These notes are a tool I use for reflecting, remembering (because I can't), networking and public accountability. Read more here.
One of the best things I read* this fortnight was the theory we’re now living in the timeline where Biff found the sports almanac in Back to the Future II and everything turned to shit.
Of similar relevance to these precarious times, I love this iconic line in Platoon (which I rewatched last Sunday) where the villainous Sgt Barnes, dehumanised by the horrors of war, tells moralistic rookies: “I am reality. There’s the way it ought to be, and there’s the way it is”.
Suffering comes from wishing things were other than they are.
From Biff to Buddha in two moves, this is the sort of thing you can expect in this week’s note, it’s all over the place. But hey, I’m keeping the format fresh!
*ok, saw on TikTok.
A chat about stock imagery at work on Friday led me to sharing this old photo below, from my magazine agency days where junior staff were often roped into unpaid modelling.
This was me in about 2000, giving “man worrying about prostate cancer” (as is surely self-evident), for Pfizer or maybe Roche’s staff magazine, I forget which:
It took me a few tries to unearth this pic. When I searched my photo library for “worried man” the AI returned every photo of me ever taken! (Yeah thanks robots, that’s just* my face).
Joy worked for the same company (it’s how we met) and had to pose for an article about sex trafficking. Having dug them up, I’m getting both these pics printed and framed side-by-side for our wall.
*ok, and my anxiety.
Speaking of meeting my now wife of 22 years in the workplace, this week at work included a 2.5 hour sexual harassment prevention workshop (being rolled out as part of embedding the new regs).
It entailed group discussions on hypotheticals about giving compliments, making innuendos or asking someone out at work. The answers to which (obviously) massively depend on context, dynamics, tone and myriad other factors – but the impact of unwanted attention always trumps the intent, and the consequences of overstepping boundaries can be horribly damaging for all. It was a well-run discussion on an important topic and I got value from it, albeit not my preferred way to learn. (Most courses and books could be 750 word blog posts, imho).
Fun story. When Joy and I got together at that magazine agency and weren’t yet public about it, we were discussing over email who knew beyond our closest confidantes, concluding “just us 4”. To which the head of IT (not copied on the email) simply replied “5”. Different times.
[Side note on SDAM: It’s rare for me to have memories like this one – but that’s all there is. A few little photos and specific micro-anecdotes from the (checks LinkedIn) 4 years I worked at that place. I can’t ‘go there’ in my head and see the office or the people. I remember there were iMacs, and Quark Xpress, and chinagraph pens, and Dreamweaver, but can’t picture any of it or remember doing any of it, or recall how I felt or anything like that. Not even a memory of meeting Joy, I just know (as a fact) that we did].
So in the ongoing pursuit of an aide memoire for my later career, here’s a bit about my past fortnight’s work.
- I met up with Jia, our incoming new Head of Cyber, for an excellent pre-joining orientation and getting-to-know-you session at BFI Southbank. I’m so looking forward to working together.
- I did a high wire act at the Board of Govs, talking about our streaming service in front of current Apple TV and former Netflix execs among other brains. But it went well.
- I did lots of thinking and chatting about direction-setting, unifying north star metrics to help bring clarity and focus, and the work we need to do to take other parts of the organisation with us on our big transformation set pieces.
- I reviewed the outputs from our away day workshop on defining “digital first” and envisioning what the future state looks and feels like. It’s a good start, more to do.
- There were good productive meetings on BFI Player steering, a design framework for cohering all our digital services, and getting in position to blog openly about our work.
- I reviewed the latest OKR progress, confidence scores, status updates and sprint notes from across all our digital and tech departments to make sure I’m up to speed.
A lot happening – a lot to be proud of and excited about – a lot to look worried about in the bathroom mirror – all a bit of a challenge to juggle – and I’m finding it hard to focus on one thing at a time.
A few coincidences (KPI work I’m feeding into; some head-scratching about resetting my leadership meetings; and having made a start on Matt LeMay’s new book this weekend) have had me thinking about north star metrics a fair bit this week. They’re emerging as a thing that could really help us focus on signal over noise.
Obsessed right now with the F1 Drive to Survive new season which we’ve been bingeing since it dropped and will finish this weekend. I’m hooked on its stories of rivalry between drivers and team principals, the win-at-all-costs culture, and the grotesque extremity of it all. Lots of leadership inspiration to be found in this show too – and F1 teams are of course incredibly hot on their metrics and data dashboards.
My interest might be spilling over from the Netflix doc to the sport itself. Joy’s ordered me a Williams Racing official hoodie and I’m quite tempted to see a grand prix sometime – Silverstone, or maybe Vegas (for the street circuit and the Sphere and maximum gaudy depravity).
Also obsessed with the ridiculous branding mess of “Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber” (will be Audi in 2026) and the proliferation of tech sponsor logos where once it was all fags and fuel.
“Box, box, box”. “Mode push”. 🏁🏎️
Foxes are cat software installed in dog hardware. Discuss.
Did you know it was Pi Day on 14th of March (because 3.14) and Mario day on 10th of March (because Mar10)? I spent about 5 mins trying to come up with more of these but failed.
Scene from a home massage I had last weekend (booked through Urban). I mentioned aliens when explaining my forearm tattoo, a logogram from the film Arrival. Thank god I was face down.
Her: Oh so you believe in aliens?
Me: No, I just love the ideas of the film. But I mean, maybe, given the vastness of the universe.
Her: Well I’m telling you, they’re here among us now on earth, taking us over.
Me: …
Her: I’m seeing more lizard people than ever now when I go out on mushrooms.
Me: Well, you would see things on mushrooms.
Her: Exactly, they show you reality as it is. The energy has changed. I’ve always been a target for aliens and monsters since I was a girl.
Me: Oh.
Her: Have you seen The Matrix? You can guess the rest. Full-on simulation theory. (Not sure how compatible this is with aliens, are the lizard people part of the simulation too?!) Then a bonus belief that films are clues to what’s really going on because “ideas don’t just come from nowhere”. GTFO of my house!
All that being said, we are definitely in the Biff almanac timeline.
Parenting-wise, we had Joel’s parents’ evening, and he made his GCSE choices. History, triple science, film studies and drama. Hopefully he gets to do all those. We went to see him in his two plays – the school one is done with now and went well. Two performances of the NT Connections play are also now done ahead of the main event next week. Proud.
We watched a recent WILTY episode that had Harry Hill in it, leading to us showing the kids this TV Burp clip their mum is mentioned in – The Ties That Bind.
OK work-adjacent linky time now.
- New GDS guidance on defining what a service is
- Product Mix Strategy: How to Manage & Optimize Your Product Portfolio
- The North Star Framework 101
- Ash Mann’s survey on causes of digital transformation failure in cultural orgs
- A union for hopeful technologists
- Running a meeting is easy! they said. Just use an agenda! they said.
- AI playbook for charities
- What do ‘reasoning’ and ‘deep research’ AI models mean in practice?
- Top 100 gen-AI consumer apps
- We can’t afford to celebrate International Women’s Day in the tech sector
- ’Fuck you pay me’ (Sharon O’Dea’s weeknote)
- Visualising modern digital government
- Company blogs are no longer worth the investment (if traffic is the goal)
I already mentioned 🎬 Platoon, 📺 F1 Drive to Survive, 📺 Would I Lie to You? and 🎭 Joel’s plays (Journey to X and No Regrets). Other than that I’ve been feeding my soul with:
🎤 Stevie Martin: Clout standup show at Soho theatre
🎤 Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI Southbank for his 100th show. It was fantastic.
🎬 Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy at the local Everyman
🎬 The Gorge on Apple
🎬 AVICII: Hi I’m Tim on Netflix
🎬 Mickey 17 at the IMAX (it’s no Edge of Tomorrow is it?)
📺 The Oscars 2025 coverage on ITV
📺 Steven McRae Dancing Back to the Light on the BBC (ouch!)
🎧 Stalked podcast from the BBC
🎧 Pugilist and Tamen – Samadhi
🎧 All the artists I will be hearing at Polygon Live
🎧 Maruja – The Tinker
🎧 The UK’s Eurovision song for 2025 is suspiciously like Billy Joel’s My Life but could do well
📚 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (book 2 of this v easy to read LitRPG)
📚 Started Matt LeMay’s new product book and it’s EXCELLENT so far.
You reached the end! A right old smorgasbord wasn’t it?! Hopefully something was entertaining, interesting or useful. Bye!
