This week I have learned: if you are going to have time with people in person, make sure some of it (if not all of it) is social time. I had a trip up to Manchester this week and got some face time with colleagues old and new in a pub. It was delightful. I … Continue reading Weeknote 590: travelling
Back in the early 2000s when I was working at the BBC I was starting to have to write a whole series of "Requests for Proposals" - documents outlining a particular need that we were looking for a supplier to fill. Being a diligent sort, I wanted to find a course to go on to … Continue reading On the other side
This week I have learned: that forms can be seen through a lens of "what has gone wrong in the past?" So often when we are confronted with requests for information whether through paper or increasingly digital means, it can be hard to understand why particular data are being requested. Ask the question "What bad … Continue reading Weeknote 589: settling
This week I have learned: That a half-hour bike ride in the searing heat to meet with a potential client isn't as bad as the half-hour bike ride in the searing heat back from a potential client.I'm oscillating between "I've got this" and "I've no idea what I'm doing". That's normal. Need to embrace feeling … Continue reading Weeknote 588: melting
Back in the mid-2010s, I spent some time working on a project in the Government Digital Service GDS. The project is lost in history, but part of what I needed to do at the time was to create a taxonomy to help understand the otherwise very nebulous concept of "Government". For some time it's been … Continue reading Understanding Government
This week I have learned: that despite the worries (and my inherent republicanism), helping to organise the Jubilee Street Party was a delight and completely rewarding. I can't walk from one end of the street to the other now without saying hello to someone I now know.the 90-minute commute into town is refreshing in some … Continue reading Weeknote 587: new boy
From my years of work, there are a few models and ideas that keep coming back to me. One of those is the Conscious Competence Ladder, a way of thinking about how we learn things that is attributed to Noel Burch from a company called Gordon Training. The idea is quite straightforward. We are either … Continue reading Starting
When was the last time software made you smile? If you are anything like me, it's probably easier to recall when it made you grimace. The ten minutes this morning, for example, that I spent trying to get my headphones to talk to my phone (Cambridge Audio: lovely hardware, ropey software). Or the labyrinth of … Continue reading Software to make you smile
A week off, between jobs. Some time with the kids. Some time to not think about work. Some time to help organise a street party. Next week - the new job starts, new adventures ahead. The week in photos:
This week I have learned: saying goodbye is hard. Especially when one has been part of a team that has become as strong and as open and as trusting as the Technology & Transformation team at RHP. I will miss them all, but the time is right for a change for me and for them.being … Continue reading Weeknote 585 – goodbye
mmitII 