debkr – Page 5

Reflections: Intro Tutorials

05/11/2016 By debkr

MY REFLECTIONS FROM INTRO TUTORIALS (SAT 5 NOV):

When asked to mark on screen how I was feeling abt TU812 (on a linear scale of happy-face to sad-face) I wanted to put mark nearer to sad face bcs I feel daunted by TU812 & undertaking this study. So many other marks were being made on screen by fellow students closer towards the happy face or that side of the middle-marker. So I didn’t even feel strong enough to mark the screen honestly abt what I was feeling (I ended up putting my mark just to the sad-face side of the middle-marker). Why did I do that? Afraid even of putting an anonymous mark on a screen. [Read more…] about Reflections: Intro Tutorials

Aims and Learning Outcomes

31/10/2016 By debkr

This post reviews the purpose, aims and learning outcomes of the OU module TU812 Managing Systemic Change: inquiry, action and interaction (OU, 2010) to act as an ongoing reference point for me during my studies.

Key themes of the module:

Change, what it is and how to manage it in an inter-connected world.

Managing change is meant, in terms of this module, as having a positive bearing on change, in both its nature and direction. [Read more…] about Aims and Learning Outcomes

Format of Citations

29/10/2016 By debkr

I am suitably informed regarding citations – Open University prefers the Open University (OU) Harvard style (link to OU citation guide here).

Briefly, the format is as follows:

Author, A. A. and Other-Author, B. B. (Date) ‘Title of item’, Title of Overall Work [Item type/information], Publisher information/location from which accessed.

For this module, we are encouraged to use the same format as appears in the module study guide, and to maintain consistency throughout. Referenced in-text: (Author, YYYY). Referenced at end (‘References’):

Author, A. N. & Other-Author, A. N. (YYYY) Title of Overall Work, Location, Publisher.

A useful primer on referencing can be found here (OU library resource).

Defining a multi-disciplinary field

29/10/2016 By debkr

One of my fellow students on the Managing Systemic Change module I’ve just started studying recommended mendeley.com as a great free resource (provided by the academic publisher Elsevier) for bookmarking, annotating, organising and quickly/easily citing from academic papers in your area of study or research. It looks like a great tool so I decided to sign up and start using it. [Read more…]

Meta-morphosis

28/10/2016 By debkr

I never really wrote much about my explosive ‘career-reset’ moment of late last year. On one level it was brought about by the equally-explosive changes taking place at the company where I worked, and an increasing realisation that I was neither value-aligned nor in agreement with their strategic direction. (There were other reasons too which I can’t go into in a public forum at this time.) But it was just as much caused by the slow simmer of change that’s been brewing in my personal life – no, let’s say “in my true self” – for a good few years now. [Read more…]

Welcome

24/10/2016 By debkr

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am a CIMA-qualified chartered management accountant, systems consultant and project lead for finance, business and ecommerce systems. My CV is rich with twenty years’ financial management experience across a wide variety of business sectors and sizes, most recently as Head of Finance / Financial Controller within international publishing.

In 2016 I decided to take a step back from a traditional employee-based role to allow me to widen my interests and pursue a portfolio of personal, professional and academic projects. I am a firm believer in intentionally prioritising meaning and value – both in life and in business – rather than blindly following others’ expectations and doing this ‘the way things are meant to be done’. So I moved over to part-time, portfolio and consulting roles, which freed up time to explore new avenues and grapple with bigger, more meaningful problems than the ones we usually get to handle in corporate business settings.

These days I’m busy architecting a new kind of autonomous career, one that’s led by values and measured as much in positive human benefit as it is in $’s and £’s.

Continuous learning, collaboration and technological innovation are guiding ideas for me in this next phase of my career. As we head deeper into the creative economy I believe these foci will be prime factors in our success (or failure). As the problems we face grow ever-larger and more complex, and the changes come ever more rapidly, we need to develop new ways of responding to uncertainty, and the risks and opportunities it brings. (And be able to grasp and leverage the new technologies which will allow us, our businesses and our economies to thrive and grow in the coming decades.)

This blog is my platform to reflect upon my learnings along the way. Expect it to be free-form and wide-ranging across systems, technology and professional interests, all with a strong slant towards autonomous careers, and 21st century technology, business and leadership.

My main study and research interest at the moment are centred on:

• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Natural language processing
• Intelligent agents
• Programming languages (Python, R, SQL)
• Data science/analytics
• Digital and autonomous business systems

If any of these projects or ideas sound interesting, do please connect. I look forward to seeing how we can collaborate and create mutual value.

And if you need a helping hand and a wisely prudent eye cast over your business finances, I can help with that too. You can contact me here or via my consultancy website: Autonomy Finance.