Weeknote 2024.32

A week that once again showed the value of the hundreds if not thousands of informal discussions that subtly align us in ways no cultural consultant ever could. ?

Saturday

Good to stretch my legs after a lot of sitting down in the previous week, with a six mile walk from Stratford to Royal Albert, largely along the Greenway. A large group, with 44 walkers, although a few ducked out as we passed various stations.

Sunday

A shorter walk in the morning, from Stratford International to Bromley by Bow, through the Olympic Park, a small section of the Greenway, and then down the Lower Lea. A quick break then onto the Barbican for a rare UK performance by The Magnetic Fields.

Monday

A good start to the day and the week, with a productive project board, important decisions made on clear choices, the result of a lot of collaborative work across all our teams.

Much of what I’ve done so far falls into what I describe as ‘fix’ and ‘modernise’, so it was great to spend the afternoon initiating seven ‘innovate’ mini projects with Triple Value Impact and our project team.

And onwards to the first post-summer photography club meeting, a good turnout, and a pleasant evening.

Tuesday

It’s a common challenge, responding to seemingly infinite demand with distinctly finite resources, and we agreed today how we would manage this as we build our 2025/26 portfolio, noting that we will likely iterate the process as we go from theory to practice. The outcome was good, and the process reinforced what a practical, collaborative and cooperative organisation we are.

Wednesday

A fantastic morning with the VMo2 Innovation forum with Ant Morse and Eric Tyree discussing the practical application of AI, hosted by Samsung in the centre of the Coal Drop Yards at Kings Cross.

Innovation is practically synonymous with AI now, and it was useful to hear how others across all sectors are using AI, what works and what doesn’t, and how legal and ethical considerations are integrated into experiments.? We heard of one situation where there is a clear safety case for using AI which needs to be balanced against expectations of privacy. Talking to other delegates, it seems we are one of the more advanced organisations in supporting colleagues to use Microsoft Copilot effectively and safely.

In the afternoon, a useful meeting with colleagues and one of our partners that brought clarity to a long-running and confusing situation and a quick update on a project that’s getting to the point where we need to move from discussions to decisions in the next few weeks.

Thursday

A day of meetings that increased the clarity of our intentions across board. I’ve learned to be reasonably comfortable with uncertainty around what, when, how, where and who but still feel knowing why we are doing things is fundamental. ?

Friday

A day with few scheduled meetings and many informal discussions. The perfect Friday.

Track of the week

While exploring the Barbican website I came across a link to their Barbican Recommends Spotify playlist collated from staff favourites. It looks like they just keep adding tracks, so it’s going to take me a couple of weeks to listen to the whole 38 hours.

I’ve already found a few gems, including this one, Panacea by Disasterpeace. https://open.spotify.com/track/7KBoQnlle2lUerygFSk0iJ?si=8a5e48e2d5d64a3b

Jobs of the week

While you are waiting for jobs in Digital Services have a look at this role and recommend any friends working in this area. Head of Exchequer Services. https://careers.enfield.gov.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=1525

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