We've come a long way baby...

From nought to fifty thousand impressions in sixty five days!

I have been reflecting this afternoon upon the fact that the official deadline for our respective DfE funded Data Capability projects has now passed. Whilst we are busy writing up our final reports and preparing to share the findings with the rest of the sector, it is important for all of us to stop and take a moment to let the true magnitude (and total awesomeness) of what we have been able to achieve in such a short space of time fully soak in.

Don Jones This really has been the shortest of sprints, and sweetest of fever dreams! Like everyone else - I can't wait to see what your team has produced.

Tina Manning and Lizzie Parkes I simply have no words that can even begin to describe the journey we have been on together other than to say what a truly epic adventure this has been...

Tim Dumbleton Total DfE legend and really great guy to boot! Thank you for making this possible and guiding us down the correct pathways (pun intended).

So how best to explain that roller-coaster ride of the past three months that Don and Tina have described so well? With a time series line graph of course... remember we are supposed to be data geeks! Honestly, 100% true story that myself and Tina had never even been onto LinkedIn before this project began. To find out this very morning that I have already racked up more than 50,000 impressions since 20th Jan this year is completely and utterly ridiculous.

The impact we have had so far has been undeniably seismic in proportion compared to the limited time and resources at our disposal, to the extent that any outputs from our projects should probably be measured using the Richter scale! So how would I sum up the DfE Data Capability project, well here goes:

• Earth-shaking
• Ground-breaking
• Breath-taking
• Change-making

Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way, either in person, or virtually. This has been the ultimate joint enterprise and shows just how much we are capable of when we collaborate. If the purpose of this exercise was to start a conversation, then we have certainly done that, but more than this, we have also started an entirely new movement. The challenge now, is to keep the momentum going and make sure that the people on the top table are listening. I will leave you to reflect upon the lyrics to the Jimmy Castor Bunch 1970 hit "It's Just Begun"...

Day or night

Dynamite

We had fun

But it's just begun

It's just begun

It's just begun

Rob_Wall_Data_Geek