#columbus-clippers — Public Fediverse posts

Gold Glover Patrick Bailey is traded to Guardians who shake up roster https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/694505/ #Baseball #BoNaylor #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #CooperIngle #GoldGlove #Guardians #JeffPassan #MattWilkinson #MLB #PatrickBailey #SanFranciscoGiants

Gold Glover Patrick Bailey is traded to Guardians who shake up roster https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/694505/ #Baseball #BoNaylor #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #CooperIngle #GoldGlove #Guardians #JeffPassan #MattWilkinson #MLB #PatrickBailey #SanFranciscoGiants

Guardians News and Notes – Home Opener Eve https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/659445/ #Baseball #California #ChaseDeLauter #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DodgerStadium #GavinWilliams #Guardians #KahlilWatson #LosAngeles #LosAngelesDodgers #MLB #StuartFairchild

Guardians News and Notes – Home Opener Eve https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/659445/ #Baseball #California #ChaseDeLauter #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DodgerStadium #GavinWilliams #Guardians #KahlilWatson #LosAngeles #LosAngelesDodgers #MLB #StuartFairchild

Watching the First Full Slate of Guardians’ Affiliates https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/659161/ #Arizona #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DanielEspino #GettyImages #goodyear #GoodyearBallpark #Guardians #JustinCampbell #KahlStephen #KannapolisCannonBallers #KhalStephen #MinorLeague #MLB #PedroAvila #ShaneBieber #TexasRangers #WestMichiganWhitecaps

Watching the First Full Slate of Guardians’ Affiliates https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/659161/ #Arizona #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DanielEspino #GettyImages #goodyear #GoodyearBallpark #Guardians #JustinCampbell #KahlStephen #KannapolisCannonBallers #KhalStephen #MinorLeague #MLB #PedroAvila #ShaneBieber #TexasRangers #WestMichiganWhitecaps

Iowa Cubs Wrap: I-Cubs fall late to Columbus, 4-3 https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/649597/ #AllanHenryImagn #Arizona #Baseball #CamelbackRanchGlendale #Chicago #ChicagoCubs #ChicagoCubs #ColumbusClippers #Cubs #EthanRoberts #IowaCubs #JustinDean #KevinAlcantara #LosAngelesDodgers #LukeLittle #MLB #PeteyHalpin #Phoenix #USA #YackselRios

Iowa Cubs Wrap: I-Cubs fall late to Columbus, 4-3 https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/649597/ #AllanHenryImagn #Arizona #Baseball #CamelbackRanchGlendale #Chicago #ChicagoCubs #ChicagoCubs #ColumbusClippers #Cubs #EthanRoberts #IowaCubs #JustinDean #KevinAlcantara #LosAngelesDodgers #LukeLittle #MLB #PeteyHalpin #Phoenix #USA #YackselRios

Cleveland Guardians Move Johnathan Rodriguez to Triple-A Columbus as Roster Competition Heats Up https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/626175/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #JohnathanRodriguez #MajorLeagueBaseball #MLB #MlbSpringTraining

Cleveland Guardians Move Johnathan Rodriguez to Triple-A Columbus as Roster Competition Heats Up https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/626175/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #JohnathanRodriguez #MajorLeagueBaseball #MLB #MlbSpringTraining

Which Reds, Guardians players are in the 2026 World Baseball Classic? https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/605687/ #Baseball #BoNaylor #ChineseTaipei #CincinnatiReds #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DayanFrias #DominicCanzone #EdwinArroyo #EugenioSuarez #Guardians #HoustonAstros #JoshNaylor #LoganAllen #MattFesta #MLB #SeattleMariners #StuartFairchild #TeamAustralia #TeamCanada #TravisBazzana #WorldBaseballClassic #ZachDezenzo

Which Reds, Guardians players are in the 2026 World Baseball Classic? https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/605687/ #Baseball #BoNaylor #ChineseTaipei #CincinnatiReds #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DayanFrias #DominicCanzone #EdwinArroyo #EugenioSuarez #Guardians #HoustonAstros #JoshNaylor #LoganAllen #MattFesta #MLB #SeattleMariners #StuartFairchild #TeamAustralia #TeamCanada #TravisBazzana #WorldBaseballClassic #ZachDezenzo

Don’t Forget About This Cleveland Guardians Outfield Prospect https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/543762/ #Baseball #ChaseDeLauter #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #GeorgeValera #Guardians #JoshBell #KahlilWatson #MiamiMarlins #MLB

Don’t Forget About This Cleveland Guardians Outfield Prospect https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/543762/ #Baseball #ChaseDeLauter #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #GeorgeValera #Guardians #JoshBell #KahlilWatson #MiamiMarlins #MLB

Columbus Clippers’ house top prospects, churn out major league talent https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/326419/ #Angeles #Baseball #Boston #BostonRedSox #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #Detroit #DetroitTigers #Explainer #Los #LosAngelesClippers #MajorLeagueBaseballPlayoffs #MajorLeagueBaseballPostseason #MLB #MLBPlayoffs #MLBPostseason #National #NationalSports #news #not #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #Red #Skubal #Sox #Sports #SportsNews #Tarik #TarikSkubal #Tigers #TTP #TTPExplainerNotVisual #visual

Columbus Clippers’ house top prospects, churn out major league talent https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/326419/ #Angeles #Baseball #Boston #BostonRedSox #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #Detroit #DetroitTigers #Explainer #Los #LosAngelesClippers #MajorLeagueBaseballPlayoffs #MajorLeagueBaseballPostseason #MLB #MLBPlayoffs #MLBPostseason #National #NationalSports #news #not #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #Red #Skubal #Sox #Sports #SportsNews #Tarik #TarikSkubal #Tigers #TTP #TTPExplainerNotVisual #visual

Guardians face major setback as top prospect Travis Bazzana injured at Triple-A https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/311146/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardiansNews #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #GuardiansTripleANews #MLB #MLBProspectWatch #MlbNews #TravisBazzanaInjury #TravisBazzanaInjuryUpdate #USSportsNews

Guardians face major setback as top prospect Travis Bazzana injured at Triple-A https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/311146/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardiansNews #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #GuardiansTripleANews #MLB #MLBProspectWatch #MlbNews #TravisBazzanaInjury #TravisBazzanaInjuryUpdate #USSportsNews

Guardians top prosect Travis Bazzana hits fourth home run in four days https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/302487/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #DOT #DOTOptimized #Guardians #MLB #news #optimized #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #Sports #SportsNews

Guardians top prosect Travis Bazzana hits fourth home run in four days https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/302487/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #DOT #DOTOptimized #Guardians #MLB #news #optimized #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #Sports #SportsNews

Royals’ minor-league affiliate trolls K-State football after scoring outburst https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/270992/ #Baseball #BobbyDalbec #ColumbusClippers #DrewWaters #HaroldCastro #IowaStateCyclones #IsanDiaz #JacCaglianone #Kansas #KansasCity #KansasCityRoyals #KansasStateWildcats #KansasCity #KansasCityRoyals #MichaelMassey #MJMelendez #MLB #OmahaStormChasers #royals #StormChasers

Royals’ minor-league affiliate trolls K-State football after scoring outburst https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/270992/ #Baseball #BobbyDalbec #ColumbusClippers #DrewWaters #HaroldCastro #IowaStateCyclones #IsanDiaz #JacCaglianone #Kansas #KansasCity #KansasCityRoyals #KansasStateWildcats #KansasCity #KansasCityRoyals #MichaelMassey #MJMelendez #MLB #OmahaStormChasers #royals #StormChasers

Guardians top prospect moving up to Columbus https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/239924/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #MLB #MLBDraft #ReadingFightin'Phils #RubberDucks #TravisBazzana #WKBN

Guardians top prospect moving up to Columbus https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/239924/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #MLB #MLBDraft #ReadingFightin'Phils #RubberDucks #TravisBazzana #WKBN

Travis Bazzana 1 step closer to playing in Cleveland with latest promotion https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/239219/ #AkronRubberDucks #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #CooperIngle #DoubleA #Guardians #MinorLeague #MLB #News5Cleveland #NortheastOhioNews #promotion #prospect

Travis Bazzana 1 step closer to playing in Cleveland with latest promotion https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/239219/ #AkronRubberDucks #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #CooperIngle #DoubleA #Guardians #MinorLeague #MLB #News5Cleveland #NortheastOhioNews #promotion #prospect

Guardians’ veteran right-handed pitcher sold to KBO Lotte Giants https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/230160/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #KBO #Korea #LotteGiants #MLB #MLBTradeDeadline #PhiladelphiaPhillies #ProfessionalTeam #ShaneBieber #VeteranPitcher #VeteranPitchers #VinceVelasquez

Guardians’ veteran right-handed pitcher sold to KBO Lotte Giants https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/230160/ #Baseball #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #Guardians #KBO #Korea #LotteGiants #MLB #MLBTradeDeadline #PhiladelphiaPhillies #ProfessionalTeam #ShaneBieber #VeteranPitcher #VeteranPitchers #VinceVelasquez

Guardians Shane Bieber’s Columbus Clippers appearance canceled by rain https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/207370/ #akron #Baseball #Bieber #Bisons #Buffalo #BuffaloBisons #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #Content #Guardians #Metro #MLB #news #OH #OHContentSharingAkronMetro #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #shane #ShaneBieber #Sharing #Sports #SportsNews

Guardians Shane Bieber’s Columbus Clippers appearance canceled by rain https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/207370/ #akron #Baseball #Bieber #Bisons #Buffalo #BuffaloBisons #Cleveland #ClevelandGuardians #ClevelandGuardians #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #Content #Guardians #Metro #MLB #news #OH #OHContentSharingAkronMetro #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #shane #ShaneBieber #Sharing #Sports #SportsNews

C.J. Kayfus homers, has 3 hits, but Columbus Clippers fall to Iowa Cubs 7-2 https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/189494/ #Angeles #Baseball #Chicago #ChicagoCubs #ChicagoCubs #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #Cubs #Explainer #iowa #IowaCubs #Los #LosAngelesClippers #MLB #news #not #OH #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #Sports #SportsNews #TTP #TTPExplainerNotVisual #visual

C.J. Kayfus homers, has 3 hits, but Columbus Clippers fall to Iowa Cubs 7-2 https://www.rawchili.com/mlb/189494/ #Angeles #Baseball #Chicago #ChicagoCubs #ChicagoCubs #Clippers #columbus #ColumbusClippers #Cubs #Explainer #iowa #IowaCubs #Los #LosAngelesClippers #MLB #news #not #OH #Overall #OverallPositive #Positive #Sports #SportsNews #TTP #TTPExplainerNotVisual #visual

September 2 – 8

My “weeknotes” capture events, thoughts, and other items from the past week, mostly focused on work.

[1] Your ever-so-slightly-different writing style probably looks like you faked it with an AI tool (when scanned with AI tools)

We’re clearly on the back side of the AI hype cycle, rapidly sliding down that heady peak in the chart into a trough of despair (for a bit, anyway). That’s good. Because I just learned about another problem: AI tools cannot accurately detect AI-generated writing. (Which is funny, because I can.)

I was tipped off by this Bluesky exchange:

Thank God I’m not in college anymore. I’d get flagged as AI all day long. Meanwhile, Dr. Williams also posted this exchange, explaining the problem a bit more:

Bottom Line: AI tools have zero intelligence. They just have math. The LLM-based tools are good at statistically estimating which words likely come next in a sentence from macro- and meso-language indicators based on an ingestion of a huge corpus of text. But the source text matters tremendously, both for producing new statistically-likely passages and for detecting passages that may be statistically-generated by other LLMs.

And may the AI gods help you if you’re creating content for U.S. and English-speaking European consumers but you aren’t originally from this part of the world, as noted in this WIRED piece: “AI models were mostly trained on data from and for Western markets, and therefore can’t really recognize anything that falls outside of those parameters.”

I remain hopeful that there will be tightly-targeted uses for generative AI in a few areas. But I’m glad to see NVIDIA’s stock start to fall back to Earth and articles like these start to get recognition. The breathless “age of AI” will really just be some nice innovations around the edges, not a total re-think of technology.

[2] Miscellanea

• I was surprised to see the likes of Bloomberg take on the biggest player in local government software this week, in a piece titled: How Local Governments Got Hooked on One Company’s Janky Software. Bloomberg released this blockbuster report on September 5, pointing to lots of Tyler Technologies problems, like a checkered history of failed deployments, technical screw-ups (some of which put thousands of people in jail without justification), and lots of related lawsuits. I had no idea local government software woes could get national attention.
  • I have a lot of thoughts about this Bloomberg piece because Franklin County just killed a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract with Tyler this summer.
  • I’m debating whether to share those thoughts publicly. But don’t get too excited—my comments are about software strategy, not the specifics of our experience with Tyler.
• As noted previously, we are hiring an Application Developer for our GX Development team. And in less than one week we completed 17 screening calls—a record. I was in some of the calls, but it was Eric Nutt that hit this high-water mark. Really remarkable achievement. We’re moving fast due to the weird process we use for hiring. We need a finalist by 9/27 or we can’t hire until December.
• Listened to a great podcast episode this week—Coaching for Leaders: The Habits That Hold Leaders Back, with Marshall Goldsmith. Goldsmith is the guy that wrote the bestseller What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful and he has plenty of good advice.
• Due to an unattended package found outside the courts building on Thursday morning (which was perceived as a potential threat) most employees were remote on Thursday, so we held our 5th Hack Your Bureaucracy book club via Teams and it was okay. Got to use the Breakout Rooms feature for the first time. Still prefer in-person, though.
• Joined the Digital Service Network‘s Chief Digital Service Officer call on Thursday afternoon and learned the State of Maryland is running into the same problems we are with website consolidation, rationalization, and long-term ownership. It’s good to know we’re not alone, and neither are they! Government across the country are dealing with this past proliferation and trying to bring it back together to build better services for residents.
• And Thursday night I made a final trip to see the Columbus Clippers with some colleagues from the office. Summer is truly at an end.
• Quickbase posted videos from their national Empower24 conference to YouTube this week, including the presentation that included yours truly, Eric Nutt, and Luke McCormac talking about our Unclaimed Funds software project. You can see it below:

https://youtu.be/oSae3eGtKBY

[3] Watch This

I hope Paramount keeps this on YouTube! Starring Archer’s H. Jon Benjamin it’s an exploration of what happens when Starfleet doesn’t do a great job hiring scientists. Anyone who’s been in a staff management role will cringe, and laugh, at this scenario. Stay tuned to the end for the hilarious Tribbles cereal commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDLgf2em68

[4] Internet Funnies

https://digitalpolity.com/2024/09/09/2024-weeknote-36-here-at-the-end-of-summer-ai-cant-see-ai/

#AI #baseball #Beeck #Bloomberg #bookClub #ColumbusClippers #court #courts #DigitalServiceNetwork #DSN #HackYourBureaucracy #Hiring #InternetFunnies #Leadership #LLM #Maryland #NVIDIA #podcast #quickbase #software #StarTrek #strategy #tribbles #Tyler #TylerTech #TylerTechnologies

It’s nearly the end of the season and I haven’t been to any minor league games this season! Time to fix that.

Next week, my plan is to hit each of the Ohio based Cleveland Guardians teams. This is something I’ve usually done in June or July, but scheduling didn’t work out for this season. Fortunately, teams like the Lake County Captains and the Akron RubberDucks are making the playoffs, so their seasons are extending, giving me the chance to get to each of the teams in just a week’s time at the end of their respective seasons.

The schedule:

• Sunday, September 8 – Columbus Clippers vs. Durham Bulls
• Wednesday, September 11 – Akron RubberDucks vs. Hartford Yard Goats
• Thursday, September 12 – Lake County Captains Division Series Game 2 (opponent TBD)
• Sunday, September 15 – Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays

I’ll be doing a new format for my baseball tours starting next season, plus I’ll do a better job of planning what games I’ll go to, but that’s for 2025. I’m looking forward to enjoying some great baseball in September.

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/09/02/2024-baseball-tour/

#2024BaseballTour #AkronRubberDucks #Baseball #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DurhamBulls #HartfordYardGoats #Kevin #LakeCountyCaptains #TampaBayRays

It’s nearly the end of the season and I haven’t been to any minor league games this season! Time to fix that.

Next week, my plan is to hit each of the Ohio based Cleveland Guardians teams. This is something I’ve usually done in June or July, but scheduling didn’t work out for this season. Fortunately, teams like the Lake County Captains and the Akron RubberDucks are making the playoffs, so their seasons are extending, giving me the chance to get to each of the teams in just a week’s time at the end of their respective seasons.

The schedule:

• Sunday, September 8 – Columbus Clippers vs. Durham Bulls
• Wednesday, September 11 – Akron RubberDucks vs. Hartford Yard Goats
• Thursday, September 12 – Lake County Captains Division Series Game 2 (opponent TBD)
• Sunday, September 15 – Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays

I’ll be doing a new format for my baseball tours starting next season, plus I’ll do a better job of planning what games I’ll go to, but that’s for 2025. I’m looking forward to enjoying some great baseball in September.

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/09/02/2024-baseball-tour/

#2024BaseballTour #AkronRubberDucks #Baseball #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DurhamBulls #HartfordYardGoats #Kevin #LakeCountyCaptains #TampaBayRays

It’s nearly the end of the season and I haven’t been to any minor league games this season! Time to fix that.

Next week, my plan is to hit each of the Ohio based Cleveland Guardians teams. This is something I’ve usually done in June or July, but scheduling didn’t work out for this season. Fortunately, teams like the Lake County Captains and the Akron RubberDucks are making the playoffs, so their seasons are extending, giving me the chance to get to each of the teams in just a week’s time at the end of their respective seasons.

The schedule:

• Sunday, September 8 – Columbus Clippers vs. Durham Bulls
• Wednesday, September 11 – Akron RubberDucks vs. Hartford Yard Goats
• Thursday, September 12 – Lake County Captains Division Series Game 2 (opponent TBD)
• Sunday, September 15 – Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays

I’ll be doing a new format for my baseball tours starting next season, plus I’ll do a better job of planning what games I’ll go to, but that’s for 2025. I’m looking forward to enjoying some great baseball in September.

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/09/02/2024-baseball-tour/

#2024BaseballTour #AkronRubberDucks #Baseball #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DurhamBulls #HartfordYardGoats #Kevin #LakeCountyCaptains #TampaBayRays

It’s nearly the end of the season and I haven’t been to any minor league games this season! Time to fix that.

Next week, my plan is to hit each of the Ohio based Cleveland Guardians teams. This is something I’ve usually done in June or July, but scheduling didn’t work out for this season. Fortunately, teams like the Lake County Captains and the Akron RubberDucks are making the playoffs, so their seasons are extending, giving me the chance to get to each of the teams in just a week’s time at the end of their respective seasons.

The schedule:

• Sunday, September 8 – Columbus Clippers vs. Durham Bulls
• Wednesday, September 11 – Akron RubberDucks vs. Hartford Yard Goats
• Thursday, September 12 – Lake County Captains Division Series Game 2 (opponent TBD)
• Sunday, September 15 – Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays

I’ll be doing a new format for my baseball tours starting next season, plus I’ll do a better job of planning what games I’ll go to, but that’s for 2025. I’m looking forward to enjoying some great baseball in September.

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/09/02/2024-baseball-tour/

#2024BaseballTour #AkronRubberDucks #Baseball #ClevelandGuardians #ColumbusClippers #DurhamBulls #HartfordYardGoats #Kevin #LakeCountyCaptains #TampaBayRays

June 10 – 16

These are my “weeknotes” to capture events, thoughts, and other items from the past week, mostly focused on work, but with some personal stuff thrown in.

What a week. It was 5 days in the office with lots of meetings to keep lots of things moving forward, including whole teams, big projects, and so on. Very little time for personal stuff this week.

Rebooting a culture

In May 2024 I took on a new team, in parallel to the GX Foundry group. It’s a team that pre-dates my arrival in my role and a team that has struggled to consistently get great work done. There are a lot of reasons for this, all of which have nothing to do with the people on the team and everything to do with past poor management (that’s now gone). It’s now my job to lead the team through a “reboot” of both culture and processes. And culture comes first.

On Friday I presented my own perspectives on the past and asked the team to help me think about how we’re going to build the future—which will be radically different from that past. Everything is up for discussion, debate, and re-consideration. This is a team that’s had 133% turnover in the last 3 years. They’ve had 5 major leadership changes in the last 15 months (including reporting up through me last month). Any team that goes through all that is going to struggle in one way or another. And those are just 2 of the stats holding them back. We’ve got work to do.

To kickstart the reboot, I got help from the amazing Sarah, who facilitated an “expectations exercise” that began to pull from the team what we’re all going to expect from one another, in terms of behaviors and attitudes. It was my first time through the exercise, expertly facilitated by Sarah. (And we’re gonna do it again with another team next week.)

The result is a (draft) collection of expectations that (1) Leaders have of the Team, (2) the Team has of Leaders, and (3) we all have of one another in general. You can see the draft above (click for a larger image).

This is all subject to future revision, of course, as the team matures and we figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what’s missing. But this feels like a great start. Now we just have to live up to these expectations, values, and beliefs. I’m excited to see where we take this!

You can be undermined with or without intent

This week revealed some of our efforts were being undermined by forces beyond our organization, out in the broader government environment.

When there’s a person behind the undermining, making it happen, it’s easy to get mad at that person. But when there’s just cross-cutting priorities that conflict—without anyone’s intention—you can’t get mad, but it’s still frustrating.

In the first case this week we learned a former employee in one of our partner agencies was actively undermining our major new countywide project. We’re trying to switch public-facing websites and digital services from government-centric content to citizen-centric and service-focused. A laudable goal we thought everyone would support. But this person was mad it wasn’t happening in his department—despite (a) never having proposed anything even remotely similar, and (b) sitting in an agency that is not a neutral player in our broader government, and therefore cannot effectively host this kind of project.

It wasn’t really a surprise this person had done this—he was a known irritant on past projects as well. What was surprising was the extent of his success in deceiving powerful people in the upper echelons of our county. (Proximity to power is a power of its own.) He was communicating directly with certain leaders, and we were communicating indirectly. We assumed positive intent. He did not.

At least he’s gone now. Starting next week we must establish direct communication lines with the affected leaders to both give them the facts and ask for their support. Then we’ll have to keep those communication lines open.

In the other example, we have apparently bumped up against the aspirations of someone we’ve been working with for a while. But their personal aspirations and our team aspirations appear to conflict in ways we didn’t anticipate. It’s created some friction and we have to figure out a way for everyone to win. This is a problem I would much rather solve because there are usually ways for everyone to “win” either together or in parallel. The conflict still hurts, but it feels like we can make something good out of this.

Naturally, I’m being coy by not naming names or describing the situation clearly, as I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or create more conflict. My point? I’ve had to acknowledge some conflicts in the world are created by intentional negative action, but others are emergent properties of people working in close proximity. It’s important to know the difference and deal with them differently.

Another realization? The cacophony of modern work makes fully communicating intentions, goals, and actions really, really hard. Even if everyone wants to align it’s hard to establish and sustain the alignment. When you’re “done” communicating, you’re not.

Take me out to the ballgame

This was fun. 😎 Lucinda put together an outing to the Columbus Clippers this week, and several folks from the office took part. I did a lot of these games last year (and need to do more this year) because Huntington Park is an awesome venue and a baseball game is a great place for some casual socializing with workmates. Thanks Lucinda! And thanks also to Brian, Michael, Eric, Nora, and Tony for coming out to make it fun.

Miscellanea

• The Recognition Program I started earlier this year (with mission patches in the form of stickers) was paused a little while some other stuff got done, but it’s coming back. We’ll have stickers galore coming our way soon, with distribution to folks across the organization in July. Really looking forward to that!
• We’re hiring for a Project Manager role, and that always keeps me super-busy with calls, interviews, and discussions as we hash out exactly what our priorities are with each hire. I try to use every hiring event as a chance to diversify skill sets across the target team. It’s hard to do that with a 30-minute call and maybe 2-3 hours of interview time.
• We were making some high-level design decisions this week about the next wave of website overhaul work, slated to go live in early 2025. There’s definitely some disappointment out there that we’re building a kinda “generic” site. But when your focus is public service, “generic” is a plus — you don’t want people to have to learn how to use your unique cutting-edge website. We actually want them to find our services, not be dazzled by graphic design. We gotta remember our True North here.

Internet funnies

A roundup of stuff that made me chuckle this week, mostly from Bluesky.

https://digitalpolity.com/2024/06/16/2024-weeknote-24-reboot-restart-repeat/

#baseball #ColumbusClippers #communication #conflict #culture #expectations #funnies #HuntingtonPark #Leadership #reboot #weeknote

This was HenningOnSports' lovely view at the #ColumbusClippers' 2023 Opening Day. They were bested by the #CharlotteKnights, who are currently 2 games behind Columbus.

Who are back home on Tuesday, to start a week stand against the Bats, before going back on the road for 2 weeks.

https://aviewfrommyseat.com/photo/210148/Huntington+Park/section-29/row-17/seat-1/

Beautiful night for Baseball. #columbusclippers