Yet another typically busy week. Somewhere along the way I seemed to turn a corner mentally, getting out of the funk that I’ve been in for the past few weeks. I have no idea why, but I’ll take it.
This was a week in which I:
- Had the regular programme and project meetings.
- Prepped for and ran our programme Steering Committee meeting.
- Did a ‘roadshow’ visit to various department team meetings, giving people more context for one of our major projects. It impacts everyone in the office, so it’s important that they know why as well as have the opportunity to ask questions.
- Heard that we have agreed on an early date to move out from one of our offices. This means that the local team will be working from home for a few weeks. It simplifies the technology work we need to do, but we have to ensure that the team can get together in the same physical space during that period.
- Added an important item into the scope of works for an office refit project. Doing the work later over a series of weekends would have been a number of times more expensive.
- Got agreement to proceed with putting technology into two rooms that we share with a sister company, enabling them to be used for hybrid and remote meetings.
- Continued discussions on how we will onboard a construction company to undertake work on various items in one of our offices.
- Met with our audio/visual design vendor to talk about the potential for demonstrations of equipment for large boardrooms and other complex spaces.
- Caught up with a vendor that provides office environmental monitoring equipment to discuss our planned implementation. There are technology requirements that I hadn’t previously appreciated, so it may be more complex than I thought.
- Had an introductory meeting with two new team members who joined us in the past couple of weeks.
- Was introduced to a new recruit in our Procurement department, working from a remote location but being very much part of the team.
- Enjoyed a Learning Hour meeting on the technical plans for an office move. If things get difficult during the work, it won’t be for lack of planning.
- Had a Random Coffee with a colleague who works in our Credit Risk team.
- Celebrated our youngest son’s birthday with a meal out for the four of us. We had such a lovely time. Both of the boys are great company these days. He followed it up with a trip to the cinema and dinner with his friends on Friday afternoon.
- Loved getting out on my bike on Saturday morning for the club ride. It took it out of me; I fell asleep watching the F1 qualifying and woke up during the post-event interviews. TrainerRoad told me that Sunday was a rest day but I couldn’t face doing nothing, so I went out for a run instead.
- Met with some friends for some nibbles and board games. We had a few rounds of Codenames, which I enjoyed so much that I’m determined to pick up my own copy to take on holiday later in the year.
- Enjoyed a lovely impromptu Sunday lunch at my mum and dad’s. I picked up a bunch of CDs that were on their way to the charity shop and took them home for ripping to my Plex library.
- Had our car serviced and MOTed. Yet again, the suspension needed some work. I’m wondering if the traffic calming speed bumps on a main road near to our house are causing the suspension to wear prematurely.
Media
Podcasts
- Finally got around to listening to Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey’s Origin Story podcast. The episode on conspiracy theories is excellent, making a good distinction between a conspiracy theory and the theory of a conspiracy, as well as why certain topics become a focal point whereas other major events are ignored.
Articles
- Jailing five protesters for talking about planning a climate change protest is a dystopian outrage.
- An argument for a large single display instead of multiple smaller displays in a Microsoft Teams Room.
- A splendid takedown of a company that says it will be ‘employing’ ‘AI’ ‘workers’.
Video
- I’ve only watched two of the three episodes so far, but the BBC’s Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution is superb. Combining pop music with social and cultural history is like catnip for me. What a time to be alive it would have been.
Audio
- The latest Your Undivided Attention podcast episode from the Center for Humane Technology covers the fascinating and frightening realities of how DNA is synthesised and distributed. There are mechanisms in place to protect us from people recreating known viruses but they seem to me to be flimsy and trivial to someone who knows what they are doing and is determined to do it. Having heard how this works, I think I’m less of an optimist than Kevin Esvelt, the interviewee on the podcast who runs a biological laboratory.
Web
- If I had the time and the money, I’d love to build my own split flap display.
Next week: Clearing things out and taking them home, plus an online album club.
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