Freshly returned from a great holiday in Turkey, sunburnt, bitten to hell and back, but relaxed and ready to go!

Over this time off, I realised once again that I wish to be more visible. Maybe that’s LinkedIn, maybe that’s more podcasting (invite me…) or maybe it’s public speaking. I am unsure at this point, but I feel I’m in the prime of my career with an avalanche of knowledge and experience (good and bad) desperate to come out and pass to the next person.

I’ve started to post more on LinkedIn, add little thoughts here and there on my new website that you are currently on, and I’m feeling it’s a nice outlet.

I feel my weeknotes aren’t really doing what they used to do, mostly because I am under tight restrictions at the moment, so it’s tough talking about what I’m actually doing day to day!

Monday

Monday morning, 8:30am, started with a blast. A chat with the ever brilliant Mark Thomas, who is building a very exciting platform at the moment which could really change things up around recruitment and consultancy join-up.

Keep an eye on it. Could be very powerful for us contractors!

After this chat, I loaded up our work Teams and instantly had the pick-me-up. User feedback received, and it’s very positive!

All of this keeps leading me to think… maybe… just maybe we’ve done good.

In such a short time (I joined in October), we have delivered so many user requests and requirements that I am very proud of this work.

Mondays are always my “what needs doing for the week, what’s an easy win, and how many meetings can I sip coffee in without being disruptive to a flowing conversation” day.

Every Monday I lead a Design chat at 1pm. This is a drop-in session for the team, a space for me to share what I’m working on now, next and any issues. Think of a dev-chat, but so much more Figma.

It’s a safe place to give feedback on ways of working, talk about user feedback, or prioritise incoming work.

Today was my chance to deliver a very much needed “thing”.

In basic terms (it’s always basic due to security level access), a tracker of sorts to show the user what is read and what is unread.

Sounds simple, but it never is.

The solution is simple, they always are, BUT there are a couple of hurdles to go through before that. Things like speaking to users to soundcheck ideas, which I love and they love.

I’ve been slowly getting my way through Red Dead Redemption on the Switch. I’ve decided I should try to complete games rather than just keep moving to the next, so I am parking Black Flag until this is done.

Watching my daughter play Stardew Valley over the holiday has also been so interesting and I can certainly see the value of solo play on there. We usually play as a three with the kids.

It’s such a banger of a game and usually around the £10 mark, which is ridic.

Tuesday

Woke up to a notification on my phone:

“You may be experiencing issues in your area.”

Turns out Virgin were not joking. No internet at all and expected recovery around 5pm.

BRILLLLLLLLLLLL.

Interestingly, some features for the TV will not be fixed until 28th August!

Imagine me telling a client that, eh.

This means no access to stand-up, barely any access to Trello (where we keep our tickets), but luckily I have a new ticket to do, and I know what I’m doing.

Yesterday I mentioned I had sign-off for a really good ticket, and the next one is what I call a “standing ovation ticket”.

The thing that users want and love. The thing they asked for.

It’s not necessarily a NEED, but certainly a power-want.

It’ll be big when it lands, and they’ll love it.

The only issue is… I need to dream up a solution to the problem/request.

But that is why I drink far too much coffee.

I noticed on the Contractors Gov Slack channel the owner announced he’s launching a new service: GovTalent.

Looks like a really good idea, might be worth a sign-up!

Whilst I’m looking for inspiration for designing or writing, I like to play music and was reminded of the brilliance of THE supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash and Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.

I also ended the day prepping a salad with Emma to take to her friend’s sleepover.

A crafting night and bottle of wine. That actually sounds more down my street than anyone’s!

Wednesday

Finally got full access to the internet, so updating Trello tickets is my morning task, as well as an unscheduled LinkedIn post I wanted to make since reading so many takes on the Severe Alert last week around fires.

Here it is.

On the note of LinkedIn posts, I’m trying to find a rhythm of posting and times to post.

I want to do at least two posts a week, be that weeknotes and a design/life post, and so far it’s going well. I’m not sure what I want from it, but it feels like a nice outlet.

I will also be putting all the LinkedIn posts on my website for my own archive and ownership.

Work-wise, I provided six questions to survey users using the service, which I’m delighted to see go live and get signed off.

I want data.

I love data.

And this is a quick way to do it. Six very light questions to find out from the wide-ranging user base: is this thing any good?

Life planning. I am solo-dadding next week, which I love, so I am planning a surprise day off with the kids, and it looks like the National Coal Mining Museum is winning the race!

P.S. I emailed them to enquire about times per event. They called back within the hour and gave me a schedule to do on the day.

This is customer service A*.

Sealed the deal.

Thursday

A quick chat with Emma and we discussed Bobbin & Bumble and me getting back on side.

I’ve not really been busy on it and… I’m not its saviour, but I feel it shows.

Whilst Emma is busy with BAU (which is growing more and more as growth happens), the website feels like it might have fallen behind.

In true style, I never got around to Phase 2 of the new design.

This was going to smooth out CRO techniques, update content via data and all sorts of magic, but it never happened.

No time like the present, eh?

I have ideas, workflow and things to do, so wait for that update next week!

I love dipping into ecommerce. So different from my 9-5.

Work was busy with sprint planning. We’ve recently changed to sprints. Love them or loathe them, the planning bit is always key.

BUT next sprint is sorted out with absolute user-winners!

Friday

Morning starts with dropping Emma off at the train station. That lucky pup is off on her hols with the girls.

I can’t complain (not that I would anyway, cos that would be weird). I did go on a Rally tour of Europe recently…

But my next task is a shopping list.

Snacks, meals and snacks.

Leaning back into work, jug of coffee in tow, I am working through a presentation the team will give next month, sorting out my current tickets and what I deem good enough, then figuring out how to present it back to the team so it lands.

I have high standards as I want these two features to be big hitters.

The users want them and, more importantly, they need them to help make their job quicker and much easier.

Tonight’s plans are to get the kids gardening on a very weedy bit of the garden, bribe them with pocket money, and sit and bask in the slightly nice weather while I prep to tidy the house up.

Roll on next week! ✌️