Donald H Taylor

Another month, another survey. This time it’s the 2008 Learning and Development Survey of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Okay, it was actually published last month, but I’ve been busy.

This is an annual survey running since 2002, which allows for some trend spotting. And with it comes the Reflections document, four essays on different aspects of the survey - with one of them (on e-learning) by me.

Although of course I recommend downloading the survey and reflections document and reading them thoroughly, you can get most of my piece from the first paragraph:

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At a conference that I was chairing on Wednesday I was asked by someone why I had been so slack about blogging recently. I gave the only answer I could: now that I know that at least one person is reading, I shall make a better effort.

One reason for the gap - a recent holiday in Norfolk. Great place. Not so good on clear instructions to the public. Can you see what’s wrong with this photo?

Monday is a public holiday in the UK. I’ll be back with another entry on Tuesday.

A big thank you to Jason Corsello, who has been trying to make sense out of the suit - counter-suit action between Softscape and SuccessFactors.

It’s a messy business that puts nobody in a good light, but here’s the gist of what’s been going on:

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Skills and systems have made the headlines in the last few days - for all the wrong reasons. Heathrow’s Terminal 5, opened to great fanfare on Thursday, and promptly ran into trouble.

A fifth of flights were cancelled and some 28,000 pieces of luggage not loaded, having to be matched to owners, often in far-flung locations, at some point this week.

The key problem: apparently staff at the £4.3 bn facility were inadequately trained, At least, that’s according to the mainstream media including the Daily Mail and the BBC.

Usually, the people element gets left out of these stories, and ‘IT’ or ’systems’ are blamed. So, as an advocate of the importance of skills and development, shouldn’t I be pleased that training is getting the limelight?

No, it’s being made a scape goat.

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Jason Corsello commented recently on GeoLearning’s raising of $31m, mostly from Fidelity Ventures. He asked whether the Learning Management Systems (LMS) market was the right place to be putting money right now (saying it’s a slack market due to be hit by recession) and asked whether it made sense within Fidelity’s own portfolio. (Fidelity Employer Services Co, FESCo, is a partner of LMS market leader Saba.)

The posting provoked a pretty rapid series of comments.

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Champion of informal learning Jay Cross recently posted on the issue of the intangible nature of work, drawing on an article in the Wall Street Journal by Jared Sandberg: : A Modern Conundrum: When Work’s Invisible, So Are Its Satisfactions.

The nature of the post got me thinking: could a convergence be coming between the worlds of organisational learning and of effective operations?

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Last night I was the guest of the IET at their annual dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel here in London, and a fine affair it was, too.

President John Loughhead focused on the future need for skilled engineers - not, as is usually the case in these addresses, to bolster the UK’s global competitiveness, but rather to meet our obligations in tackling climate change. He made a good case for engineering as a crucial profession for the future.

And the after-dinner speaker was a slight, greying American chap who for nearly three decades just happened to hold the record for the longest time spent in space by a US astronaut - Ed Gibson. Dr Gibson took us through some of his extra-planetary exploits, including his three space walks, and talked about what he’d learnt from some of the pioneers he’d worked with, including Gene Krantz, Eileen Collins and Deke Slayton.

In this, he outlined some of the characteristics that made up a great leader, and guess what? Up there on the list, along with all the things you would expect such as vision and courage, came competence. 

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The end of January is always a busy time of year, with the Learning Technologies Conference to chair, followed by the Institute of IT Training Awards at the Dorchester.

Last year’s post at this time mentioned the success of the conference and how I was in the same week presented the Colin Corder award an ’outstanding contribution to IT training’.

This year has been just as good.

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Congratulations to Thomas Otter on his move from SAP to Gartner in February. He will be working with Jim Holincheck, whose work in this space needs no introduction.

This is relatively old news (Dec 26 2007), but I can’t let it go without a mention. This is partly because Thomas’ knowledge and natural enthusiasm in the areas of ERP and HR software make his blog an excellent read. It’s also partly because he’s a gent who kindly encouraged me during my early days in blogging, and has continued to do so since.

I first came across Thomas in November 2006, with his excellent posting: The cult of SaaS. Nobody expects the SaaSquisition, which generated plenty of attention at the time, and is still worth reading.

In blogging his career move, Thomas quotes Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken - aptly enough. Sometimes you have to choose one path over another.

I think another Frost poem is also appropriate, though: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. A career change (particularly when you’re the father of young children) can at times provoke this feeling:

But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,

But I am sure that Thomas will be equal to the task, and that Gartner, suppliers and users of technology will all benefit from his presence on this side of the Atlantic.

Good luck!

Duncan Smart has started blogging. 

This isn’t the inane blogging of Doris Lessing’s recent notorious Noble prize acceptance speech. It’s high level stuff of a very particular order.

Mind you, it isn’t for everyone.

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