Weeknote 20: week ending 19th April 2024

Its finally warm (and dry – its Ireland) enough to walk outside in t-shirts, go for bike rides and cut the lawn. Got all three done this weekend so son number two cant complain the grass in the field is too long to kick a ball around in. So that was good.

What I’ve been up to

1. We met as a whole digital functional team on Wednesday. The big item was the announcement that Adrian will be leaving at the end of April, a couple of months earlier than expected. That puts the spotlight on me stepping up to be director of digital / chief digital officer. So lots of questions, change is always worrying, and lots to work through as we plan for our future reporting to the chief operating officer, Kirsty.
2. The news actually broke on Tuesday morning, right before our virtual wider leadership team meeting (all those who are managers) so conversation there inevitably focused on “what next”? Few answers as yet other than I’m now the digital lead. We did get time to talk about end of year appraisals and our plans to make meetings run better.
3. We’ve pretty much nailed down our digital delivery roadmap now with a bit of visual tweaking to be done. It follows our business plan closely. Next step is to share it more widely with colleagues across the business.
4. A fair few conversations about how we _practically_ embed user/service orientated thinking into our work with colleagues across the agency. Badly needed, not easy, a priority for the new financial year.
5. A fair few serendipitous conversations about our using the digital leadership team of microsoft Loop to co-create meeting agendas, capture notes and allocate actions. Seeing some real interest in wider adoption.

What I’m up to next

1. We have our monthly digital leadership team on thursday. This month its in Leeds so looking forward to visiting the office there for the first time and meeting digital and other colleagues who work there.
2. Undoubtably the main topic of conversation is going to be “what are we going to do differently as part of the COO area”, and related expectations. Lots to agree as well as one final hard Paddington stare on our roadmap and priorities.
3. Its my first COO senior leadership team meeting on Monday. It will be good to spend time with the other directors in this part of the business and find out what is vexing them.
4. Got a bunch of overdue catch ups this week, including with old friend Neil Williams. Its really helpful to take a step back and reflect on work with colleagues working elsewhere in similar roles.

Author: Jeremy

Somebody who likes nice things that work, without having to spend too much time working out why. View all posts by Jeremy