Weeknote 23/2018

This week I’ve been:

• Sending out Issue #306 of my Thought Shrapnel newsletter. This one was called ‘Bachelor lifestyle’. Thanks to the 36 patrons who back me via Patreon plus those who are supporters via Gumroad!
• Recording, editing and releasing Episode 103 of the Today In Digital Education (TIDE) podcast with my co-host Dai Barnes. We entitled this episode ‘Innovation != progress’ and discussed radical technologies, product management, the MoodleNet project, health, personal learning networks, academic innovation, systems change, off-grid networking, and more!
• Working on the MoodleNet project:
  • Starting the first MoodleNet two-week sprint with Mayel de Borniol. It’s a meta-sprint as we figure out the best way to work together and run the project.
  • Leading our monthly MoodleNet community call. You can catch up with what we discussed and access the recording here.
  • Updating the MoodleNet overview slide deck to v0.6 (in progress!)
  • Taking a great Udemy course on product management. I’ve done plenty of project management before, but this has some great insights from someone who’s a product manager at Soundcloud.
  • Getting set up in a separate (hosted) GitLab with Mayel.
  • Figuring out the best way to set up our Trello board.
  • Using Whimsical to create a flowchart for community contribution to the project. I’ve also tidied up the project home page a bit.
  • Writing up the sociocratic design sprint process Outlandish took us through.
  • Catching up with remote colleagues in the weekly Wednesday virtual office hangout.
• Curating interesting things I came across on the Thought Shrapnel blog. This week I collected some quotations and commented on the following:
  • “One who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.” (Confucius)
  • Blockchain was just a stepping stone
  • Living with anxiety
  • “You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere”
  • Systems change
  • Finding friends and family without smartphones, maps, or GPS
• Sorting out car lease stuff. After being messed around a bit by our local Toyota dealer, we’ve hired a car and are looking at other options.
• Responding to a couple of requests for consultancy work through We Are Open co-op. I also worked on a proposal for follow-up work with CET Israel‘s digital literacy MOOC.
• Updating the privacy notice on the website of the local Scout group and watching my son (who’s a Scout) try to surf at Longsands, Tynemouth. 😂
• Writing:
  • Sociocratic design sprints (Open Educational Thinkering, 4th June 2018)
  • Where migraines end and I begin (Open Educational Thinkering, 3rd June 2018)

Next week I’m working from home on Moodle-related things from Monday to Thursday, and then co-op and consultancy things on Friday.