Dan’s Weeknotes s03e07
Thin Solution
I’m not sure where to start with unpacking last week at work. There was lots going on, both practically and emotionally. Different themes and strands, and a wild mix of good to awful to indifferent so that when somebody asks me “how are things?” we can either really get into it or I’ll just say “err, mixed.”¹ If only my working life were an unmitigated bummer or sparkling river of joy, it would be much easier to navigate. But no, life is a rollercoaster.
It was Emma (my Director)’s last week in the office. I’ve known Emma was leaving for a while — since season 2 episode 17 as I recall — but it was one of those things I didn’t write about in my #weeknotes out of respect for her wishes. I’m sad that Emma has gone. I thought about it and I would say Emma is the equal best person I’ve worked for — giving me trust and autonomy, being available to talk things through, and having open conversations that often helped to balance my views. On Friday it hit home that Emma had gone because something exciting happened and usually she would be the first person I’d tell.
I’m having too many meetings to get any work done. My work pattern is rather lumpy² because of spending time with my kids, which I won’t compromise on. Related to this, I also don’t take work home with me and I try to stick to my contracted hours. It would be hard to go crazy on the extra hours anyway seeing as I’m picking children up from school once or twice a week.
When I say ‘get any work done’ it’s true that much of my kind of job is about talking with people in meetings, but I still need to write and think and fill in spreadsheets. I don’t know how to find a better balance at work, and I’m frustrated because in 2017 I was trying to do just that (see season 1 episode 8) but maybe back then things were as balanced as they were going to get and now they are worse.
My place of work was in the news for negative reasons this week, and this inevitably has an effect on staff. I don’t think it’s controversial to say that. Wider than this, I’m just feeling that the world is a dark and troubling place at the moment. And then narrower than my place of work, I got angry about [something] this week. I don’t get angry very often, and I stay angry for a long time which isn’t great.
Last week I wrote about the volume of things you can’t write about on the open internet in #weeknotes (see episode 6). I was grateful to see lots of folks in real life this week and have an opportunity to listen and share. I need to keep that up.
I’ve tweaked my #weeknotes format a bit. The questions section wasn’t doing it for me. Also I’m taking most of next week off so no #weeknotes next week. Week weeky week week.
Sketch the week
5 things that happened
Note: more than 5 things happened
One. Following on from last week Rebecca (Head of Content) led the session we’d prepared to critique the vision for the new website for Parliament. It was for the group who were formerly Emma’s ‘Heads of’ team. Jamie (Head of Development) and Jeanette (Head of User Research and Design) were there. Sam (Portfolio Manager) was ill, and Matt (Head of Business Systems) didn’t make it.
It went really well despite not everybody being there. The fact is that we don’t all agree on things, and we need to work through that together. I believe that once we’ve done that it will have an effect on our respective teams, and on our delivery as a wider team.
I had a sense that the conversations we were having in the room had never happened before, which seems crazy after working together for a couple of years, but speaking for myself I know that I have a tendency to assume people know what I think and I need to work to counter that.
All in all, it was really promising. I respect these three and I think we can make a positive change.
Two. I have a new boss. It is David, the Deputy Director of my department. I’m really happy about this, because I enjoy working with him, I respect his skills and experience, and I can learn from him.
We met with Microsoft to talk about developments with internal search. Robert (search lead) came along too, and Bita (special projects manager) was there.
I am the Head of Data and Search, so search is important to me. Or, making sure people can find things is important to me. I believe search is the way that we can show the benefits of our data strategy at work that will affect the largest number of users, both internally and externally.
What we saw from Microsoft was really promising, particularly as a way to start to break down information silos, like we did with external search.
Three. I am part of a new Service Design Team. I am the person in the team leading on helping to improve the provision of IT equipment. I went to several meetings this week about it, trying to work out what to do, listening and thinking. It’s a tough prospect, as all eight of us in the team have other roles in the department and competing pressures on our time. I need to make sure I make the most of help from Sian (delivery manager), and also make the most of any available time from the FutureGov folks who are helping us with the whole deal.
My main feeling this week was that I don’t know the answers, and I mustn’t give the impression that I do. I’ve got an opportunity to learn, and I need to stay curious and try to bring the various pieces together. We’ve got until the end of November to do an as-yet-unspecified something good.
Four. The data strategy work is going well. I count 5 meetings specifically about the data strategy last week, without going into detail about them. It’s really good to have Paul (delivery manager) in the team, and he’s owning the development and delivery of the road map. As the weeks go by we’re gathering momentum, drawing things together, and increasingly I hear other people representing what is in the strategy and bringing it to life instead of me which is exactly where I want it to be.
Five. The legendary hero activity was strong this week. Sam had suggested going to the pub and we put out an open invite on Twitter. People came. Legendarily heroic people, like Paul, Hattie, Terence, Steve, Zuz, Paul³, Jonathan, Glyn, and Steve. I really enjoyed it. As always, I wished I spoken with people a bit more. I’d definitely do it again.
I also went to the GDS offices early on Friday evening and played chess with Jonathan. I hadn’t been to the GDS offices before. The view is amazing. I thought I was going to get crushed at chess but it wasn’t as one-sided as I feared. I still lost, of course. I am usually a loser at games. Playing chess and trying to have a conversation is also a bit of a mental workout. I’d definitely do it again.
Reflections
- There’s lots of positive things up there
- I’m still concerned about support for me and the people who have got my back, no questions asked (see episode 2)
- I had a pretty good idea in the week — the kind of thing that’s a few steps ahead of everything else and might just work. That’s a good feeling
- I helped people
- My standards are fairly high. I could be more tolerant when people don’t meet them, perhaps
#CultureDan
Listening: I worked to this Anja Schneider set. The Helena Hauff record ‘Qualm’ is good. Hard as nails. I enjoyed this BBC World Service ‘Global Beats’ programme about Gqom.
Reading: Nothing. Grr.
Also: I finished season 1 of ‘Jessica Jones’. I thought it was good, maybe better than ‘Luke Cage’, and a million times better than the execrable ‘Iron Fist’.
¹ Yes I know that the customary British answer is “fine”
² Some days I work for longer than others
³ I didn’t mention it to him in real life. He came because he saw the call on the internet
