I’ve not posted one of these for three weeks, which perhaps is something I should apologise for – although I am hardly inundated with demands for one. The bonus is that in covering three weeks in one note, I actually have some things to say.
Also, I have fiddled slightly with the running order, see if you can spot it.
Gone well
Last week I took a week off work, and did pretty much nothing. I had an eye test (more on that later), a haircut, met some friends (nice to be reminded that I do actually have some), and read quite a few books (more on that later). I felt rested, and realised that in fact I do quite like not working sometimes.
At work, the alpha of the new website went live a couple of weeks ago with the content from adult social care – a marvellous thing to happen. My role is very much of the periphery and yet it was nice to see folk so happy.
I also took a day off to go up to Glasgow and deliver a little talk about what we have been up to in Croydon. Got some good feedback which was nice because external validation.
Room for improvement
My eye test revealed to me what I already knew, which is that I can add hyperopia to my long-standing myopia. It’s so bad I was advised I had to get varifocals because swapping between two pairs of specs would drive me mad, it would have to be done so regularly. Another sign of getting old.
I have a fairly bad case of presenteeism in my job, in that I feel the need to be in the office all time – because, you know, I’m so important. Taking time out recently has reminded me that actually everyone is just fine without me around. It’s fine – and in fact, it’s probably better! This jars somewhat with my messiah complex but I guess I just need to deal with that.
Reflections
The time I spent putting slides together for the Glasgow event gave me plenty of time to think about and reflect on the work we have done during this nearly whole year. The realisation for me was that by far the most impactful stuff we have done is in the space of organisation design – getting CDS into the shape it needs to be, with the right skills and attitudes in place to enable us to kick on and do some great work in the future. Yes, there have been successes in the delivery space along the way, but building the team, and bringing the rest of the organisation along with us, has been the major achievement. I suspect that not enough thought is given to this work when other places are planning some kind of big change programme, whether ‘digital’ or otherwise. Also there’s no cookie-cutter approach to this, time needs to be spent understanding the people, the history and the rhythms of an organisation to know what the right thing to do is.
Cultural input
Quite a bit to cover because three weeks.
TV – finished second series of The End of the F**king World and it was marvellous. Better, I think, than the first, it was funny, sincere and heartwarming – but only just, so not mawkish. Thoroughly recommended.
Books – Lanny by Max Porter is an absolute marvel of a little book. I loved his first one too and this is just as good, occupying a space somewhere between a story and a poem, full of magic and warmth and ideas.
Also, somewhat to my embarrassment, I’ve discovered a penchant for historical detective fiction all of a sudden. I blitzed my way through the first two of C.J. Sansome’s Shardlake series of books, which ludicrously cover the adventures of a hunchback Tudor-era lawyer. I know, I know. Anyway, my life won’t be changed by it obviously, but the pages kept turning and I was gripped – until I finished and then I felt a bit ashamed.
Finally in books, I’ve started Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station, which is a slight thing but delightful so far.
Listening – more of Underland on long car journeys, but also Audible’s podcast about Rupert Murdoch, The Sun King which was ok enough, but did leave me wanting to know quite a bit more.
In music I came across Arthur Russell for the first time, whose work really rewards repeat listening – extremely diverse and loads of fantastic little surprises that pop up when you’re least expecting it. Also I went to see Sam Fender play live – he’s a millennial geordie Bruce Springsteen (which I consider to be a good thing).
Phew, that’s a lot of words. Well done if you made it this far. Something to amuse you, as a reward:
This weekend.
Dad: I didn’t realise “Human” was by The Killers.
Me: Yeah, why, who did you think it was by?
Dad: Chris de Burgh.
Me:
— Dave Briggs (@davebriggs) December 9, 2019