Episode 16 - Return to the Town Hall
Transcript
Kirsty McIntosh 0:01
Hello, welcome to the Scottish Tech Army Podcast. I'm Kirsty McIntosh. And this is Episode 16. My co host today is Alistair Forbes. Good afternoon, Alistair. How are you,
Alistair Forbes 0:13
Yeah, very well. Thank you. Nice to be on the other side of the virtual desk this time around.
Kirsty McIntosh 0:18
Yes. It's nice to have you on board Alistair. I'm very pleased to welcome today, Stacy Munro, Brian Baglow and Jean Ferguson, three Scottish Tech Army volunteers who were all at our Town Hall last week whilst Alistair was announcing the future of the Scottish Tech Army. Welcome to the cabin, folks.
Unknown Speaker 0:36
Good afternoon. Thank you for having us.
Kirsty McIntosh 0:39
Alistair, for the benefit of other listeners, tell us a little bit about what you told us on on Thursday evening.
Alistair Forbes 0:47
Thanks, Kirsty. The session we held on Thursday was to explain to people that having spent six months developing the Tech Army with a large number of volunteers who have delivered some great projects for different organisations around Scotland, we see very clear evidence of longer term demand for the sort of stuff that we've been doing. When we first set the Tech Army up, back in April, we didn't have any fixed view in mind of how long would be needed or how long we would continue to operate. And it's therefore come as a product of our experience to date that we've seen that there is a contribution that we can play longer term as the Scottish Tech Army and there will be a number of strands to that. One of which is around helping to provide digital solutions to the third sector. And we're also going to be continue to be active in working with people who are in the early stages of their careers in the tech industry, with their skills and career development, specifically around giving them the opportunity to gain some experience around that. So we're therefore at the point where we're transitioning from being effectively a project into being an organisation that will be around for the longer term. And our aspiration is very much to become a hub for a lot of tech for good activity in Scotland, helping to mobilise the members of the tech community in Scotland, put their talents to work and give them the opportunity to be part of the community and to be active in delivering some public good through the very many organisations that we work with. So that was the thrust of the session that was held on Thursday, it was great to finally be able to unveil that after quite a lot of thinking and planning that's been going on leading up to that, and to give people the opportunity to ask some questions and give us some of their thoughts on the Tech Army today.
Kirsty McIntosh 2:39
Yeah, it was absolutely amazing. It was so exciting to be there and watching volunteer after volunteer after volunteer just sort of turn up in the waiting room and join in and I ran out of screen space on my computer, certainly, I'm sure you probably did the same. I think you did a sort of 50 inch television to show everybody all in one go so it was it was really fantastic and it was great to see so many people - actually volunteers I haven't had a chance to catch up with for a few months as well. Stacy, you were one of those volunteers who turned up. We haven't seen you for a wee while in the Tech Army and it's great to have you back. How did you find it?
Stacy Munro 3:15
Yeah, I thought it was great. So yeah, I started with the STA back in, I think it was April or May time and I joined up and I'm now in the reserves after sort of getting back to work. But it was just great to come back after a couple of months of not being heavily involved and just see the volume of people there and just again, the positivity that was there. And everyone just seems to be not only doing great stuff, but having a great time. So it's really good.
Kirsty McIntosh 3:39
Yeah, it was great. The the chat box on there on the side of the Zoom call was going sort of berserk literally from the minute people were arriving, saying hello, and lots of waving on screen and things like that, it was cool. Brian, what about yourself? What was your impression of Thursday night?
Brian Baglow 3:55
It has been, it's been fantastic. I've I joined up when I heard about Scottish Tech Army. And then the following week, I got a big research grant to go and actually do some mapping of the video games industry here in Scotland. So I've been an enthusiastic supporter from the sidelines rather than getting my hands dirty, but I've been rebroadcasting and sharing and amplifying, because I think it's an incredibly important organisation. You know, I spent a year working at Codeclan, and they had a whole project to try and give their students that the kind of industry experience that the Tech Army is talking about now. So I know how valuable this can be in helping people moving into tech to find that experience and to get some real world help as they as they sort of move into their new roles. So it was fabulous. I was so delighted to see that many people congregating and all of the sort of really positive vibes. And best wishes coming from everybody. So it was a really good, really strong, really positive evening.
Alistair Forbes 5:04
If I could just pick up on one particular point there, Brian, you mentioned Codeclan. One of the things that is very much part of our agenda is to work with as many partners as we can who are active in this space. And Codeclan is very much an example of that. We've had a lot of Codeclan graduates who have signed up as volunteers, and who have worked on various projects, both externally and within the STA. So we've got some really good conversations going on with the Codeclan team about how we develop that partnership. So that's a very important part of it as well.
Brian Baglow 5:32
Yeah, that's fantastic. Because it you know, everybody in Scotland, raves about our talent, raves about our talent pipelines to the degree graduates that we have coming out of universities. But those graduates themselves tend to be quite maybe not intimidated, but certainly have a few problems in terms of just accessing you know, industry and having that kind of experience when the image onto the jobs market. So, yeah, I think that's fabulously valuable.
Kirsty McIntosh 6:01
Jean, you seem to have been around for as long as I have for the Tech Army. What were your impressions for Thursday?
Jean Ferguson 6:08
Yes, the benefits of late night, Twitter, just before I go to bed, is that I got to be the last person to join the Tech Army on day one. Very exciting. And then, yeah, it's just been amazing. I have loved every minute of what I do here. So my my passion is continuous improvement and encouraging, developing that capability and everyone else. The Tech Army has just been a big improvement from day one. And Alistair's comment early on that we were building the plane while we were flying it, that means there was a huge opportunity to go around and keep tweaking and improving as we go, once we stick wings and wings on here and there, then we want to the one, that one, that one doesn't work quite well, there's quite there as well as we thought, let's move it over. Another thing which I adore about the Tech Army is that we were all aligned to a common purpose and that's very much about everything. I've been teaching for years about continuous improvement that you can only continuously improve if you all know where you're going and what you're trying to get to. And we had that so clearly from the beginning. And it's wonderful now that we have it again in a slightly different format. Because now, we're in this sustained long term future. But we've got it again, we know what we're trying to achieve. And it just makes it so easy for everyone to get behind it.
Kirsty McIntosh 7:34
Absolutely. And Stacy, you're an entrepreneur, so you're currently building your own plane at 40,000 feet in the air. Do you think your experience with Tech Army has helped you with that?
Stacy Munro 7:46
You know what it really has, but in almost all the ways that I expected it, because I think when I first joined up, I thought I'll get access to you know, industry experts, and I'll pick them brains, and I absolutely had that. But actually what I've got most from it is that mentality of "just do it". And you know, everyone that's that signed up as part of the Tech Army, we were given what was great, it's just the autonomy to work, how we wanted to work as long as we got the job done. And so and that's something that myself and my co founder have just embraced as well and just thought, right, we might not know exactly how to do it, or the right way to do it first time. But let's just do something because then we've started and then we can learn from it and move on. But then also for me, it's been the I don't know what the right words are, but like the positivity of the people that you speak with on a daily basis, and sometimes from the STA because it just gives you a buzz and it gives you that drive to then get off the phone and get yourself back into your other world or whatever zone that you're in. And so I think the motivation that certainly I got from the STA and was hugely positive and helping me to start down my own journey of launching my own business. So yeah, you've got access to experts, but more than that, you've got access to a mentality that I think is unrivalled. And I've not experienced anywhere else, and it's been brilliant.
Kirsty McIntosh 9:12
That's a fantastic way of putting it, isn't it, Alastair? I love that. That's really good.
Alistair Forbes 9:18
Yeah, it definitely is. And from the outset, it's really interesting, a point you were picking up on, Jean about people get behind a sense of purpose and mission around what they're doing. And when Pete Jaco and I were having the very first conversations ahead of launching the Tech Army, and you know, we you're never quite sure when you launch something new, as you know, every entrepreneur is as familiar with what the responses are going to be. And so to get the reaction we did from people at the outset was absolutely fantastic and, you know, Peter and I both come from the world of, you know, early stage startups scale up type businesses, but we never actually seen anything that's grown at the rate this has, and that brings its own challenges because, you know, it does mean that there's a kind of whirlwind of activity. And you know, and that's by and large, a very positive thing. And one of my favourite quotes is from the from former Formula One racing champion, Mario Andretti. One of the many interesting quotes he made was that "if it feels like everything's under control, you're just not going fast enough". And it definitely felt like that, you know, so kind of drift a bit wide on the corners sometimes. But as long as we stay out of the ditch, we're okay.
Kirsty McIntosh 10:36
That's absolutely fantastic, I haven't heard that before. That's brilliant. Brian, one of the things that you said on Thursday night in the chat was that you felt that the games industry had a fair bit to offer, in terms of engaging with the Tech Army. Could you expand a bit further on that, please?
Brian Baglow 10:54
Yes, absolutely. I haven't seen any of the projects that Scottish Tech Army have undertaken and featuring car theft or explosions.
Kirsty McIntosh 11:01
So sorry about that.
Brian Baglow 11:04
Not being serious. No. I, as I said, I've been running the Scottish Games Network for the last sort of 16 years, looking after all the companies involved in video games, and gaming is no longer just about consoles, Xboxes PlayStations and, you know, the sort of experiences people tend to think of when you think video games. More and more of the digital world is looking for, you know, really high levels of engagement. And the video games sector has a huge amount of experience when it comes to that kind of thing. There's a word which everybody hates, but it's gamification, which is essentially making things a little more playful, and making things a little more rewarding. Applying the tools and technologies and techniques from the world of video games, to non gaming contexts. So rather than just building a banking app, which is purely functional, why don't you design in the joy? Why don't you build something that people enjoy using or that makes them happy? And this is a whole new notion, this, this term that we're using now is Applied Gaming. And we've got so many companies out there who are doing incredibly clever things. In we've got one company in Dundee who have just worked with the big High Street bank, on a game about financial education, and they thought they may get a few tens of thousands of downloads, it's roared past 2 million downloads, and it's still going. And despite being in the eight year olds, it's got a huge audience of people on YouTube, playing it and loving it and figuring out, "I never knew that's how tax worked". So, you know, games has gone beyond the space marines and the explosions and the Grand Theft Autos into entirely new areas. But it can be a little insular, and helping the rest of the Tech Army and the rest of the tech sector tap into that is something that I'm really keen to do, because I do think we can actually help so many of the organisations out there who are looking for engagement with users, and can learn quite a lot from what's been done with the games market.
Jean Ferguson 13:06
Brian, that's wonderful. I love "design in the joy". I think that's fantastic. And one of the things I've been doing at the Tech Army that I've been really happy with is helping to create and curate a series of roundtables, which is, we bring in experts from any experience who just wants to share, I knew a bit more than you and I want to share it with you.
Alistair Forbes 13:31
Brian I think you just volunteered for something.
Jean Ferguson 13:33
Come and talk about gamification and show off your model. That's, that's next in my line for the round table.
Brian Baglow 13:39
I would be absolutely delighted, Jean, consider it done.
Jean Ferguson 13:42
Brilliant. Thank you very much.
Kirsty McIntosh 13:45
Yeah, I think that's quite interesting, actually, gamification for third sector education as well might be something worth exploring. So we've got a whole new stream opened up there. write that one down on your list of things. And I'm just scrolling down here through sort of some of the comments that were being made on Thursday evening and it really is, it's just, it's just amazing that people sort of saying, you know, the team's amazing, I love being here. Pete Jaco actually said on Thursday, we're now at 1199 Tech Army volunteers, do we know anyone who'd like to be 1200 I don't know who that person was. But we'll probably need to send a box of chocolates or something. And, but there's a comment here, which I love is from Becky Still and she says I'm forever grateful for all the help with the skills development I've received and then somebody went "me too", and then somebody went "and that really helped me too" and then somebody went "me four!" and I think that was just one of the nicest things watching that scrolling up on my on my screen on Thursday night. The development of the volunteers is absolutely crucial to the future of Scottish Tech Army. And I just think it's, it's just so exciting that you have you know, people that are enthusiastic and willing to, to throw themselves in, as Stacy said, sort of just chuck yourself in and try something new,
Alistair Forbes 15:01
Very much so , Kirsty and that that real expression of enthusiasm before was such joy for all of us. You know, I think, as you said earlier, there a lots of people who have been involved at different stages over the six months that we've been around, and to have that group of people who've been very active are now in the reserves, as Stacy mentioned, coming back in and being able to reconnect with each other has been really great for everybody. I think one of the things that came up on the discussion on Thursday as well, though, was that we've heard lots of really positive comments about people's involvement in the Tech Army, how the fact that they were involved, given the opportunity to engage with a whole new community of people, it helped provide some purpose and meaning in the early days of lockdown, particularly when people were very unsure what was going to happen and was able to help combat some of the isolation issues that people were undoubtedly feeling. And, and that has been very much a hallmark of this but I think one of the things that we talked about on Thursday, as well was the fact that we mustn't be blind to the fact that people are still in very challenging situations. And we see more restrictions being imposed, again, obviously, you know, lockdown in England, just having been reintroduced pretty much, and certainly Scotland have been living under restrictions for a while now and, you know, that could extend. So I think it kind of reinforces the need for us all to, to look out for each other, and to maintain those connections within the Tech Army. So one of the things that I certainly took away from the session we had on Thursday was the fact that that was a really joyous experience for everybody. I think people got a real boost from being able to engage with each other and just kind of share those experiences is definitely something that we need to be very mindful of going forwards is that we provide plenty of opportunities for that. Because when people are working on individual projects, they're working with people who are in that same project team, but it's a much, much bigger community that we need to try and provide the opportunity for people to continue to engage with each other. Because we've got, you know, a long winter ahead of us, and it is going to be challenging for lots of us. And so that's something that, you know, we've taken away from the call on Thursday was that, we need to make sure that we continue to create the opportunities for people to have those great experiences within the Tech Army. And we're seeing a steady stream of new volunteers continuing to sign up. So you were averaging 40 to 50, new volunteers signing up a week still, you know, which you wouldn't necessarily have predicted. But we need to be very mindful of the fact that, you know, people who weren't there in the early days wouldn't necessarily have built that network within the community yet. So something we all need to be really active on. So you know, anybody who's listening to the podcast, who is in the community, we really welcome as much support from people as possible in terms of making sure that happens.
Kirsty McIntosh 18:01
Well, we certainly got plenty of offers on Thursday night for some social stuff kind of going on here. I've got playing the piano, cooking, somebody was talking about 3D printing bread. Can anybody remember that conversation? I think it started off as 3D printing, and somebody else came in saying some breadmaking and ended up as
Alistair Forbes 18:16
I think it was Izzie, wasn't it, talking about 3D printing and breadmaking were two of her hobbies. And somebody said, What together? So yeah, maybe it was a really, really thin slices, you know,
Kirsty McIntosh 18:29
We had everything in here, sort of photography, and all sorts of stuff like that, it was um, you know, there's obviously a real desire for people to, to keep communicating with one another. And I would echo what you said, it's that if you have ideas about how you can engage with each other more, then then we're all ears, and we'd love to hear them. And then we've got our own band, for goodness sake, the White Striped Donuts, you know, so if we can do music, I'm sure we can do bread making and a whole host of other things in between.
Alistair Forbes 18:56
We have we have now constituted a social committee. So we've got a few volunteers who have stepped forward say they'd like to organise some of these social events. So definitely a matter of taking that good idea and running with it.
Kirsty McIntosh 19:08
Just looking again, through some of these, I'm just trying to make sure that we pick up sort of some of the questions that were actually being that were being asked on the evening as well nd I think you answered most of them at the time. There was somebody here that asked a question about getting a reference if they'd been a volunteer for the Scottish Tech Army, and could they could they put that on their CV and things like that? And the answer to that, of course, is yes. But we maybe need to think about how best to do that.
Alistair Forbes 19:36
Yes, absolutely. We've had a number of reference requests that come through, have come through from, you know, employment agencies when people have been successful in securing your roles, which has been fantastic to see. So, you know, to whatever extent we can, we're happy to do that. You know, just to confirm and affirm that people have been volunteering in the Scottish Tech Army. They have been active in the community. it because I think it speaks well to their motivation as well. And employers like to see that sort of thing that people are getting involved and they're being active in a time that it was actually quite difficult to do that. So I think you know, that that just shows good initiative. And, you know, lots of people have made such a fantastic contribution that we absolutely really want to help recognise that and celebrate it with them.
Kirsty McIntosh 20:22
Yeah, I think that's it's very worth kind of reiterating that as well as the, it's not just that they gave their time and their expertise is that actually at the other end of that we really have, we've been helping an awful lot of organisations and those organisations are helping people who really need them. So there's great continuity there that you don't just turn up for yourself at the Tech Army, it has never really been about that. It's about it's always been about, you know, sort of helping those organisations, which is, which is fab. Stacy, what's your plans? How's your how's your startup going?
Stacy Munro 20:53
Oh, good. Yeah. So I am so day job at the NHS where I work in innovation at NHS Forth Valley, which is fantastic. And then yes, we've launched an app which went live, beginning of September. So now it's just all systems go and getting the awareness of the brand and the visibility out there looking at further integrations with booking platforms and things as well. So yes, busy, but it's really good.
Kirsty McIntosh 21:18
Yeah, that's fantastic. Congratulations. I'm very impressed with your bravery to step out and get on and do it. That's absolutely fantastic. Jean, what about you? What's your plans for the for the short to medium term? Do we still have you?
Jean Ferguson 21:33
Oh, yes, I think so. I'm really enthusiastic about the STA buddies and helping to make that work well. So that's when someone who doesn't quite have experience yet, like the CodeClanners, whatever that is talking about, and gets to buddy someone with a bit more experience on a project and learn from them and I'd like to continue to be involved in making that a success that is has been so far. Personally I still do some continuous improvement work also within third sector, that's my focus is just to do good in Scotland at the moment. But I'm a passionate Granny too. And that's taking up some of my time. It's just being a childcare granny.
Alistair Forbes 22:21
It's fantastic. I do think actually, that the mentoring programme, or the bodying system that we're that we're setting up for the Tech Army is really worth dwelling on for a moment, Alistair, because I think it's quite difficult when you've got volunteers now who are back in the workplace, feeling that they're not able to continue to contribute to the Tech Army. And actually bringing that experience to bear for the benefit of those with less experience is a real opportunity for them to continue that contribution, isn't it?
It very much is. It's certainly one of the key themes for us going forwards. You know, we've seen some tremendous experiences that people have recounted of having worked on a project and been able to get some input from people who have that experience already and are required to share it. And again, that's been a hallmark of people who have signed up as volunteers, they really want to share that experience. They want to help others who earlier in their careers. So that's a very much a key thread for us going forwards. I think it's been really interesting as well, just to observe over the six months, you know, that as things start to change, we need to change and evolve in response to that. And so making sure that, you know, as Jean says, we're giving people the right kind of support the right kind of opportunities, is really important. And so, you know, making it as clear and as obvious to people the different ways they can participate. You know, enabling them to do that is something that is going to be critical to our success going forwards. And obviously very critical to the experience they have as part of the Scottish Tech Army.
Kirsty McIntosh 23:59
Yeah, definitely. And actually, we are shortly going to be doing a bit of a showcase on the projects that we're going to be working on in the short to medium term. So if you're if you're interested in getting involved in some of those and helping those with a little bit less experience see those projects through then then, you know, head on over to our Slack channels, we really want to hear from you. Brian, you said that you've been standing on the sidelines watching from the outside in. What's your what's your hopes for us for the future?
Brian Baglow 24:25
Well, I believe that in the very near future, there's a round table I'm gonna have to take part in. But I'm delighted to do that. So yeah, I, as I say, I joined up with the Tech Army when it when it started, and then secured a research grant. So at the moment, what I'm doing is I'm mapping the games industry, because as bizarre as it may sound, we've got no idea who's out there or what it is they do. And for the sort of sub-tech sector that's so evolving so rapidly, it's kind of still insular. Everyone knows about the Rockstar North and 4g Studios in the Minecraft, the Grand Theft Autos. But what else is out there? So I have kind of got my hands full, just looking at that, because it's one of those, it wasn't just opening a can of worms it was opening what you thought was a can of worms, then it turns out to be a skip full of worms, and very angry worms indeed. So that's kind of grown a lot of different things. But trying to sort of take this whole sector and plug it more effectively, into not just the wider software world but the rest of the creative industries as well. Because, you know, to touch back on applied gaming, it can be a transformative technology, rather than sort of a stand alone content type. So I alongside the research, I'm currently lobbying the Scottish Government public sector to support the creation of a video games cluster because I truly believe that we can not only work with the STA, but with the educational side of things with healthcare, you know, even with FinTech, we've got so many different opportunities to sort of plug in. But unless we have that outward facing, you know, ability to communicate and plug into fantastic organisations like the STA, then we run the risk of, you know, not being involved. So, that's kind of what I'm up to. And that's what I'm hoping to do. The more I say it the more insane it sounds so guys I'm doing for maybe I should just get a nice real job. That would be nice.
Kirsty McIntosh 26:28
Yeah, come and volunteer at Tech Army, if you've got nothing better to do, Brian, I'm sure we can find you something to do.
Brian Baglow 26:32
I'm there I'm on Slack, I'm a fully signed up member, I was gonna say paid up member of that. But that would give people the wrong impression.
Kirsty McIntosh 26:40
I'm going to get a Donate button on that website sooner rather than later Alistair.
I really enjoyed myself on Thursday night. I've been I've been a volunteer since the thing kicked off and Thursday was a really wonderful reminder of what's out there and currently operating at Tech Army towers, and I'd encourage any lapsed volunteers to come back and have a wee look as well, to see what we're doing. We'd love to see you again. Alastair to get anything you'd like to finish off with? I think,
Alistair Forbes 27:14
In a similar vein, I think one of the things that was great about the session we had on Thursday was the fact that, you know, it was really an opportunity for us to reconnect with some of the tremendous people who've been part of this initiative. And, you know, we started out initially targeting people who were going to be put on furlough, or who were between contracts or whatever. And we've seen lots of them. But we've also seen so many people in lots of different work circumstances. And again, united by their desire to do both do something meaningful and worthwhile and also to help as part of that community has been one of the highlights of this first six months, so yep, to everybody who's been involved your massive thank you from all of us, because if that wasn't the case, then Pete Jaco and I would just be two guys with a crazy idea that no one anywhere so thank you all very much.
Kirsty McIntosh 28:08
You are two crazy, guys. Thank you very much, Stacy. Jean. And Brian. It was great to see you twice now in the last week or so. And we will catch up with everybody on next week's podcast. Thanks very much for your time, folks.