Weeknote 2024.31
Adrian Gorst
Chief Technology Officer (Director of Digital Services) at Enfield Council
Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour. After a week of largely report writing and a week of largely recruiting it feels good to be doing a little bit of a lot of things this week.
Saturday
Another walk from Manor Park, up the Roding valley, through Wanstead Park and back over Wanstead Flats, this time with a different group, and in different weather conditions, persistent rain compared to last week’s bright sunshine.
Sunday
Perfect weather for home and garden chores, so I made a big dent in my personal to do list.
Monday
The organised walk I planned to join was cancelled at the last minute, off to the Taylor Swift Songbook Trail at the V&A not least as its ending soon and I was intrigued to see how they had incorporated the exhibits into their galleries.
It felt like a very clever idea, getting loads of people who might not otherwise visit the V&A to come along, then spreading the Taylor Swift exhibits around the galleries so visitors sample much of what they’ve got to offer while following the trail, which of course ends up in the gift shop. Not to mention passing two of their paid-for exhibitions and the café on the way.
Tuesday
Two reports open on my screen as I ready them for submission tomorrow. Whether its these Weeknotes or work reports, I find myself using Editor in Word more as a quick check on not just spelling and grammar but also style. While I don’t always agree with its recommendations, they are useful enough to consider.
Wednesday
Two reports cleared and submitted today, which was a significant weight off my mind. And not one but two discussions about the practical application of AI beyond general administration, one reassured me that what we are exploring is on the edge of current capabilities but not impossible, the other meeting left me puzzled.
Thursday
Our fortnightly catch-up on all things technical confirmed rapid progress in the right direction founded on great collaborative work between teams. Elsewhere I found three teams working on effectively the same thing, one from a technical angle, one from a project angle and one from a savings angle, easily aligned, and good that we’ve covered these elements in parallel rather than sequentially.
And in the evening, a mini reunion with the Portrait Photography class to see some of our works displayed in a local café. At least a couple of us are signing up for the night photography course this term.
Friday
Up at dawn for some early morning photography, nothing too interesting, but found some good locations for when we next get a colourful sunrise.
A good meeting with finance, our budget position is improving thanks to the amazing efforts of my team driving down the cost of goods and services. They drive a hard bargain with suppliers and are good natured in how they go about it, so I get lots of positive feedback from sellers who feel they’ve met their match and enjoyed the negotiation.
Triumph of the day was negotiating a way through an apparently simple but actually surprisingly knotty problem that’s been vexing us for a few weeks. As is often the case, the eventual answer was quite straight-forward, getting there wasn’t.
Track of the week
I listen to a lot of music (although slightly less since I got into podcasts) so don’t know how I missed the rise of Rachel Chinouriri, already a big star, and feels poised to be a huge star, their most played track on Spotify… So My Darling, acoustic
Job of the week
I promise there will be a job of the week soon.
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