexibility as a strategic imperative rather than an employee perk will benefit by attracting, engaging and retaining the best talent?

Absolutely! It's a non negotiable. I believe that the need for 'workplace flexibility' is driven equally by the demands of industry sectors and our customers as much as it is by employees. Organisations who have the ability to view this as part of their overall purpose and proposition are the ones who will flourish in our future. My passion lies in fostering a dialogue that addresses an organisation's anticipation and readiness for change that will result in the creation and sustaining of a unified culture and strong performing teams.

How can businesses provide purpose to their employees and the wider community?

For me this is simple - it lies in the WHY?

I wholeheartedly believe that even in a world of ferocious technological advancement, there is still 'Us' - You and Me. It's what we do with that that matters. I recently read an interview with Professor Muhammad Yunus who spoke about the need to redesign the way we do things in order to become full human beings and create the world we want to live in. I was provoked by his questions :

               * 'What role do I want to play?'
                * 'What’s inside of me that I can contribute?'

We’re looking forward to hearing you speak, could you tell us briefly what your talk is about?

I would like to discuss the importance of building individual motivation to change. Touching on what drives human resistance to change, it's important to highlight that whilst it is easy to identify the tangible and practical things that are required to embrace new horizons and technologies, it is equipping yourself and your organisation's people with the motivations, attitudes and energy to engage with change that will reduce resistance and embrace our ever changing landscapes.

Don`t miss the opportunity to meet Marjie at the Milk Bar on Friday, 11th November 2016, 3:30 -5:30 pm at West, Glasgow Green

                Meet me at the Milk Bar – Alisdair McGill

Keep an eye out for our next Milk Bar and other events!

​Hello! Today is National Mentoring Day so we thought we’d mark the occasion by sharing some of our experiences with mentoring and hopefully encourage some of you lovely folk to get involved, whether Mentee or Mentor (or ideally both!), there’s awesome benefits all round.
Nicky Logue

​We’ve had quite a mentoring themed week here at TiM. On Tuesday Angela was interviewed about being a mentor at Entrepreneurial Spark and yesterday Angela and I met up with CarolAnne Morris to arrange a business mentor through the Scottish Chambers and Scottish Enterprise Business Mentoring Service.  We’ll hopefully be matched with suitable business mentor from the thousand strong database in the next week or so!
 
Our experiences with mentoring
 
Angela has been involved with the mentoring process for some years now and is a big advocate of the benefits, whereas I, in all honesty, haven’t really given it a proper go. I had one or two mentors in past roles but I can see now that I didn’t take full advantage of the learning opportunity I had, often cancelling meetings in favour of doing my day job or attending unprepared and trying to think up issues to discuss on the spot….which wasn’t helpful in the slightest to me or my mentor. The upside is that I can see the error in my ways now and as well as getting a business mentor I’ll be looking into becoming a mentor too.  And giving it the time and effort it deserves!
 
So I’ll focus on Angela’s experiences and hopefully we can encourage you to get involved with mentoring too!  As I mentioned, Angela is a Mentor at eSpark but she also has two mentors of her own! Here’s what she had to say:
 
Who are your mentors and how did you find them?
 
The first is Leah Hutcheon, Founder of Appointedd. I contacted Women’s Enterprise Scotland about sourcing a mentor. I was looking for someone who had launched their own start up in Scotland, and gotten through the early days, ideally with a B2B company. So they paired me up with Leah which was perfect!
 
The second is Alina Martin, I contacted her independently as I knew her personally from when I lived in Canada. I had seen her grow a business and champion female entrepreneurship, so I thought there would be a natural fit.
 
The third will be the business mentor that you and I are looking for from the Business Mentoring Service. We’ve asked them to look for someone who has the commercial skills that we haven’t necessarily got so far to help us grow the business, I’m really looking forward to getting the shortlist next week!
 
What do you get from your mentors?
 
With my current mentor relationships, it’s support. Being a business owner can be quite a lonely place and if you’re working for a big business you’ve got lots of other people with different skills to lean on. As an entrepreneur you’re trying to do it all yourself and it’s good to get access to different viewpoints and skills.
 
They’re a great sounding board and a fresh perspective. They give me encouragement, advice and reassurance. Just hearing that they’ve been through everything I’m experiencing as a new business owner is helpful!

What’s the best part of being a mentor? 
 
Sometimes I get bought wine! :) I’ve met some really great, interesting people who are constantly teaching me new things, and I can build a great rapport with them. Mentoring is just like advanced networking really, but it gives you more opportunity to create quality connections as opposed to fleeting ones.
 
Interested in finding or becoming a mentor?
 
Scotland houses loads of schemes and organisations that support people looking to get involved in mentoring. A quick Google will bring them up, and here’s a few that we know about:

• Business Mentoring Service
• Princes Trust

 
Or, as Angela did with Women’s Enterprise Scotland, you can try approaching some of the Scottish business support organisations to see if they’ll facilitate sourcing a mentor for you – even if they don’t advertise it as a service.
 
Lastly, if you’re looking for a mentor and have a specific person in mind already, why not approach them directly? And remember it’s not just you that will benefit, they will too so don’t feel nervous asking, they can take as much from the relationship as you will!
 
Check out the National Mentoring Day site for lots more information on mentoring and get involved!

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We all know people who are daunted by standing up and speaking in front of others. Upfront is a response to this, allowing people to share the stage with speakers and experience what it feels like without the pressure of having to perform. During our next Milk Bar event on Friday 11 November, we’ll be supporting upfront when one of our speaker’s, Alasdair McGill, will share his stage.  

What does it take to be #upfront?
 
#upfront is a project which encourages conferences and speakers to share their stage with pre-selected audience members but without forcing them to talk to a large group. Those on the stage don’t say any more than any other audience member would, therefore it won’t affect the content or the timing in any way. But it lets them make a huge difference to the people that get to experience what it feels like to be on stage.
 
Since February, #upfront has partnered with over 15 conferences and seen 100 people from diverse backgrounds appear on stage with Lauren and a number of speakers in Scotland and beyond. The majority of the guests have relished the opportunity to be on stage without the pressure of speaking on stage, but for some the overall experience has been massively positive, with some describing it as life-changing.
 
How did it start?
 
The idea comes from Scottish designer and entrepreneur, Lauren Currie.  As an experienced speaker and educator, she was motivated by her frustration at the lack of inclusion she saw during appearances on a variety of panels and conferences around the world. One of Lauren’s future goals is to ”make  #upfront the norm of how conferences are curated and attended.”
 
Last time Lauren was #upfront at TedX Birmingham she shared her stage with five other people, with ages ranging from 20 to 55 years old, who all have their own ambitions to one day speak in public about their ideas. Now they have been #upfront they have more confidence in themselves and their story.

This is Milk among participants

Our team members are among #upfront-ers!  Angela has been  #upfront with  Mairi Damer,at the Women Making Scotland conference in June 2016. She says ’#upfront shares the sentiment that we are building a new platform together and I think it's a useful vehicle to imagine what this 'stageless' future might look like.”
 
As a result of that experience, at our last Milk Bar events, we made the first step to transform the ’traditional stage' into a nice and casual platform, but we did get feedback that people would like different formats. So this time round we are having interactive workshops too.
 
Want to go #upfront with us?

Come to the Milk Bar to experience #upfront first-hand when Alasdair McGill delivers his session. Or even better, if you’d like to join him during his talk you can! You’ll sit comfortably on a couch, in front of a sea of friendly faces whilst he talks. You will not need to speak and Alasdair will be there to facilitate. Oh, and you'll meet him beforehand too.

All you need to do to claim your space on the #upfront couch is send an email to helloupfront@gmail.com­ with the subject line The Milk Bar.

If you haven’t already, RSVP for the Milk Bar.

Keep an eye out for our next Milk Bar and other events!

We've got a great line-up of speakers and facilitators for our upcoming Milk Bar event on Friday 11 November. The topic this time is Transforming the World of Work and we've been chatting to our speakers to find out more about them and their thoughts on the workplaces of the future. 

​What brings you to the Milk Bar?

I'm very interested in the future and in making the world a kinder, better, more equal place, so I'm naturally drawn to the Milk Bar. We need events like this, which stimulate discussion and make us think about things collaboratively. Together we can make things better.

In your opinion how will technology change the future of work? 

Work is being increasingly automated. Every day a new app is launched promising to 'revolutionise' things. However, automation and technology is not always the right answer. We need to be mindful of how we utilise technology. It needs to be an enabler, however it will never be able to take the place of person-to-person relationships. So I'm worried about the relentless drive towards new technologies and the impact that will have on society.
 
Do you agree that companies who see flexible working as a strategic imperative rather than an employee perk will benefit by attracting, engaging and retaining the best talent?

I agree with this 100%. Indeed I think that only view this as 'an employee perk', will suffer at the hands of their more enlightened competitors.
 
How can businesses provide purpose to their employees and the wider community? 

First of all, they need to care about people. Both staff and customers. And by that, I mean PROPERLY care, not just lip service. We need to have a clear vision for the purpose of our organisations - our Why. And we need to share this widely and help our people to understand why this is important to us. Finally we need to do meaningful work, which supports that core purpose. If we do that, then the profits will come. We shouldn't make profit the core purpose.

 We’re looking forward to hearing you present, could you tell us briefly what your talk is about? 

We're busier than ever, always connected, searching for that elusive work-life balance. We long for workplaces where we can be ourselves. Where community, passion and purpose sit comfortably together. There has to be a better way to work. In my talk I`ll explore what we can do to change that.
​

Don`t miss the opportunity to meet Alasdair at the Milk Bar on Friday, 11th November 2016, 3:30 -5:30 pm at West, Glasgow Green.

Keep an eye out for our next Milk Bar and other events!

Nothing lasts forever and there`s always the next big thing. Has Agile won or is it dead already?
Angela Prentner Smith

Something I’ve been pondering for a while is what’s the next big thing in project delivery? Agile has been around for a while now, and businesses are still struggling with its adoption. I asked the IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) LinkedIn group what they thought, and I got about 40 differing opinions. I did some research and again I got a typical mix of views.
 
‘Agile is dead already.’
‘Agile was never meant to be used for what it is now.’
‘Agile is the only way.’
‘Businesses need to be agile, but that doesn’t mean they need to adopt a specific ‘agile methodology.’
 
The conclusion I’ve come to is that actually all of those opinions are right. Most importantly - there isn’t an ‘Agile’ silver bullet that you can implement into your business and make everything better. There isn’t a methodology that you can stringently adopt that will mean all your projects get delivered effortlessly. Indeed the very premise of agile, as a word, a concept and a manifesto, is about being adaptable and responding to change. A strict project or development methodology breaks that very premise. 
 
The Agile Manifesto
 
The Manifesto for Agile Software Development was just that. A manifesto for software development. The problem with that? It was never written to extend beyond software development. As those of us with war wounds from projects know - a large business project never starts and ends with just software development. Agile was developed to improve software development methodology. The original 17 founders of the agile manifesto, are still trying to do that. Some have moved on from the original manifesto and are looking at new and better ways of developing software. 
 
Death by Popularity
 
Yesterday I attended a conference on family friendly working. The word agile was used frequently to refer to flexible working in terms of hours and locations. I also heard agile used in reference to hotdesking. Whilst these applications of the word aren’t actually wrong - agile just means nimble and flexible - they do muddy the water when we have projects of work using Agile methodology. The popularity of the word agile and its potential overuse just adds to the confusion. 
 
There’s also the Agile Marketing movement, and more generally discussions on agile cultures.  Again both meritted uses of the word and potentially successful ethoses. However they may further add to the confusion when business leaders, technologists and marketeers come together to deliver a project - whose agile is this anyway?
 
Design vs Development
 
I’ve personally been stuck in the middle of this argument. What a design sprint entails in an agile world vs a front end development sprint don't deliver the same things, don’t have the same rates of execution, the same stakeholders and beyond. Sprint - that simple concept within the agile nomenclature can cause masses of confusion, and honestly they don’t really align. Design sprints need to test features with users quickly, and so does development, but front end to back end development don’t follow the same creative cycle of design and they have different gestation times.  Sprints are just time periods during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review, but you can’t get the same amount of development done as design in the same timeframe.
 
Design methodologies
 
Service design, user and customer experience design, user interface design and all the rest could be described as methodologies themselves. But once the design has been done, and technology is required, the agile software development lifecycles begin. These should still iterate, test and learn with users, and business counterparts. They needn’t be at odds, but what is needed is clarity between the design methods and the project approach or development lifecycle. De-risking design and de-risking development can both be achieved through iteration - a key premise of agile, but not necessarily within the same sprint cycles.
 
Beyond Agile
 
I’ve read a bit on DevOps and think this might be where to hedge your bets on the future of software development at scale. Scaling is certainly one of the key criticisms of agile project methodology. What works to build a small app doesn’t necessarily scale to an enterprise wide programme. That said traditional waterfall methodology is flawed, as Mike Gill discussed in Seeing the Light and Go Agile or Go Home. 
 
Where that leaves us
 
So businesses need to be agile - that is flexible around the needs of their teams, their customers and logistically in line with the digital age. But that needn’t be confused with agile software methodology or design methodologies. The most important point in developing a project approach is:

1. That there is an approach that is communicated and understood by all participants
2. That it is not delivered in silos
3. That it is designed around the needs of the customer and that co-creation is looked for
4. There are common goals
5. It is open to change when things don’t work.

 
Meaning it matters less whether we call it agile or anything else and more that everyone knows what’s happening, is working together and willing to be progressive rather than dogmatic about the methodology.
 
I do believe agile is better than waterfall, but I don’t think that’s the last word on the subject.  There will be the next wave of software development methodology and beyond that businesses will be more agile as they are enable by technology and respond to the demands of the workforce and their customers.

We have launched an innovative, industry led solution to embedding people centred project disciplines into businesses to aid 'agile adoption' and 'digital transformation'.  We'd  love to share that with you.

If you want to get to know our team, and meet with  like-minded individuals and businesses who cares about business improvement and sharing ideas, come and join our MeetUp Group - The Milk Bar.   Our next event is coming soon!

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In today's world, digital is the norm, people have more access to information than ever, and digital technology still presents a unique and under-exploited opportunity for organisations, and even a greater challenge for charities.
Barbara Geczy

Digital Transformation 

According to a recent survey, only 34 % of charity leaders understand the full potential of digital transformation. It is definitely not only about using creative campaigns, TV adverts to influence and inform existing and potential donors and volunteers. Digital transformation means knowing how best to use digital channels and tools to connect with customers  - in this case, donors and volunteers- and how to make their experience better. For instance,  elaboration of a digital strategy, change in the IT infrastructure,  using analytics, insights, digital fundraising and marketing are simply some of the elements. 

Unfortunately digital is still an opportunity that is being missed by most of the UK charity sector. They are too focused on everyday issues and not classifying digital disruption as a threat. In fact, most Scottish charities are small and could not afford to pay huge amounts to build or establish modern systems. And even when they do so, the employees of the organisation are frustrated by the lack of digital skills and a general lack of integration.

Start Small 

What most charities often forget, is that digital change is possible by taking small and simple steps. For example, as 66% of Scottish charities are involved in social care related activities, it is useful for them to focus on the brand and the cause by using digital tools and try to differentiate themselves from the others.  There is a broad range of opportunities: from the online communities and the collaborative economy service of Macmillan Cancer Support to RSPB's active presence on Facebook -  they all a really great examples of how brands can do social well without leaving a huge hole in the marketing budgets and being limited by the location. Digital organisations supported by the government, like Digital Scotland, One Digital and also NCVO offer a broad range of opportunities, conferences and programs to improve their digital knowledge.

And what does the future hold? It is possible that in 10 years' time, charities fighting for the common interest could develop a big digital platform to use and share their resources in the most efficient way and building a big app together to enable monitoring the services. The list of possibilities is endless, so it's up to them when they decide to step into the world of digital change.

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