A reminder, these weeknotes are a tool I use for reflecting, remembering stuff (to counter my SDAM), networking with others in the digital profession, and public accountability.
I write them mainly for my own benefit. But I put them online because I believe in working in the open, and I reflect and write better when anyone could be reading. As an introvert, they also work great for me as a way for people to know me better and to spark conversations.
Many people find reading other people’s weeknotes interesting and useful. But if you don’t, GO FUCK YOURSELF that’s fine, there’s plenty of other internet to look at.
Blogiversary
It’s been a year now, an unbroken streak. I’m pretty pleased with that, and chuffed to have inspired a few folks to start their own weeknotes at work, next door and beyond. That said, I’m pondering dropping the frequency to monthly for a bit. I’d like to mix things up with other types of blog posts. Or just, y’know, have more time for games, cooking, reading and (I suppose) exercise. We’ll see – the weekly habit/fix is well established at this point!
Firebreak week
For example, one thing that warrants its own blog post (rather than a few meagre paragraphs) is firebreaks: chunks of time where teams are free to work on anything they want for the good of the overall mission, alone or in groups.
I went big on them at GDS, with co-conspirators like Stuart, Lindsey, Alex and Alan – and a version of that persists there to this day. I’ve tried to replicate them, first in Croydon and now at the BFI because they’re great for morale, momentum, product innovation, improvements to culture and process, personal development – and most of all, making work more fun.
At the BFI, some time ago I plotted a cadence for my directorate that designates a week between each quarter’s OKR-led delivery as an optional firebreak. So far, while we’ve been establishing our rhythms, it’s not had much take-up – but this week was the first time some of us did it for real, thanks to Iain leading our software development team to step away from product squads and work on their own ideas. It culminated in a team show and tell on Friday afternoon, and I’m looking forward to a debrief next week.
I love that we did this, and I see it as a major milestone in how far we’ve come in our culture and practice. It also happens to be the first quarter where we’ve had nearly all departments’ and teams’ next-quarter goals written up before firebreak week so we can review them as a complete set, spot the dependencies and gaps, and start the quarter with them refined and agreed. Everything we are doing is pretty clear and documented now, it’s feeling much more intentional, transparent and robust.
With quarterly goal-setting in a fairly good place, in my leadership team we can now lift our eyes up a bit from that granularity and get better at spotting and discussing our big risks, set-piece deliverables that span teams, and evolving our use of data and insights. We had productive discussions about all this and more in a directorate leadership day midweek.
I ended the week with an inspiring, related chat with Laz, who is bringing loads of energy and ideas (and gathering others across our brilliant team) on how we can up our game.
It’s all shaping up nicely, I must say.
Cyber drill
The other huge thing this week was the organisation’s first cybersecurity-focused business continuity drill. We’d collaborated on the design with BDO, who led us through a tabletop roleplay. It was both reassuring about our readiness, and invaluable in pinpointing stuff we can do to be more ready. Plus, it was the closest thing to playing an RPG at work, so very firebreak compatible. We’ll be doing more of these, routinely now. As should you, if you’re not already.
“There are rarely any film-based emergencies”
Not everything is rosy, though. Despite the joyous things we do, working in the BFI can feel disproportionately high-pressure. The perils of being a small org full of passionate people and big ambitions (aka “champagne dreams, lemonade money”) is a pernicious excess of work and a heavy focus on financials, too often falling on individual shoulders. It takes its toll.
I’ve become more aware these past two weeks that I could be a better “shit umbrella” and upward-manager to calm headwinds and create tailwinds, put things in perspective and make things feel more fun and chilled. As one colleague put it, “there are rarely any film-based emergencies”. Plus I could be more purposeful with my 1-1s, asking better questions about how people are holding up, for instance.
Emily Middleton
I enjoyed a chat with Emily, about the coming reboot of the digital centre of government in DSIT following the move of GDS, CDDO and iAI.
Home, friends and family
Dylan now holds a provisional driving licence, which is mental.
I’ve booked tix for this Serial Killer Exhibition.
My good friend Nettie offered to guest post on here to help out with my ‘one thing from every CP shop’ project. She’s done a cracking job, and it will go live on Tuesday. It hadn’t even occurred to me to share the load like this but it’s a brilliant idea! Let me know if you fancy doing one, fellow frequenters of Crystal Palace shops.
I didn’t make it to the first Cronx Tech meetup cos of a clash with a parents’ info evening at Dylan’s school, but I hope to do the next one.
Links worth a look
How government defines a service. I like this a lot, but my hope for the future public digital mothership is they’ll be more inclusive of local gov and us lowly ALBs.
From programme to directorate: sustaining digital and data transformation in Parliament. Great to see PDS achieve that essential, hard-won paradigm shift from funding projects to products.
Leaving the metaphors behind. Tomski’s review of Richard’s book. My copy is nearing the top of my reading pile and I look forward to tucking in. Rich is also doing a webinar with Emer at lunchtime on 23 Oct, which will be dead good.
Beware of the team doughnut. This resonated. We stretched ALBs can struggle to dedicate a core team to focus on just one thing.
Diversity in tech, Imposter Syndrome, and Leadership. My old mucker Meri Williams has always been wise on these matters.
The Anatomy of a Self-Managing Organization: Why Networks Trump Hierarchies. There’s lots more to like on their website like these 8 trends.
Those last three came from Emily’s always great newsletter.
Ents
🎧 I was hyped for The Cure’s first new song in 16 years, released this Thursday. Then I was underwhelmed. Then I was deeply, profoundly moved, to the core of my being. They’ve still got it.
The algorithms and 6 Music preset in the car also did well for me this week:
🎧 Nuvola – Kode9
🎧 Breather – Jamie xx
🎧 Security – Amyl and the Sniffers
🎧 Make Me – Elkka
🎧 Shake It – Charli xcx
🎧 I Only Smoke When I Drink – nimino
🕹️ Cont BG3 and started Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. The Hyrule overworld map is so reminiscent of A Link to the Past, I could weep with nostalgic joy. While I curse the fiddly echo menu.
🎬 Damsels in Distress on BFI Player. Enjoyable, correctly categorised under Quirky.
🎬 Hoard. Colleagues were involved so I wanted to check it out, but it wasn’t for me. Which is fine, we don’t just make films for ourselves.
📺 All of Children of the Stones. Loved it.
📺 Enjoying Taskmaster season whatever it is now.
Distractions
I don’t really have a list [TikTok]
Gus Honeybun’s magic birthdays [YouTube]
Combs make cats gag (who knew?) [TikTok]
See you next week, or possibly month!
