Notes on week 45 of 2024: 


Top 3 notes:


Deliver Con 2024.2

Deliver Con is an unconference for delivery managers in and around the public sector. It’s been run in person annually since 2018, with the exception of 2019 because of COVID. 


In 2024 it became biannual, i.e. run twice a year. First in Cardiff on 18 April and second in London on 7 November. The latter was organized by Samuel Hoskin, Elodie Farrar and I. 


Unlike conferences where the agenda is set in advance, unconference agendas are set on the day. And the agenda’s full of discussions, not presentations. 


To source the agenda, I used the David Heath / Liberating Structures method. It combines Impromptu Networking and 25/10 Crowdsourcing. 


The 25/10 part requires a card and pen. On the front you write your discussion topic. On the back it gets scored. To simplify the scoring, we stamped the back with rows of numbers that people could circle.

2 pieces of card and a pen are laid out on a wooden table. 1 piece of card is blank and is labelled "front". The other has rows of numbers on it and is labelled "back".

Things needed for 25/10 crowdsourcing

Samuel sourced the cards, rubber stamp and ink pad. Then we sat with Elodie and stamped the cards. 


When it came to actually doing the 25/10 Crowdsourcing, I created some slides so people could follow along with.

Delivercon 2024.2 Agenda Creation

Feel free to copy or download the slides if you like. Please do give me some feedback on what you think / how you used the.


Ignorance as a superpower

1 of the first sessions at Deliver Con 2024.2 was, "Top tips for being a great delivery manager". I sat listening for a while whilst updating the online agenda.


Then I heard Nic Macken talk about using simple questions as a way to create safe spaces. I've been using this technique and thinking about it for a while. So I wondered over and joined the discussion circle. 


After listening for a while, I put my hand up and eventually said, "As delivery managers we use ignorance as a superpower to create safe spaces". 


Something has to give...

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