Busy innit?
Work work work
My main task this week was shortlisting applications to find the BFI’s new Head of Cyber Security. We’re in a buyer’s market judging by their number and quality. I’m excited and look forward to meeting the chosen few.
I wrote some interview Qs so we can send them to candidates in advance in early Jan. I’m a fan of this approach. It needn’t be a test of people’s power of recall under pressure. Plus it means they can chill over Christmas and wait for instructions in Jan. Or, y’know, hack their way in and steal the Qs.
Tuesday was the in-person all-hands at BFI Southbank. I loved seeing so many colleagues holding meetings in one place. I had 1-1s with Cat and Paul, and met new product person Ellie who is hitting the ground running on transforming the end-to-end service for accessing BFI cinemas.
The all-hands was uplifting. Highlights included clips of Christmas telly past (to round off a talk about our TV archival work), a talk entirely in BSL from the co-leaders of BFI/lottery-backed Deaffest, and a Q&A with Richard Curtis.
Niche observation: the sign for Deaffest is similar to the viral choreography for Touch by KATSEYE (the group formed on Netflix’s Pop Star Academy, one of my TV picks of the year).
We also made some headway on the gnarly task of getting an MVP tech requests and standards assurance service going. Such a hard nut to crack, and we haven’t yet.
My week finished with me basking in pride while Cat, Iain, Katy, Olivia and Anna gave a barnstorming presentation to my fellow Execs on our cinema programme work. It helped get them excited about the future user experience and to start to see how transformational it will be internally.
Not all work
I went for a lovely 22nd wedding anniversary meal with Joy at a new Crystal Palace restaurant, Retro, run by a charming Polish couple who took over former restaurant A Torre (the new name is a partial anagram). He’s a top chef who has worked in The Ivy and …other places they mentioned that were less memorable to my ignorant ears. The food and service were smashing, including the v tasty Christmas trifle in this week’s featured image.
The anniversary doubled as a good alibi for missing the staff winter party. Not my thing. To voluntarily be around more than 10 people I ideally want there to be an agenda, a show we’re all watching, or a board game.
A smaller, shorter gathering of the Exec team and our assistants for mince pies the next night was lovely (where mince pies = drinks and crisps from the bar). We’ve got such a fab group of assistants, who also have a really nice gen-Z friendship group among themselves. We all compared our top ten films of the year lists – fun. Jason was good value.
I booked tickets for this spatial audio gig at CP park next year, looks great.
My second Stack mag is issue 3 of profiles, an annual collection of portraits in both short story and visual art form, made in Dublin. It’s quality.
Mum is still ill, another night in hospital, the cause still elusive.😓
Lately I’ve been having a mental tic that feels like clipping out of reality for a nanosecond of panicked self-consciousness, usually triggered (weirdly) by the intent to bring a drink to my mouth in company. I’ve had it rarely for years (it used to happen signing cheques at checkouts as a student) but it’s more frequent at the mo. Hmm. Looking forward to the break.
Here come the useful links
The buzz in my circles is all about Pat McFadden’s speech. I lifted the key quote here. Frankie Roberto puts it well: “Having such a clearly articulated argument for the benefits of agile digital at the top of government is really helpful, and will hopefully help to remove many of the blockers that stand in the way.”
Dave Rogers (who I’m lucky to have on BFI’s digital advisory board) was quick with this supporting piece: what is ‘test and learn’. James Plunkett’s hot take is worth a read in this BlueSky thread.
[Update 16/12]: Rachel Coldicutt wrote a brilliant, searing critique of the problematic language and metaphors, all of which I agree with while still welcoming the central argument and top cover.
Also found interesting:
- Positions on generative AI (good stuff from Steve Messer)
- Rid Your Organisation of Obstacles That Infuriate Everyone (“addition sickness” is real)
- There are People who have No Voices in their Heads? (can confirm)
- Century scale storage (terrific frontend design as well as content)
- Kroll report into Croydon’s financial fuckups (not its actual name)
- CTO reflections on my first year at Kooth (ex-colleague Anna being superb)
- Making it quicker and easier to search on GOV.UK (finally making good on the thing we half-arsed in 2012)
- Terrific thread of user research wisdom (on LinkedIn, via BFI’s Olivia)
Stuff I watched, played and listened to
🎬 America’s Sweethearts. Leading me to read about the (now defunct) Stinkers Bad Movie Awards where this was nominated for “Most Annoying Fake Accent: Male” and “Most Intrusive Musical Score”. Other categories included “Worst Performance by a Child in a Featured Role”. Harsh but fun!
🎬 Nosferatu. Proof that no amount of misty art direction can make this very familiar story feel new. Monster, monster.
🎬 Emilia Perez. I admired the ambition, slick production, trans theme and performances but also found it utterly unbearable, sorry.
🎬 The Order. I really liked this one. Jude Law is great in it. Cults, danger, tension, relevant to now wrt the terrifying rise of the right. Highly recommend.
🎬 The Last Showgirl. Vegas! Pam! Bautista with hair! 85 minutes! And yet, it felt longer.
📺 Black Doves. Episode 1. Great fun. Compares well to Slow Horses. London looks fab.
🎬 Bird. It’s had decent reviews but I couldn’t get on its wavelength of made-up / magic realist miserabilism.
🎬 The Shadow Strays. Indonesian violent action thriller on Netflix, recommended by Arike. The female protagonist, choreography and gore are fantastic, but the story didn’t grab me.
🕹️ cont. Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. So good. Feels close to the end.
📓 cont. Run. Fun.
🎧 Miguel Zenón, Golden City. Some good jazz off a Guardian list.
🎧 Autechre artist in residence mixes on BBC Sounds.
Distractions
- BlueSky funnies (I love the “tuesday is two mondays” one)
- Comball (fun browser game, puzzle bobble meets billiards)
- Lil Dicky being ridiculous about fruit [Instagram]
- Cats reacting to magic tricks [TikTok]
Four days of work for me then I break out the snacks, big time.
