{"id":3917,"date":"2018-01-20T19:57:52","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T19:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=3917"},"modified":"2022-04-03T20:08:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T20:08:13","slug":"weeknotes-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2018\/01\/20\/weeknotes-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeknotes #1"},"content":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve been toying with the idea of starting a regular weeknote for quite a while. They\u2019re somewhere between a status update<\/a> and a regular blog, purposefully inward-looking and more for the writer than the reader:<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

I feel like there\u2019s so much going on all the time \u2014 life seems completely full up once I\u2019ve added work, family, school governing and cycling together \u2014 and have long thought that a bit of writing and reflection would be great to get my head in order. I\u2019ve tried keeping a digital version of the Five Minute Journal<\/a> and it was quite useful for a time but I found myself accidentally missing an update and then struggling to pick up the habit again. If I was working on something until midnight I didn\u2019t want to get into bed and then do even more writing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a believer in \u2018working out loud\u2019 and have tried over the years to practice what I preach by setting up internal blogs in my various roles but they have never caught on. I\u2019ll keep trying. Some of the blogs I read today reminded me<\/a> that there are connections to be made and just by putting yourself out there you are likely to make them<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are some good guidelines and rules out there about how to do them effectively<\/a>. The key one that resonates with me is how to talk about work in public without actually talking about work in public:\"\"<\/p>\n

My biggest worry is committing to getting them done. Blog posts can take me hours, so perhaps it will be a useful exercise in brevity, editing quickly and developing a habit. Inspired by many, many others<\/a>, and particularly Matt Ballantine<\/a> and Dave Floyd<\/a> whom I\u2019ve been talking with this week on the WB40 podcast<\/a> WhatsApp channel, here goes.<\/p>\n

\n

Work<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m now over six months into my first contract<\/a> and can\u2019t believe how much time has flown by since I started. The programme I am running delivered on its commitments in 2017 and this year the challenge is to step up, continuing to get our first project delivered whilst launching a number of others to run alongside it. It\u2019s difficult as we have a small team, most of whom have operational roles as well as being assigned to the project, and we rely on teams across multiple departments in the wider firm to get things done. We have a good people, we\u2019ve been making it work and it\u2019s great to be in a place where there is mutual support and challenge between everyone.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re dealing with a number of technical issues at the moment which are slowing down our delivery as we investigate and fix them but I am hoping we can make significant progress over the next couple of days. Cloud software is a complex beast. Although things are meant to be much simpler once you move things to the cloud and don\u2019t have your own servers, there are still many, many things that can go wrong between a user\u2019s PC and the data centre. There is no substitute to working through problems in a structured way, changing one thing at a time and observing the impact. I\u2019m often trying to make sure that we use appropriate language where we have a number of correlated factors and don\u2019t leap to a conclusion that one thing is causing another unless we can prove it.<\/p>\n

I need to try and spend a good chunk of my time next week gathering strands together so that we can kick off the additional streams. I\u2019m going to have to utilise a work modelling tool to plan out the big items and their dependencies; as much as I don\u2019t want to I\u2019ll probably resort to Project<\/a> as the work is more complex and has more interdependencies than a bulleted list. I don\u2019t have time to research and learn a roadmapping tool in short order (despite that being what I think would be best). We need to make sure we\u2019re working off of a central list of things to do \u2014 we\u2019re not bad at the moment but we still have more places where work exists than I would like. I can\u2019t see us moving to a shared Kanban board anytime soon but it may happen over time.<\/p>\n

School governing<\/h2>\n

We had our half-termly committee meetings on Monday and ended up going for nearly four hours again when we had been determined to finish them in three. I had a lovely note from one of our new governors afterwards with some tips on how to improve the meetings and I\u2019ll take it on board; we\u2019ll keep striving to do better and be more effective.<\/p>\n

Our Governing Board is really strong now after all the recruitment we have done<\/a> in the past couple of years. We\u2019re in a good position for succession when some of our current governors leave us at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

I love being a school governor but being Chair is very hard while having a full-time job. You can never shake the feeling that there is more you can be doing and that you\u2019re not giving enough. I guess as long as I feel like that and continue to make a conscious effort to get on top and even ahead of things as much as I can I can\u2019t be doing too badly.<\/p>\n

The school\u2019s in a very good place but we need to make sure we can demonstrate it when Ofsted come calling. We started a few streams of prep work last year so that we can be ready quickly when the call comes and we\u2019re continuing to push the Board to challenge the school in all of the right ways.<\/p>\n

Home<\/h2>\n

I got back on my road bike over Christmas although only on the turbo trainer as it was too icy and\/or grim to go out. The turbo is pretty boring without a tool and I have a very on\/off relationship with TrainerRoad<\/a>, pausing and re-enabling my subscription as my commitment to getting on the bike fluctuates. I went for a proper ride a couple of weekends ago and despite misjudging the sunset so that it went dark while I was still an hour away I loved<\/em> it and must get out more. When I think of exercise, episode 3 of the Hello Internet<\/em> podcast<\/a> always sticks in my head where they referred to each person having 100w to spread between four 100w lightbulbs representing family, friends, health and work. I know that I have to make the health one shine a bit brighter as it will help in all other aspects of my life and hopefully extend its duration a bit too.<\/p>\n

In the same vein, when I go into the office I have again started walking between Euston and the office near Cheapside which takes about 40 minutes. A journey by tube takes 25\u201330 minutes so it\u2019s a good way of getting 40 minutes of exercise at a cost of only 15 minutes out of my day. I\u2019ve been trying to find the right pace between getting a little workout and going into a sweaty meltdown when I get to my desk and think I may have cracked it.<\/p>\n

Family life is great. My eldest boy is currently in first position<\/a> in the Chiltern Cross-Country League with one race to go and we\u2019re very proud of him. He seems to have an intrinsic motivation for running and we never have to persuade him to go training. It\u2019s great that the boys are older now and we can do more things together that we all enjoy. As well as making progress through season two of Star Trek TNG together we\u2019ve been playing a few board games recently, our favourites of which are Beat the Parents<\/a> and Fluxx<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been an avid reader but I recently worked out that if I get through all my unread books at the rate I have been going over the past couple of years I will be over 70 by the time I\u2019m done. Which is fine, just as long as they stop publishing new ones and I end up living that long. I\u2019m halfway through Radical Technologies<\/a><\/em> and enjoying it immensely \u2014 it\u2019s a great primer on the key and emerging technologies of today and the impacts they could have on us. I’ve put Clive James\u2019 Cultural Amnesia<\/a><\/em> to one side for a bit as it is so dense and I\u2019ve found the few minutes I\u2019ve been able to snatch for reading aren\u2019t enough to finish a whole chapter. I have a backlog of articles, newsletters and PDFswhich I am struggling to find a way to effectively weave into my reading. If anyone has any tips, please let me know!<\/p>\n

Podcast-wise I\u2019ve been keeping up with episodes of WB40<\/a>, The Autosport Podcast<\/a>, Troy Hunt\u2019s weekly updates<\/a>, Political Thinking with Nick Robinson<\/a>, Remainiacs<\/a> and Banking Weekly<\/a>. All of them are excellent. I\u2019ve also discovered a good Office 365 podcast<\/a>. I subscribe to 154 podcasts, a ridiculous amount by any stretch, and tend to work my way through them in rotation. Honestly, I do prune the list and get rid of things I\u2019m not interested in or don\u2019t enjoy, and this is what\u2019s left. I have a filter problem, I know.<\/p>\n

Phew<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ll wrap it up there. Future versions of this are going to have to take a lot<\/em> less time to read and write. I suspect part of doing this well will be collecting things and jotting notes throughout the week. Let\u2019s see if it sticks.<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been toying with the idea of starting a regular weeknote for quite a while. They\u2019re somewhere between a status update and a regular blog, purposefully inward-looking and more for the writer than the reader: I feel like there\u2019s so much going on all the time \u2014 life seems completely full up once I\u2019ve added […]<\/div>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-weeknotes","7":"h-entry","9":"hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9785,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2022\/12\/26\/weeknotes-200-two-hundred-of-these-thats-why-they-call-me-mr-fahrenheit\/","url_meta":{"origin":3917,"position":0},"title":"Weeknotes #200 \u2014 Two hundred of these, that\u2019s why they call me \u2018Mr Fahrenheit\u2019","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"26 December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking back on my first set of weeknotes, it\u2019s interesting to see what has changed and what is still the same. The purpose of jotting things down still makes sense to me. Primarily, these posts are a vehicle for me to remember and make sense of things. If others find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DraggedImage-12.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DraggedImage-12.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DraggedImage-12.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DraggedImage-12.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6971,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2021\/02\/28\/weeknotes-105-giant-octopus\/","url_meta":{"origin":3917,"position":1},"title":"Weeknotes #105 \u2014 Giant octopus","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"28 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A big week, with half of Tuesday taken up with me finally presenting my \u2018new ways of working\u2019 proposal to the rest of the IT management team. Getting to this point had been like wrestling with a giant octopus; now I\u2019ve finally got it out into the world and built\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DraggedImage-4-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DraggedImage-4-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DraggedImage-4-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DraggedImage-4-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DraggedImage-4-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DraggedImage-4-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7610,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2021\/08\/08\/weeknotes-128-up-on-a-hill\/","url_meta":{"origin":3917,"position":2},"title":"Weeknotes #128 \u2014 Up On A Hill","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"8 August 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"After a busy few months at work and a giant bike ride that circumnavigated London without actually going into London, I was ready for a week off. As always, time has zipped by and I\u2019m back to work again tomorrow, but only for a couple of weeks before we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DraggedImage-2-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DraggedImage-2-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DraggedImage-2-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DraggedImage-2-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DraggedImage-2-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/DraggedImage-2-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11050,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2024\/08\/12\/weeknotes-285-understated-public-holiday\/","url_meta":{"origin":3917,"position":3},"title":"Weeknotes #285 \u2014 Understated public holiday","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"12 August 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This week felt very intense. I have a bit of a break from work coming up, which is either particularly well-timed or the very fact that it\u2019s on the horizon means that I\u2019ve started to feel a bit worn out. It was a week of late nights, not helped by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10162,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/06\/05\/weeknotes-223-many-workshops\/","url_meta":{"origin":3917,"position":4},"title":"Weeknotes #223 \u2014 Many workshops","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"5 June 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"For the second week in a row I unexpectedly found myself at home every day. Very early morning meetings coupled with a train strike put paid to any ideas of heading into London. It\u2019s been good to be at home but I\u2019m looking forward to going into the office again.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Caught this rainbow as I went out into the garden early one morning this week.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/DraggedImage-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/DraggedImage-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/DraggedImage-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/DraggedImage-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/DraggedImage-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/DraggedImage-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10988,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2024\/07\/01\/weeknotes-279-disappearing-basic\/","url_meta":{"origin":3917,"position":5},"title":"Weeknotes #279 \u2014 Disappearing Basic","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"1 July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The final week of June saw increased pressure on my projects. In just a few weeks\u2019 time, the work we have been discussing for the past half a year will get put into action. People have started to understand that it will impact them. Understandably, there are requests for even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Big red sign with white wording that says \u201cSTOP NO ENTRY\u201d, fastened to a wooden gate.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3917"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8832,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3917\/revisions\/8832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}