Weeknotes No.92

The weekend flew by, especially as it was bank holiday weekend too.

The biggest highlight wasn’t just Emma returning from her holiday, but football: I watched a live game with my son, and we had an absolute… oh damn… ball.

Monday

I mentioned it above, but today was dad and son day as the girls went off to do some mumfluencer PR at Girlypop.

I took my boy away to his first away match: Emley vs Guiseley FC.

He absolutely fucking dined out on it; he loved it!

It was such a great game, and it had it all: a long drive where he sat in the front, snacks (cheeseburger and chips), a can of pop, bad weather, good weather, 4 goals (for Guiseley), and we were so close to the players it was like he’d scored the goals with the celebrations.

He’s now a full member of the Guiseley supporters fanbase and has insisted I get him a kit. Just a shame those kits aren’t lower league prices.

I cannot recommend lower league football any more than me shouting it out. If your kid is into football, take them.

It’s a lot quieter and less overwhelming than higher up football, and it’s also a lot cheaper, so if they do get bored it’s not terrible to leave early. The fans are actually friendly too. We stood with the home fans and it was so much fun, with them talking to us about the history of the club or just gently, softly bantering with us both.

It just has that lovely community, help-each-other-out vibe, and there’s more to football than swearing.

Love it!

Tuesday

Worky work time!

Back at it, kids still at home… so one more round of snack planning, but I’ve got that in hand by now. Six weeks of practice is enough for me to whip up a “picky” plate of food without even thinking, and it’ll be a balanced diet.

We are really ramping up the presentations now. I’ve said this many times, but I just love doing them.

I am so proud of the journey we went on, and this is not a humble brag, it’s a reminder for me. I know I have brought the users along on the journey myself, and they’ve enjoyed it.

This is, for my team as well as the users, the first time they’ve worked with a designer, but also someone who is willing to find out more and interact with awkward discussions or tough feedback.

This is all to improve our output and what we deliver to end users and stakeholders, and that is key.

Robyn being back at swimming means I get to play games with the boy. We are knee-deep in LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga after doing the hard yards on LEGO City (all on the Switch 2).

It’s an absolute banger of a game. Of course, I know the story (I’m not a huge fan of the Star Wars films… which is odd as I’m sci-fi mad), which means I get the jokes, but it’s LEGO, it’s bloody funny as hell for kids and just a nice way to bond whilst relaxing.

Wednesday

Today was a weird one; I actually realised my contract ends in October, which means finding out whether I’m being renewed.

There is plenty of work to be done, and I assisted with the extension bid, so I am of course hopeful, but I am yet to hear back.

Do I put the green sash on LinkedIn? What do you do in this situation?

It’s one of those weird ones where it’s the land of the unknown. I’m getting a lot of messages around my availability but… ya know, it’s a weird one!

Keeping this update short, cos my brain is tuned into this contract stuff and a very important presentation!

Thursday

Carrying on from yesterday, I was part of a presentation, and it landed. We all landed it. The runway was clear, and we did the takeoff!

I am so proud of this team. We prepare for success, and when questions come in, we are ready to answer them, and we are so comfortable with it all.

It’s hard to talk about what we presented because of the topic, but there was a lot of chatter about the demand for using LLMs to support work.

I’m finding this more common and a natural conversation. It’s almost the “where’s the AI?”, yet it’s drenched in AI already, which showcases exactly the wide-ranging use of the title AI.

I believe it’s overtaken the term “I’ll Photoshop that later”.

I am currently working through a “pack” for User Research in the not-too-distant future, which I am excited about. I want to find out exactly how our users are working, using the software and liking/loving/hating it!

All feedback is welcome.

Speaking of the future, my renewal news wasn’t as I thought it would be, so that’s certainly a thinking piece for me to do over the weekend.

As my pals would say, “the life of a contractor”!

Just to stress, it’s certainly not a bad offer at all. In fact, more the opposite.

Friday

This morning I woke up, had a coffee and a long, hard think about the renewal news. Upon reflection, and as always, it was nowhere near how I read it initially. In fact, quite the bloody opposite.

There is a want to keep me long-term due to my output and, I guess, how I perform.

So stand down, Mikey, I think it’ll be fine!

Loads of work to do ahead, even taking on a new team because there is a huge need for designers everywhere. This is happening more and more from requests from stakeholders and the core team, which is a great sign, and I am more than happy to help out.

Just to stress, this is not double-gigging; this is alongside my current workload.

I like the feeling of being busy during the day, with very little thinking space. I believe designers can overthink the design process and almost ruin their output and become those blockers we hate to be.

This does not mean I am missing out on User Research or planning, but there is always a need to provide value.

Oh crikey, that might have been a hot take.

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards, and I may have planned another day out for the big fella and myself…