It was so hot. Monday and Tuesday hit inferno-like temperatures. At night we ditched the duvet, but I couldn’t face even being under a sheet. So I just lay there on top of the bed, hoping to fall asleep. On Tuesday night my wife and I found ourselves home alone, so we decided to get out of our makeshift greenhouse of a home to have something to eat outside. When we returned and opened the door, the hot air hit us like a hundred hairdryers. We quickly opened all the windows, but it took 15 minutes or so for the temperature to reach liveable levels. I was so glad that the second half of the week was much cooler.
This was a week in which I:
- Felt like I was rehydrating for the best part of Monday and Tuesday after the weekend’s Audax ride.
- Enjoyed a fireside chat in the office between our CEO, one of our senior regional leaders as well as our Head of Legal. These types of meetings go into the diary anytime someone senior is passing through and they are so valuable. It was fascinating to hear their perspectives, especially about politics. It was also another reminder that there are lots of things going on around you in the office every day that you have no idea about. Knowledge work is invisible unless you deliberately make it visible.
- Had the sprint review and sprint planning meeting with our development team, a good way to start after a week off.
- Had a demo of Replit, a ‘vibe coding’ platform, in our AI working group. It was fascinating to see it working. One of my colleagues noticed that all of the code files it had generated were all sitting in one big folder, so he asked if the tool could organise the code into modules. It started running and by the time we left the meeting it was still chugging away.
- Completed a survey about my knowledge of climate-friendly IT practices ahead of taking a course in sustainable technology.
- Watched a meeting recording of personal statements from colleagues on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion forum that took place while I was off, and then sent in my vote for Chair.
- Collaborated on a written submission for a recognition award for one of our colleagues.
- Took part in a group feedback and coaching session at the request of one of my colleagues. The session was part of a leadership/senior management course. She did well to sit and listen to honest and heartfelt feedback from us.
- Had the weekly meeting with our audio/visual design consultants. We are going to need to rework one part of the design to accommodate a requirement that we missed.
- Met with our HR team as preparation for a ‘people day’ meeting that my manager is taking part in next week.
- Met with colleagues to agree the next steps in our plans to increase adoption of our chosen password manager. We have a key meeting on Tuesday with a wider audience where we plan to cover this, so I spent a couple of hours on Sunday night putting some slides together for the discussion.
- Spoke with my executive partner at our information technology advisory firm about how we can approach refreshing our Team Charter this year. He’s going to help us with the process, which lets everyone have the opportunity to participate.
- Met with colleagues to review the first draft of a proposal for cross-charging costs between a sister company and ourselves.
- Had a couple of meetings with our sister company to better understand their support needs and expectations for a shared meeting space in our office once it reopens in January.
- Had the weekly project meeting for the refurbishment works being carried out by our sister company and the landlord.
- Found and tweaked a project management template in Excel which we can use for one of our office refurbishment projects.
- Completed mid-year reviews for all of my team.
- Enjoyed our monthly Lean Coffee meeting, superbly hosted by one of our team members who doesn’t usually take the role of the chair. He was a complete natural.
- Put together a response to a series of questions from one of our regulators. Microsoft Loop is super handy for these types of tasks, where you can share the same live document in multiple Teams chats and everyone can collaborate.
- Met to discuss our approach to finding a long-term office in a country where we have only just started to have a presence.
- Joined the check-in meeting for the project to reorganise our client documents.
- Took our main car for its MOT and service, and had to foot the bill for some new front suspension components, as well as brake pads and discs. The suspension was last ‘fixed’ a year ago, but I’m not convinced that they did a brilliant job with it. Unfortunately I just don’t know enough to be sure that there was a problem after we got the car back last time. Owning cars is expensive.
- Watched my youngest son arrive for his prom on my friend Mat’s Land Rover. It was so much fun to see the collection of random vehicles that dropped everybody off. We saw Rolls Royces, Bentleys, stretch limos, a Dodge Charger, vans, a Volkswagen Camper, motorbikes and a fire engine. They had a great evening, and didn’t finish at their after-party until 2am.
- Enjoyed an after-party of our own that night when one of the parents hosted us for a barbecue. I don’t know many of the other parents that well, so it was great to spend some time with them. And the food was delicious.
- Welcomed our eldest boy back from his holiday, the first time he’s gone away on a proper holiday without us. It’s good to have him back.
- Had the second barbecue in as many days when we were invited out on Friday night. For the past few years our eldest has been training with three other runners, and this was a chance for all of them to get together with their parents as well as their coach and his wife for a celebratory dinner. The amount of time that their coach has put into their development, completely voluntarily, is amazing. He would be at the track for training multiple times a week, going to their events and giving them consistent, dependable and honest feedback. We are so lucky to know him. The food was tasty and it was a great opportunity to spend some time with some lovely people.
- Went down to my uncle and aunt’s house in Romsey, on the outskirts of the New Forest, for a family get-together. It’s now establishing itself as an annual event. It was brilliant. They hired a mobile wood-fired pizza van to cater from their driveway, as well as a superb band, The Scallywags (of Feltham), to play for us in the garden. Big family gatherings are filled with snatched conversations as there are so many people to talk to, but it was great to spend some time seeing everyone and remarking on how much all the children had grown.
- Loved the British Grand Prix. It was everything you would want in a modern Formula One race. Sometimes the British weather is just what you need to spice things up.
Media
Articles
- I enjoyed Dries Buytaert’s thoughtful essay on “The web’s broken deal with AI companies.”
There is a reason this trend has taken hold: users love it. AI-generated answers provide instant, direct information without extra clicks. It makes traditional search engines look complicated by comparison.
But this improved user experience comes at a long-term cost. When value is extracted without supporting the websites and authors behind it, it threatens the sustainability of the content we all rely on.
- Wikipedia has a list of AI catchphrases to help identify machine-generated content.
- I’ve recently been thinking about how the Danish Government are in a tricky situation in that they are faced with the US wanting to take Greenland from them, but — probably — either use Microsoft or Google to host their email and documents. I was amazed to read that France’s police force have been using Linux as their main operating system for many years. Maybe using alternatives to the main ecosystems isn’t as much of a pipe dream as it seems.
- I have a corporate Microsoft Copilot licence, but for any generic non-sensitive queries I choose to use ChatGPT instead. I’m not alone.
Video
- Heston: My Life with Bipolar was very moving.
- I finally finished the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The ending was a little cheesy, but a good reminder of all of the ridiculous laughs over the years.
Audio
- Bought a selection of CDs, including Aimee Mann’s 1993 debut solo album Whatever. Hearing it again made me realise that I must have played it more than I remember, as I knew all of the songs. I’d forgotten how Beatles-y it sounds. I Could Hurt You Now is my current favourite track from the record.
Books
- Picked up Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee, after hearing Ben Thompson rave about it on Stratechery, Sharp Tech and Dithering.
Next week: Another heatwave, and another night with Stewart Lee.
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