Weeknote, Monday 23 to Friday 27 November 2020
Not carrying a Union Jack on this packaging, sorry.
Project stuff
Project MT was steady away this week then had some reprioritisation. Which is fine, but not so straightforward if that needs some of your time and you’ve only two days a week planned/budgeted for the project and you’ve used them by that point aaarrggghhh. I had some spare time in my week, and got on with what was needed half because I don’t like doing a bad job and half I am in a team that seeks the counsel of the service designer. Kit published the council’s digital strategy this week and introduced it with an A1 blog post. The key points have been stuck up in the shed over the last couple of months to keep me mindful doing the work I am involved with.
Not a lot of time on project MC other than going over some work and what nexts, but seems to be in a decent place, now getting good input. Shout out to Anna for being a star!
Project MA was “released” as a proper MVP to the wider org, which meant introducing it to the people who would be using it. We even tested the email we sent round to see if it made sense. A couple of bits didn’t, which was positive feedback, changes made and tested again. Now to see how those hypotheses stack up against some real usage. Again: Been nice doing something lean in every way.
Non-project stuff
I published my guiding principles for work and wrote a quick attempt to explain what they are.
Catch ups: A couple of HELLOs!; Some with friends I’ve not spoken to in a while; Some helping people with things to look into for career considerations; Several helping people unknot some work problems; Some chats with MDs/CEOs about business (after giving up the dream of getting a permanent public sector role I am at the point I grow my business or merge it in with somewhere else, exploring latter first).
The third local gov research and design meet is happening Wednesday 16 December, 1pm. The team at Hackney are going to be running a session on collating and sharing research. Get a place.
I enjoyed Chris’s setup and build a basic prototype using the gov.uk prototype kit tutorial. Good work, Chris!
Attended:
- Transitions, run by FutureGov, while I worked. (I think you can view it on YouTube.)
- Joined my first Design and Climate regular catch up.
- PITA (where I just sat and listened at the end of a frazzling day)
- The RSA’s Kate Raworth talk
Could be at the point where more video chats and events at the end of the working day after a day of video chats is not that great a thing. More breakfast and during the day stuff please.
I got a mechanical keyboard. I have used it for three hours so no definite opinion yet.
This week helped by
Coffee:
Home made spiced pecan nuts. Strongly recommend you do this too.
Next week
- As I continue to “wind down” on project MM, I start on project MH.
- More project MC and MA (but not lots)
- Service Design morning
- Nothing About Us Without Us
- Accessibility testing: tips to succeed
- And — at last! — my six-weeks-on chat with my physio to see how six weeks off running has effected my leg issue. I am expecting I’ll have to have more time off, but I have a slight hope I’ll be given the “get back to regular running and see how it goes”. I have missed running in too many ways.
Interesting reads
Originally published at https://www.ermlikeyeah.com on November 28, 2020.
