Weeknotes #294 — Half marathon

An exhausting week. Despite getting a big sleep on Saturday night, it took me a couple of days to get over the jet lag from my New York trip. I found myself barely able to keep myself awake on the trains home. I hadn’t planned to spend four long days in the office, but as the week unfolded it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to work from home. Our divisional CIO came to town for a couple of days and then our new regional CEO hosted a welcome event with drinks afterwards. Friday was a very busy day, but it was good to work from home again for the first time in three weeks.

5°C when I started, 7°C by the time I finished

On Sunday I ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon. This was my first competitive half marathon event and only the second time that I’ve run this distance. A friend had an entry but could no longer make it, so he kindly offered me his place. The entries aren’t officially transferable this late in the day, so I raced without a name on my race number and he ended up getting the text message with ‘his’ official time. I was in the first wave and got sucked along with the crowd at a fast pace. This was fine until around the five mile mark, when my right calf started complaining and feeling stiff. I adjusted my style so that I didn’t put too much pressure on it and managed to hobble my way through the remaining eight miles. It’s now very sore and I’m hobbling around, but I’m hoping it will pass in a day or two.

A clear visual of when my calf started playing up, my pace dropping by around half a minute per kilometre

This was a week in which I:

Formally agreed to close the project for our New York office move. We still have a few items on the snagging list, but they will be picked up as ‘business as usual’ items. It’s a big success.

Refocused on the remaining work for the final big project of the year. We only have four weeks to go until the bulk of the delivery is complete. There are a lot of moving parts, with many companies and people involved, making it a complex beast. I’m now quietly excited about the changes that it will bring for our staff.

Took our divisional CIO for a site visit to show him how things are shaping up.

Had our regular programme and project meetings.

Prepped for and chaired our programme Steering Committee meeting.

Received an update on works that will be going on in one of our buildings for a number of years and started to plan for how we will manage this for our staff.

Took part in the monthly payment valuation meeting for the work done so far by our main construction project vendor.

Attended an internal data-focused webinar with a guest speaker on the now perennial topic of AI. As with so much stuff that I read and hear about AI, I found myself thinking about how problematic the words in this space are. ‘Understanding’, ‘learning’ etc. should always be in quote marks in the context of AI.

Met with colleagues to discuss our approach to running an experimental Generative AI forum, focused on Microsoft Copilot. Whilst I think that the technology has many problems, I’m interested in how our staff can use it in interesting ways. The focus will be on ‘15% solutions’ as opposed to transformational change.

Took part in our monthly operational risk review meeting.

Had the quarterly meeting with our account manager from our technology advisory firm.

Had a ‘random coffee’ with a colleague who has recently joined the company, her first time working at a financial services firm. It was fascinating to hear about her career journey so far and to explain a bit how I understand a typical investment bank works.

Met with an ex-colleague and heard about his new role at a consultancy firm.

Had a catch-up with a friend who used to work in our team. Since she left we’ve kept a regular diary date that often gets moved around, but we eventually find time to meet up. It’s always lovely to find out what’s been happening with her.

Had a video call with another ex-colleague to talk through what she’d been doing since she left us and the potential next steps in her career. It was so lovely to have a check-in.

Learned that I take for granted how easy it is to find and attend a meetup in the western world. In other countries, people can be nervous about going to events; they need to make sure that they are the right kind of events and their attendance won’t get them into trouble down the line.

Had an evening out at the local tennis and squash club for a charity Rock and Roll Bingo evening in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust and Sarcoma UK. It’s a simple concept, with everyone getting bingo cards with songs on them instead of numbers, crossing them off as the songs are played. A fun night.

Had an impromptu drink at The Electric Bar at The Ned. I haven’t quite got my head around how The Ned operates, with its centrally located musicians and various bars and restaurants scattered around a gigantic room. We turned up early enough to get a nice table to ourselves and enjoyed a couple of drinks and snacks.

Electric Bar and Diner, The Ned, London

For the first time in what felt like forever, we had friends over for dinner at our house. We are well out of practice due to the pandemic and busy, structured weekends (my brother often jokes “Where is it you live now?”), but have resolved to try and entertain a bit more.

My eldest son passed his driving test on his first try. I’m so pleased for him. He was more than ready and I’m glad it all went well. We’ve now moved into a different phase of worrying about him as he’s off driving himself here, there and everywhere. The change to our car insurance was a surprisingly low £200 which was an unexpected surprise.

Media

Articles

Back in January I wrote about Matt Mullenweg that “I use loads of his products — WordPress, Jetpack, Pocket Casts — and I’m so pleased that he’s successful. He seems like one of the good guys with a good philosophy.” Reading blog posts like this one over the past week, I really hope that my words remain true.1 I remember thinking about the words as I wrote them as so many people have let me (us?) down over the years.

Video

Continued enjoying Kaos on Netflix. Disappointed to hear that they have already cancelled the show only a few weeks after season one was released.

Books

Continued reading Taming Silicon Valley: How to Protect Our Jobs, Safety, and Society in the Age of AI by Gary Marcus, ahead of my presentation on Generative AI to one of our company boards on Monday.

Next week: Recovering from my run, giving my AI presentation to a board of directors, and relaxing at a couple of Album Clubs.

There’s a summary of the situation at CNBC.