2022 – Replenish

First weeknote of 2022. Inspired by Brigette Metzler I took some time over the break to think about what my word for the year is, the sentiment that’ll help guide choices/decisions I make. I think it’s replenish. I ended the year with an empty tank and I’m well aware I’m not the only one. So I want to focus on things that help me (and others) replenish our energy levels, commitment, creativity and drive. It doesn’t necessarily mean doing less, but it does mean thinking differently and spending more time asking good questions about whether something needs to be done, and if so does it need to be done by me? Matthew Cain captured this really nicely in his reflections on 2021 when he talked about making sure we design for simplicity, and the cost of complexity.

So what happened this week?

I spent quite a bit of time down in the detail of the restructure with spreadsheets and some Miss Marple-like detective work to make sure our people data is accurate. And time spent writing and reviewing job descriptions which I enjoy. Jane is doing a fantastic job of keeping us and the work on the restructure on track.

Jasmeen, Nick and I had a really useful conversation about collaboration tools, data sharing, enabling functions and nudge theory. Hopefully with also enough concrete detail to enable Jasmeen to design a new piece of work that will get us closer to our northstar in this area.

Our senior management team had it’s first weekly huddle, and we also had our first recovery board. Both of these events are designed to change the way we’re governing our work and decision making as a team as we end our cyber attack recovery governance that took us through 2021 effectively and helpfully. We don’t want to lose any of the value from what we were doing in 2021, but we do need to adjust and reshape our approach for this year as we move to a new phase.

Emma McGowan hosted One Team Gov local where there were lots of new faces and some great ideas/exchanges of experience. I’m following up on one where I think I can help with apprenticeships experience. That sort of wider support and discussion is so important for all of us, knowing that someone else is tackling similar issues and might already have some answers.

And lastly I caught up with Rainer and Nadia from UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose — I’m really excited to be involved in leading seminars on the Creative Bureaucracies module this term.*

What did I read this week?

This from Sean Boots made for interesting and useful reading, especially when you’re a great believer in the power of collaboration and working openly. And he’s right — not providing this ability to collaborate reduces your recruitment potential:

Is this blocked in my department: 2021 year in review

And this from Marianne Bellotti extremely useful when thinking about the shape of our new teams

Hunting Tech Debt via Org Charts

And finally this from Honey Dacanay

Year-end Reflections on Digital Government

*I’m also slightly scared and challenged by it, and that’s a good thing.