Jack tweeted earlier in the week about feeling at a bit of a dead end, and how do you find a mentor etc etc. I’ve definitely felt similarly in recent months: something about getting to a certain level of seniority has meant fewer people looking out for me, and I’ve found myself feeling a bit jealous of the people I line manage or mentor. I want an hour to talk about my work and where I’m going! so I’m accepting offers from people of a service/systems design and product flavour. I’m also still accepting breakfast meetings near the office at 9am!
had dinner at Emile on Tuesday with some Gail’s pals. it was delicious, especially the pink fir potatoes with anchovy. and the Lancashire poacher croquettes with a brown sauce vibe going on too (cuts through the cheese, innit). I am definitely richer now that I don’t work in food and don’t go out for dinner all the time. but I also definitely eat less delicious food.
on Monday I went to a thing about systemic design at the Design Council. it was good, though some examples I was maybe a bit sceptical about. or maybe it’s language. some things can be products or campaigns rather than examples of systems change and that is OK. or maybe everything is systems change when you look at it through a certain lens.
when I start on this theoretical stuff, I very quickly get to a place of “I’m tired”. no idea how people can spend their lives so earnestly engaging with it to be honest - I really admire it, but almost immediately get to a place of “what if we all just went to the pub and had a chat?”. I’d like to be one of the earnest engagers, but…well, I’m not / I can’t right now. maybe it’s to do with the work I’ve been doing rather than me. one to consider more in 2020.
started reading Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo before bed last night and holy crap it’s good. resented going to work this morning because how DARE work take me from my novel? can’t wait to get on the tube to read more of it and will be devastated when it’s over. I read fiction really fast so it will probably be over by the time I get home :(
I know of at least two people at GDS who used to work in publishing and sometimes I’m like, why used to? what was wrong with reading novels all the time? can I have a go?
worked from home yesterday. I’m often not very good at working from home, because I don’t take breaks and then my brain burns out a bit. but yesterday was good, I got a whole bunch done. maybe this is because I didn’t want to turn the heating on, so I got a yoga mat out and did a bunch of jumping around for 5 mins every time I got cold. after lunch I went for a 12 minute run before a meeting. get buff, save money, work from home!
I asked about sci fi on Twitter earlier in the week. there were so many replies that now I have absolutely no idea of where to start, except for starting with the books that Will brought in for me the very next day. actions speak louder than words IN ACTION!
when I was at Co-op I wrote an intro to a story of a food store in 2030 (yes, the most boring story ever) to try to get across how technology was changing retail, and I’m interested in that kind of thing as a design tool more than I’m interested in, as I said on Twitter, spaceships. really hope people haven’t just recommended loads of books about spaceships to me.
thought I was being clever today trying to tidy up who I follow on Twitter, to reduce politics and to reduce general noise, because I’ve been sucked right back in recently and I want my brain back again. started a private list, called it ‘mute’ so that I’d remember to mute people later. then Buzz told me he’d got a notification about it. what’s private about that, Twitter? you’ll find me in a shame cave somewhere.
yesterday morning I was brushing my hair in front of the mirror, getting ready to leave the house, and started saying in Italian the foods involved in our Italian Christmas lunch. 'involtini, stracchino, manzo, finocchio, funghi, polenta’. what can I say, I’m excited.
spent most of therapy this week talking about public loos. I don’t present gender-typically and I pretty much never have, so for most of my life I’ve experienced the odd funny look in women’s loos. somehow over time I’ve translated that into a feeling of guilt that I shouldn’t be there in the first place. it’s stressful! so it was good to talk about it. a reminder for anyone reading that other people in public bathrooms are 100% more likely than you are to know which loo they should be in, and are about as likely as you are to have made a mistake about which door to go through.
involved in my fifth recruitment campaign since September, three of which I’ve been the chair for. always write a cover letter!
keep being exceptionally un-Checksies and checked my portfolio a bunch of times because I’m close to a number that I’m excited about. this Monevator article is a whole set of good reasons Not To Check…but also to pay attention to milestones. after some chat with Rod where we worked out a bunch of ways I could cheat my usual measures and actually be at this milestone (including: “what if I sell loads of stuff on eBay in December so I have an extra £600 to put into Vanguard this month?”), we concluded that it’s all well and good to want to hit targets and so on, but ultimately, stick with good habits, pat self on the back, carry on. yes! it’s the obvious conclusion: do nothing jazzy, keep going.
omg Freddie Ljungberg
excellent piece on growth loops shared by Tanya Cordrey, yes I’m linking to the tweet not to the post for proper attribution. it’s easy to lose sight / track of techniques used to build and think about product development from inside govt, because…well, it’s different, innit?
the hidden insight this week (which I’ve only found through writing this) is around compulsive checking of things: portfolios, feeds, Arsenal news. might turn my phone off. bye!
had my last Italian lesson before my teacher goes and has a baby and takes a bit of time off. unprompted, she told me that I am her best student. well maybe tied with someone else but they do loads of homework. obviously I was delighted, and then I suddenly worried that I should be doing way more Italian homework than I am. story of my life.
when the news broke about Spurs firing Poch and recruiting Mourinho, my godson posted an Instagram story about Spurs being a ‘terrible club’. we’ve not spent loads of time together in the past five years (geography innit) but I like to think me taking him to Arsenal once or twice a season has directly contributed to this mindset and frankly I am proud that I’ve helped him become the upstanding young man he is today.
met some Danes this week. they were thoughtful and interested and they all laughed at my jokes. what if we all moved to Denmark, huh?
after a bit of a rough day on Tuesday / let’s be honest maybe a rough few weeks, I messaged Ste, our head of design, to see if he was around for a pint 'soon’, because I felt like a chat with him might help me feel a bit better. his reply: “sure, what about now? see you downstairs in 5 minutes?”. and that is how Stephen and I ended up in the pub at 11.30am on Tuesday. no just kidding, it was 5pm. anyway. fast response + making time at that exact moment = leaders, take note. thanks Ste <3
on Wednesday we ran a user-centred design careers evening for people who are underrepresented in technology. we pulled it together fast (well, Clara did). I did a talk at the end, which was my usual 'take a boring thing like pensions or recruitment and try to explain it in human’. people seemed to appreciate it. I’m keenly aware that this translation of complicated to simple wouldn’t be a necessary thing to do if we made it easy in the first place.
it was very, very lovely to be in the Pilcrow last Friday and see some of my Co-op Digital friends. what a familiar place. the Pilcrow might actually be the pub I’ve spent the most time in ever?! (tight competition with the EDT and the Gowlett I imagine)
the design team went to the Design of the Year exhibition this morning. while I was looking at one of the entries, a man came along with a drill and an orange tag saying 'overall winner’, and proceeded to drill it onto the label.
the Design Museum lockers are £1, coins only, non-refundable. who left their ticket in their coat pocket and had to pay two pounds for the privilege of using a cloakroom? yes, me. first I had to go to west London, then I had to pay an extra quid for the privilege. there’s a reason I try not to go west of Vauxhall, and I’d do well to remember it.
just went to check just how far west Vauxhall is compared to north of the river, and have now created ideal boundaries for myself on Google Maps. no further west than Vauxhall Bridge Road / Park Lane, in an ideal world. I’m more lenient in other parts of the city. what can I say man, north London’s home.