Week 47
An intense week, mostly in Newcastle, trying to get things over the line. So it’s weird that most of my reflections aren’t work reflections.
Quite a lot of close working with developers and testers this week. Writing plain English test banks that can be used on the code. Puzzling through the occasional unexpected output. Understanding the nuances of rounding on complex multi-stage calculations. Reflection: I enjoy this type of intellectual puzzling - it forces me to disconnect my brain from rapid response mode and think more deeply, systematically and strategically. But I wouldn’t want to do it all the time - I’m far too curious and opinionated to work to a permanently narrowed focus.
Spotted a policy inconsistency no-one else had, one that would have carried a giant multi-million pound risk (and an even larger reputational one). I successfully set out the case for taking a slightly different approach, got agreement to formally change the policy and adjust the regulations to clarify. Reflection: this is my one of my favourite things about truly cross-functional multi-disciplinary working. We’re all in it together - when we feed back on problems, people don’t tell us to “stay in our lane”, they say “thank god you spotted that, let’s get it changed”.
When you have the sort of brain that is good for absorbing and making sense of masses of information, and have been around since the start of a project, people will tend to rely on you to know things. What does this mean? Ask Audree. Who should I talk to if I need to find out more about this? Ask Audree. Sh*t, has anyone thought about this yet? Ask Audree. I’m like a human design history. And I usually don’t mind it. Reflection: but this week I do. I’ve three weeks off coming up soon - and I’m worried that I might have allowed myself to be turned into a single point of failure. So I’ve got two weeks to build up confidence (my own, and others’) that any critical knowledge for the next 6 weeks is spread well enough around the wider team that we won’t have a problem.
I don’t do self-care very well when I’m working away from home. I’ll usually not eat between breakfast in the hotel and getting back (late) at the end of a busy day. This time I thought it would be good to go to a gym near the hotel, see if I can use the spare evening time to get back into the habit for December. I found one that had week passes available, signed up, and then rocked up in my trainers ready for a workout. Reflection: I ought to check these things out before I spend money on them - the gym was huge and really well equipped. But everyone looked like they were under 21, and the whole place stank of sweaty teenage boy, and after my first workout I didn’t have it in me to return. Next time? I’ll book a hotel with a gym.
Home late on Thursday evening - Friday was Christmas movies and popcorn with the kids. I had lunch with a friend I haven’t seen in far too long. I started experimenting with candle-making with my youngest. And booked her birthday party at the local Puttshack. December looks frantically busy so nice to have a relaxed weekend.