I write these notes to reflect, remember (because I don't), compare scars with fellow digital pros, and for public accountability. Read more here.
Hello. This one covers 16 March to 10 April, which has been pleasantly soundtracked by a woodpecker in a little undestroyed patch of The Great North Wood opposite my house. So nice!
Work work work
TL;DR I’m mostly striving to make the BFI’s digital and tech problems more visible and shared, and show how much better things could be through digital-first service design, in ways that are more palpable and investable. While working (with my co-leading hat on) on wider reform for financial sustainability.
Which feels like the highest value stuff to be doing right now. It takes a huge effort to not be distracted from it by daily busywork and incoming stuff though. Writing it down like this helps (yay for doing weeknotes!)
Progress has included:
- Discussion of my paper I mentioned last time (a diagnosis of the org’s digital, data and tech problems and a proposal to form an executive sub-committee to tackle them), first with the BFI’s external digital transformation advisory board, second in the Executive Board.
- Another all day off-site with my deputies, on sharpening up a clear set of aligned goals and priority directives for our teams.
- Completion of an “AI position and next steps” paper, working with Ash Mann.
So much I could say about all of this but keeping it brief:
- The advisors said such astute things I played a verbatim clip in the Exec Board, of Dave calling out the org’s project-centric operating model and functionally-aligned structure as the root of the mess; and a product and service-aligned model as the answer.
- That (on top of my prior evangelising) has got my fellow Execs receptive to Service Org concepts, so I’m (finally) now planning a session to expand on it. Could be pivotal.
- With the new DDaT Subcommittee approved, I now need to set it up and make it good, which will be hard and change the nature of my job a fair bit.
- I’ve evolved from a McKinsey 3 Horizons framing to a forward-back framing for my directorate goals to put focus on transformative value.
We need to:
(i) design and architect the future
(ii) ship bold increments towards it
(iii) fix the foundations and create the conditions to get there.
With about a 10% / 70% / 20% allocation of effort. I’m fleshing out the definitions and examples of work in each bucket as a next step. - Ash is brilliant at synthesising stuff, diagnosing solutions and crafting a clear narrative. The AI paper he’s helped me with is so clarifying. Now to socialise it and get agreement to the 12-month mid-weight step-up plan it recommends.
Meanwhile in actual delivery:
- We launched the new BFI online shop, rebuilt from scratch after discovering a cyber attack on the old one a year ago. My fab EA, Martha, learned-on-the-job to be an associate product/delivery manager and steer it.
- We had a glorious BFI Flare (LGBTQIA+) film festival, which others lead on but my team supports in various ways. It’s a proper jewel in the BFI’s crown, much loved by its audience.
- We’re making good (but non-linear) progress on all fronts across cybersec, SVOD growth, internal IT improvements, cinema and archive services, intranet, and content strategy.
I also met Matt Risley at the NT. We both got English degrees in Nottingham and have ended up running digital departments next door to each other on the Southbank. Our remits are very different but with plenty of common ground worth talking about.
Not all work work work
Speaking of Nottingham, I had a restorative board gaming weekend with old friends. The star of the show was The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings: A Trick Taking Game. This game is utterly wonderful. Our little group used to play a lot of Hearts/Spades and Whist/Bridge together so we can rely on each other’s strategy and skill. We played it for hours on end and completed part one. Can’t wait to regroup for part two of Fellowship, and I’ve since bought The Two Towers which came out in January. The third one comes out next January. Exciting!
The carpet in my Notts hotel had some unsolicited advice. Imagine the cleaners having to vacuum “if you hate your job, quit” every day.
I celebrated the marriage of two men I like a lot, one of whom is my boss. Indian fashion was encouraged and it was a treat to dress in a kurta set, and eat excellent Punjabi food in the iconic location of Pinewood studios.
Once upon a time (when jettisoning old government websites and content) I got called “the most subversive man in the civil service” and Etienne made me this t-shirt. I just came across it while clearing out the garage. Not sure it’s true any more, but I love it.
I got interviewed for but declined by a mentoring scheme for convicts as they transition out of the justice system. I think I could have been good at it but it seems I didn’t quite say enough of what they wanted to hear.
I’ve had a good chunk of time off around Easter: 6 days plus the bank holidays.
Son 1 has made a website for his video games work, deliberately using a web 1.0 aesthetic. He did a week of free labour at a CEX-style shop and has been offered paid weekends now. Son 2 did a Young Psychologist day course which he loved.
Turns out there’s a name for the kind of low-cal high-protein meals I am having a lot of these days: boy kibble. I like it. Probably cos it sounds a bit like kipple, from Philip K Dick. Boy kibble drives out non-boy kibble.
Linky time
- Two incredible job listings at DSIT: DG for digital products and DG for digital transformation
- The pd podcast is great – episode 1, episode 2
- AI recipes for charities
- On genAI: Was prototyping really a bottleneck?
- Vibe Coding Until the Vibes Go Bad
- The system builds what the system builds
- Kate Tarling interview with Mind the Product. If you don’t have time to listen/watch, the key takeaways are listed below it.
- Escaping the institutional monoculture
- Public Service Reform: from cashable savings to radical change
- End game for the open web. The opening image is arresting, if you can picture things with your mind.
- “That’s not a seat at the table. That’s a chair by the door” great line by Sharon in relation to her piece on the IT, HR, Internal Comms holy trinity. Also I’ve pre-ordered her book.
- I’m looking forward to the results of Ash’s research on the hidden labour of digital.
Cultural highlights
🎬 Hunky Jesus ⭐⭐⭐⭐ in NFT1 as part of BFI Flare. Hilarious irreverence.
🎬 The Drama ⭐⭐⭐⭐ in WeNo Picturehouse. Mostly successful, but the other characters’ reactions to Emma’s (Zendaya’s) revalation weren’t entirely credible imho.
🎬 Fuze ⭐⭐⭐ in CP Everyman. Fun twisty Brit heist.
🎬 Man on the Run ⭐⭐⭐ on Prime. Learned stuff about Sir Paul.
🎬 Smoking Causes Coughing ⭐⭐⭐ on DVD. Wonderfully weird.
🎬 Let the Right One In ⭐⭐⭐⭐on Prime. Showed the kids, who correctly loved it
📺 Last One Laughing S2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Not as good as S1 maybe, but great.
📺 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved this.
📺 Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ugh. Louis does a good job of bringing this dark underbelly to mainstream attention.
📺 Saturday Night Live UK ⭐⭐⭐ The sketches all outstay their welcome, it’s more miss than hit, and it plays too much for the tourists/export crowd, but I appreciate the show’s willingness to push boundaries, and the Jools Holland clock change skit had me howling.
📺 Billy Idol Should be Dead ⭐⭐⭐ He liked drugs, you know. The hits are undeniable belters though aren’t they?
📺 Something Very Bad is Going to Happen ⭐⭐ Just spooky vibes and Botox so far.
🕹️ Dave the Diver ⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Dish!”
🕹️ Clair Obscur Expedition 33 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very good, very very French.
🎧 Salt Tank rereleases of Peel Sessions, Eugina and Science & Nature ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎧 6 Music Festival: Kelly Lee Owens set and Mandy Indiana ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎧 Louis Theroux interviewing Stewart Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – this was great, a highlight being Thelonious Monk’s advice on spontaneity, imperfection and doing it live: “what happens in the room is the show”
🎧 Robyn – Sexistentialism ⭐⭐⭐
🎧 Squarepusher – Kammerkonzert ⭐⭐ Not what I was hoping for
📖 The Cry of the Owl, Patricia Highsmith ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 Anniebot, Carragh M O’Brien ⭐⭐⭐
📖 Strange Houses, Uketsu ⭐
📖 On the Calculation of Volume II, Solvej Balle 💩 DNF
📖 Dead Silence, SA Barnes (currently reading)
Distractions
- Dog magician [TikTok]
- Nounsense is a fun word association puzzle
- Parseword is good but cryptic clues are so unbearably smug
- Patches newest daily game on LinkedIn, v good
- I can show you some alternatives [TikTok]
- motherfuckingwebsite.com
- Photos from Artemis II
Toodles! Thanks for reading.
