So I received a little constructive feedback after last week’s post. Just be mindful of the voices you aren’t hearing. For some with ill family members, homeschooling small children, navigating aging parents in place, on top of maintaining stable income — finding time to write is a bridge too far… and I speak from a […]
Articles
Dear evaluators, it’s time to blog!
This post is my plea to you. Please start blogging. As conferences cancel… It doesn’t take too many clicks to see that COVID-19 is impacting our field’s ability to communicate with one another. All you really have to do is visit Better Evaluation’s events page and start clicking to see all that is now postponed […]
The Evaluation Mindset: When Nobody Listens
If only we had known we were vastly underprepared for a global pandemic… I say that tongue-in-cheek. Of course we knew. President after president was briefed with data and evidence showing the potential devastation a pandemic could have on our global society. In advance of a pandemic, anything you say sounds alarmist,” Leavitt explained. “After […]
Evaluation Mindset: Imagining a Destination
There are all sorts of purposeful goal-driven people and organizations. Intent on following a path towards a destination that is clear in their minds. They might have even put the destination down on paper, charting the course and knowing the way forward. But that is not all organizations, and certainly not all people. We don’t […]
The Evaluation Mindset: Not Your Data
In 2018, 87 years after it was completed, Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon was released to the public. Reading the book today the story of Cudjo Lewis feels completely relevant to our contemporary times. It is heartbreaking, illuminating, and honest. In the way she writes, Hurston allows Cudjo to tell his own story. They are his […]
The Evaluation Mindset: Methods and Frameworks
Methods and frameworks are how we turn our professional actions and philosophies into practical strategies. Once formed, they can be shared and shaped by other hands. They can evolve and grow. They can sometimes take on a life of their own. Methods and frameworks are two different things. I have a tendency of bundling them […]