{"id":4998,"date":"2019-01-15T00:25:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T00:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=4998"},"modified":"2019-01-15T00:25:46","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T00:25:46","slug":"weeknotes-49-the-days-are-long-but-the-years-are-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2019\/01\/15\/weeknotes-49-the-days-are-long-but-the-years-are-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeknotes #49 \u2014 The days are long but the years are short"},"content":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a \u2018quietly confident\u2019 start to 2019. I had intended to take off all of the days between Christmas and New Year, but as the week before drew to a close I realised that this wouldn\u2019t work. There was so much planning and organisation to be done; we have such a tight schedule that it would make no sense for me to be doing this whilst everyone else on the programme tries to gather themselves and get going again in January. So, I worked from home for a couple of extra days. I\u2019m so glad I did. I now have a very large list of tasks, more than halfway to becoming a detailed plan, which I\u2019m already using to good effect to set direction and give focus across the team on what we need to complete. Having an \u2018old school\u2019 project plan feels a bit strange in this day and age where people are practicing Scrum, Kanban, SAFe and all other manner of agile development methods. However, it feels right to me given that the programme is mainly infrastructure-focused (there are little in the way of \u2018features\u2019 to prioritise), is heavy on dependencies and critical path analysis, and is a much bigger piece of work than a classic agile team of 5\u20139 people could manage. There are too many things going on to fit into my field of vision and this \u2018advanced checklist\u2019 approach feels right.<\/p>\n

I have a new project manager that joined the team on Friday who I will be handing this immediate detailed management work over to, so that I can spend more time looking further out and across the programme. The work we are doing will impact six cities around the world and everything we are focusing on at the moment is just for the first one.<\/p>\n

The detail-oriented approach feels right, and it is helped by the start of a new financial year. With the calendar ticking over from 2018 to 2019 we suddenly have funding to buy the new infrastructure components that we will be deploying. I\u2019ve also been working with the internal communications team to kick-start a plan for how we will present and absorb a significant amount of IT change across the organisation this year. It feels like there is some excitement in the team to be getting on with the work; I hope it isn\u2019t just me.<\/p>\n

Over Christmas I started to read the Word for Windows 1.0 postmortem<\/a>, which although 30 years old I am sure will have some useful lessons and prompt some thoughts on how to avoid issues on our programme. I\u2019ve already made a note about avoiding introducing too many new techniques and processes along the way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I also took advantage of the Christmas break to get back on my bike again. I managed to get out and about, or on the turbo trainer, almost every day that I had off. It was a slow start, but I\u2019ve got some momentum with me now. I\u2019ve learned that a 30-mile ride of two hours isn\u2019t unreasonable to fit into a Saturday or Sunday around family activities; previously I felt glum if I couldn\u2019t go out for double that. Maybe this is one advantage to starting over. I\u2019ve managed to fit longer rides<\/a> in where the family have been going somewhere and I can meet them there. On the days that I work from home I\u2019ve also been getting the bike set up on the turbo so I don\u2019t have to think too much in the morning before jumping on. I really want to embed cycling as a thing that I do all the time, not just a thing that I do occasionally as a special event.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty more to note but the topics will have to wait. The past two weeks have seen a few 9\/10pm finishes with work and today is no exception, plus I spent the weekend ill with a little fever which I only seemed to get over this morning. Battling my way into 2019 but feeling positive.<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been a \u2018quietly confident\u2019 start to 2019. I had intended to take off all of the days between Christmas and New Year, but as the week before drew to a close I realised that this wouldn\u2019t work. There was so much planning and organisation to be done; we have such a tight schedule that […]<\/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-4998","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":4277,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2018\/07\/09\/weeknote-25-barbecues\/","url_meta":{"origin":4998,"position":0},"title":"Weeknote #25 \u2014 Barbecues","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"9 July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s so much going on. I\u2019m hanging in there until July is behind me. Lack of time means that these weeknotes are going to be in bullet point form for now. With all the years behind me, I found that I really do have the confidence to make it up\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\/2018\/07\/BCA233BA-9C79-4FE8-A365-A16F5664D5DB.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/BCA233BA-9C79-4FE8-A365-A16F5664D5DB.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/BCA233BA-9C79-4FE8-A365-A16F5664D5DB.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/BCA233BA-9C79-4FE8-A365-A16F5664D5DB.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/BCA233BA-9C79-4FE8-A365-A16F5664D5DB.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/BCA233BA-9C79-4FE8-A365-A16F5664D5DB.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10452,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/10\/09\/weeknotes-241-gang-of-four\/","url_meta":{"origin":4998,"position":1},"title":"Weeknotes #241 \u2014 Gang of Four","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"9 October 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday evening a friend and I drove into London to catch the Gang of Four gig at Shepherd\u2019s Bush Empire. My desire to go was based entirely on the strength of their song \u00a0I Love a Man in a Uniform from 1982: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=\\_Pws\\_cquzns We got there halfway through first\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\/2023\/10\/Image-08-10-2023-16-13.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Image-08-10-2023-16-13.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Image-08-10-2023-16-13.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Image-08-10-2023-16-13.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Image-08-10-2023-16-13.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Image-08-10-2023-16-13.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10014,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/04\/11\/weeknotes-215-interlude\/","url_meta":{"origin":4998,"position":2},"title":"Weeknotes #215 \u2014 Interlude","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"11 April 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The first of two weeks off work. 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Once again I had a vivid demonstration of the value in business travel and the benefits of being colocated around the right people for a period of time. One\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":5495,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2019\/12\/29\/weeknotes-54-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":4998,"position":4},"title":"Weeknotes #54 \u2014 Christmas","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"29 December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A week in which I... Mainly did Christmas. We travelled up to Ross-on-Wye on Christmas Eve to stay with my wife\u2019s parents for a couple of days. It was lovely to be there with them. The awful rainy weather cleared up on Christmas Day and let us get out for\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\/2019\/12\/F41CE70B-3E8C-4290-9C11-22321A3FA1C0-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/F41CE70B-3E8C-4290-9C11-22321A3FA1C0-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/F41CE70B-3E8C-4290-9C11-22321A3FA1C0-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/F41CE70B-3E8C-4290-9C11-22321A3FA1C0-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/F41CE70B-3E8C-4290-9C11-22321A3FA1C0-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/F41CE70B-3E8C-4290-9C11-22321A3FA1C0-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6401,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2020\/10\/12\/weeknotes-85-breathe\/","url_meta":{"origin":4998,"position":5},"title":"Weeknotes #85 \u2014 Breathe","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"12 October 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"For the first time in over three years it felt like a quiet week at work. 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