Wednesday, 28 January, 2026

Am finding the WP Reset plugin useful, particularly at the start of a project where I might be trying lots of different stuff out. Quickly takes a site back to the bare bones, clearing out the database and so on, to give you a fresh start.

Carl Haggerty – Introducing the Chrysalis Work:

Working in a council right now can feel a lot like being inside a chrysalis. The old shape of things is still visible – job titles, structures, budgets, habits – but much of what we relied on no longer quite fits, and what’s emerging isn’t yet clear.

The language of “transformation” is everywhere. New operating models, corporate programmes, refreshed strategies, renamed projects – on paper it looks and sounds like big change. But when I tune into what it actually feels like inside, most of what has been labelled “transformation” has been far more modest: service‑by‑service tweaks, done at pace, layered onto old structures, old habits and the same silos that quietly shape everything.

Monday, 26 January, 2026

John Gruber reports on the new version of OmniOutliner (6) which includes a featured called Omni Links:

OmniOutliner has always been document-based, and version 6 continues to be. There are advantages and disadvantages to both models, but one of the advantages to library-based apps is that they more easily allow the developer to create custom URL schemes to link to items in the app’s library. Omni Links is an ambitious solution to bring that to document-based apps. Omni Links let you copy URLs that link not just to an OmniOutliner document, but to any specific row within an OmniOutliner document. And you can paste those URLs into any app you want (like, say, Apple Notes or Things, or events in your calendar app). From the perspective of other apps, they’re just URLs that start with omnioutliner://. They’re not based on anything as simplistic as a file’s pathname. They’re a robust way to link to a unique document, or a specific row within that document. Create an Omni Link on your Mac, and that link will work on your iPhone or iPad too — or vice versa. This is a very complex problem to solve, but Omni Links delivers on the age-old promise of “It just works”, abstracting all the complexity.

I’ve been using OmniOutliner for years, to help structure longer documents and put ideas into some kind of order. Am going to have to try this out, because I’m hoping it will let me link to external documents from within an outline – for example to where I am writing up the thing listed in the outline. I know what I mean anyway.

There’s another Mac app which might do something vaguely similar called Hookmark, which I have never gotten round to checking out properly.

📅 Weeknote w/e Friday 23 January 2026

Blogging has been a little light this week. Just not that much stuff to link to, and I’ve been in a headspace where I’ve not had too many share-worthy thoughts or ideas. I’ve been tired – maybe that’s the reason.

I also didn’t post this on Friday but left it til the following Monday! Silly David.

This week’s worky highlights:

  • Some more great chats with people about Skillstats, which fills me with hope that this might be a thing and eventually contribute to me being able to retire at some point in the next few decades (an increasing concern as the years pass…!)
  • A lovely chat with Marcus Rees-Harris. We definitely have met at some point, we are sure, but it was lovely to have a proper chat with someone I have been connected to online for some time. He is thriving in a new role, and it was great to see.
  • Been working with Nick on LGR Camp, which is now open for registration.

Not really work stuff:

  • Had a nice discussion over email with Giles Turnbull about finding files in MacOS (I suggested trying out HoudahSpot and Find any File)

Media consumption:

  • Finished the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films. Fourth was very poor, I thought, the fifth and final one slightly better.
  • Watched The War of the Worlds (the Tom Cruise one) again with the family and found it kind of ok but also weirdly low stakes.
  • Have found the Past, Present, Future podcast presented by David Runciman really interesting and it makes a break from all the football ones I otherwise listen to.

Tuesday, 20 January, 2026

Laura Czapiewski – Why human trust shapes AI success:

The psychology of digital has never been more important than now, in the age of AI. There are countless examples of where AI has proved to be far more reliable than humans in performing certain tasks, but people don’t trust it. It is somehow more palatable to accept human error than that of machines. We should never disregard this when designing AI solutions. It may not be a technical requirement, but the human need is just as important. We should never only consider the accuracy of AI models when evaluating its success.

Monday, 19 January, 2026

Government customer services to be modernised with help of industry experts:

The government is launching CustomerFirst, a new unit within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to modernise public services and improve the experience for millions of people who rely on them.

Am sure there’s a few councils that could share experience of ‘customer first’ programmes. About 15 years’ worth!

Friday, 16 January, 2026

📅 Weeknote w/e Friday 16 January 2026

Let’s see how long I can keep this up for!

This week’s worky highlights:

  • We are recruting for two big roles at Luton
  • Also at Luton, we have identified 5 big areas of work that we need some more investment in to make them happen, so have been planning the development of business cases to support those.
  • We are making good progress towards the first release of content in the LGR DDaT playbook. Izy is leaving us to go on maternity leave and is a huge loss, but we heard about how her role will be covered in future and that was very reassuring!
  • Chatting with Nick Hill about LGRCamp – an event he is planning to bring everyone together to talk about the digital bits of LGR, which will be a great day and one I am looking forward to!
  • Made some serious progress with Skillstats – I now have my first properly paying customer to join the two others that are sort of paying (but as part of wider consultancy pieces of work).
  • I also have got to the point where the cyber, digital, data, and technology specialist skills assessment is more or less complete. This will, I think, be really helpful for areas going through local government reorganisation in particular – but also any organisation wanting to baseline the specialist CDDaT skillset within their teams
  • Had a natter with Red Hat’s Johnny Williams, who was lots of fun as well as being super knowledgeable. A great contact to have made.

Not really work stuff:

Media consumption:

  • Tracy and I have started Stranger Things from scratch so we can remember it all before tackling the new series.
  • We watched Top Gun with the kids, as well as the two Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes films, which were a bit meh. Catch Me If You Can with Tom Hanks and Leonardo di Caprio was more fun.
  • Am working my way through The Revolutionists by Jason Burke in the 5 minutes between getting in bed and falling asleep. It’s very good and am frustrated that my limited reading time is making it feel a bit like a slog – which it isn’t!

Fixed an issue in my Tidycal appointment booking thingy, where Teams meetings were being booked but no meeting link provided. It was a simple case of disconnecting the accounts and then reconnecting them (yup, turn it off and on again, basically). Not a biggie but I’ve had to do it several times now, so might look for another solution.