Weeknote 2024.42

A week that’s too difficult to summarise in a sentence or two, so more of a TL; DR. More walking than usual, more reports to write as usual, some challenges, many successes, and the Best Value Inspection report on my former employer.

If you want some intellectually rigorous reading on digital public infrastructure then try this: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/bartlett_public_purpose/files/iipp_wp_2024_05.pdf

Saturday

A longish, independent walk around Sudbury and Great Cornard in Suffolk. Enjoyed some great scenery, met some friendly people, and really stretched my legs. If you find yourself in the area pop into the https://www.milltyegallery.co.uk/ ?

Sunday

Recovering from my longish walk.

Monday

Few meetings in the diary today, kept myself busy, largely as I have another round of reports due, and was juggling multiple subjects, formats and clearance timelines. Great to say hello to our new Executive Director Resources and looking forward to a proper get-to-know-you later in the week.

Tuesday

Today’s meetings were unusually all about me and my need to gather, collate and verify information for reports. In many cases things move on between me submitting a report and getting to the relevant meeting to present it, so I will be gathering, collating and verifying the latest updates as close to the meetings as possible.

The one exception was chairing the Business Continuity board, where we got through a remarkable amount in our short meeting, thanks entirely to the excellent preparation done by others on my behalf.

The Best Value Inspection on my former employer, Tower Hamlets, was published today. Lots of words. And in places surprisingly personal. It was commissioned after I had left Tower Hamlets so is of no material consequence to me, however it is of interest as I know many who left after the election ushered in a new administration, many who are still there, and of course I still work in local government.

Wednesday

Several steps forward in the preparations for a major project scheduled for next year. Confirmed our cost estimates are at least in the right ballpark, and one of my colleagues cleared a potential internal obstacle.

My mother said making a good cake was all in the preparation, and my father said successful decoration was all in the preparation, and I say a successful project is all in the preparation.

Thursday

A day of meetings. The best characterisation of the meetings I can come up with is that each one peeled back another layer of challenge, difficulty or uncertainty, leading us towards the root cause and eventually its resolution.

I finished the day with my first meeting with our new Executive Director Resources, including a common reflection that joining a new Council is always a learning experience.

Friday

Lots of annual leave left to take, so a day off and a walk from Walton-on-the-Naze to Clacton-on-Sea. I estimate I walked past around 1000 beach huts, all but one firmly closed for the winter, and the one that was open had three men nursing warm drinks and playing a board game in the weak sun.

Come and join us!

As our new Head of Digital Delivery. https://starfishsearch.com/jobs/enfield-digital-delivery/

Track of the week

This is the sort of track that either draws people to Country music or reinforces their distaste for it. Date Night by Dita Alexander (feat. Morgan Evans.) https://open.spotify.com/track/5ribExtjJuCUmfJQPO31uO?si=36e7a17998164837

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