2022 – 14 consolidating
Lots of time listening and reflecting this week — quite a few interviews with board members across a number of NHS trusts and integrated care systems. I’m starting to get a good picture of the emerging themes and challenges. And I’m consolidating that understanding into emerging ideas.
What happened this week?
Worked in the open, because it makes things better. This principle is a fundamental part of the culture at Public Digital, and def. part of the reason I wanted to join them. This week I shared my early thinking on a couple of projects with an increasingly wide set of people — obv had ‘the fear’ that comes with sharing something that’s messy and early — but the result was useful feedback and challenge and stimulated good conversations as well as some validation that yes, am on the right track.
A relentless focus on users. It’s been great this week to spend lots of time in discovery interviews, really listening and probing.
Worked collaboratively. This week I’ve had capacity to work with another team on business development and it’s been really useful for me to see the thinking and approach across different teams. Connie and I are working really well as a team to handover some of the reins on our ongoing work, thanks to her well established processes and organised and thoughtful briefing.
Spent time on interesting conversations. Opportunities to stimulate my thinking, unblock where I felt stuck and to think more widely and deeply.
Practised work life balance. I’ve been swimming, walking and practicing yoga each morning * — all of which help me keep my overall balance between work and life.
What did I read this week?
This from Citizens Advice made for stark reading. Important data and analysis work from a great org.
This — an anthropologists viewpoint of the teams and people (men, mainly) who run ‘the cloud’
‘They do not see themselves as automatons, as mere cogs in a perfectly optimised machine, but rather as hunters, firefighters or even priests, who must make, find or invent ways to meet the impossible demand of an unremitting cloud.’
This from Cassie Robinson. and Ella Saltmarshe on navigating uncertainty — I particularly liked the weekly planner:
And finally this from Bougainville, Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 ** on reimagining bureaucracies and looking at the positive spectrum of relationality in governance:
‘It was relationships, not bureaucratic wish-casting, that explained how decisions emerged as they did’
*not all three each morning. I’m not that energetic!
**PNG is a country I’m longing to return to, having spent some childhood years there.
