Tag: Weeknotes

Weeknote 03/2021

Posted on January 22, 2021January 22, 2021 by Doug Belshaw

Long shadow on the beach at Druridge Bay, Northumberland

Wherever in the world you happen to be, I think we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief now that Joe Biden has been sworn in as the 46th President of the USA.

Here in the UK, we’ve still got the clown-car government that my fellow countrymen and women inexplicably voted in immediately before the pandemic. They’re doing about as well as can be expected given their glaring incompetence, which has been compounded by the economic self-harm of Brexit.

Closer to home, though, everything is going well. The Catalyst project I’m leading through Dynamic Skillset had its kick-off meeting, and we found out that our co-op was successful in another funding bid. Laura and I recorded the pilot for a new podcast which led to us presenting a proposal for a series of six episodes to fellow co-op members. That proposal was passed, so look out for the first ‘proper’ episode in the next few weeks, and then monthly afterwards.

This week has included my son’s birthday; another teenage year which makes me feel even older than I did turning 40 last month. Another thing that made me feel ancient was attending an online workshop facilitated and attended by people a decade (or more) younger than me. I had to leave half-way through as, although I’m sure everyone else was getting a lot out of it, the format didn’t work for me.

I can definitely see how people get set in their ways as they get older. When you’re younger and you’re not quite sure what you like or how things work, it’s easy to throw caution to the wind and just try things. As you get older, with a bit less energy but many more responsibilities, it’s always easier to lean towards things you know have worked well before. Note to self: I need to fight against that tendency, at least some of the time.

Being back on Twitter is mostly great, although it means less time for blogging. I haven’t published anything here, and on Thought Shrapnel this week I’ve only managed to put out two link posts:

Another website-related thing I did do this week, though, was to create a new thesis page and redirect a couple of legacy domains to it. One of those domains was neverendingthesis.com, which used a version of MediaWiki which I don’t think I ever really upgraded. It finally fell over just shy of its millionth visit, which is incredible really.

I’ve also removed my ebook about digital literacies from Gumroad and made it freely-downloadable from the thesis page. Self-publishing works: in addition to the ~£800 I made pre-v1.0, I also made $3,587.46 in sales via Gumroad over the last few years!

Next week is mainly Catalyst work, although I’m trying to keep my hand in with Outlandish and do some business development for the co-op. I’m just thankful that I’m able to find decent-paying, meaningful work during a pandemic and keep my family relatively happy.

Photo taken on Thursday morning during a run on the beach at Druridge Bay, Northumberland.

Weeknote 02/2021

Posted on January 15, 2021January 15, 2021 by Doug Belshaw

I know this isn’t exactly an original thought, but time seems to be acting weirdly at the moment. Everything is a bit discombobulating, but I guess everyone’s in the same boat. We’ll figure it out.

Meanwhile, I’m spending time working on interesting stuff with awesome people, and doing things which make me smile. Like what, you say? Well, walking in the winter sun with my family, playing PS4, reading, and listening to Kylie’s fabulous latest album, Disco. Good music is good music, people.

It’s been our daughter’s 10th birthday this week, which, if you can remember back that far, is a Big Deal. Double digits! She’s awesome and I’m very glad that she’s growing into a confident young woman who knows her own mind.

This week has also seen our son starting the process of choosing his GCSE option subjects, which takes me back to when I chose mine 26 years ago. It’s so important to choose things that interest you. For example, I did Media Studies and not only really enjoyed it — I made a plasticine stop-motion version of Match of the Day — but also got an ‘A’ and learned things that have stood me in good stead for the rest of my life.

One thing that’s different with his options, even in the decade since I left teaching, is the EBacc. However, long story short, I asked around and it’s basically meaningless. Doing well in subjects they’re interested in is much more important for teenagers than some kind of combination that pleases traditionalists.

While we’re on the subject of education, I’ve been tweeting a bit about the (monetary) value of Higher Education. While no-one needs to listen or read my opinions on the subject, I do have four university qualifications and have worked in the sector. However, as I said here in a write-up of a Twitter thread, I’m a bit disillusioned with the view that universities have a right to exist and everyone should just get with the programme.

Since leaving working in formal education, I’ve been working on product-related things, which live or die by ensuring user acceptance/delight. I know there’s a pandemic on, but Higher Education really needs to be dramatically shaken up. The UK government doesn’t help, of course, by creating a pseudo-market. We’ll see some institutions either merge or go to the wall, I expect.

Over at Thought Shrapnel, I published the following… (🔗 = link posts)

Work-wise this week, I’ve been:

Kicking off the Catalyst-funded project I’m project managing which is a collaboration between Dynamic Skillset and Bay Digital. We’re helping three civil society organisations with a ‘sector challenge’ to help remove barriers to remote claiming of Universal Credit. We’ve had to swap out one of the organisations at the last minute for various reasons, but the one that can’t be a core part will still be involved for user research.
Hanging out with my We Are Open colleagues. We spent a half day doing some strategy work, which Laura wrote up here.
Scaling back my work with Outlandish. I’ve realised I haven’t got time to get really involved in everything I was doing from August to December with them, so I’m going to have a chat next week about my continued work with them.

I also participated in a paid knowledge-sharing session which was very professionally-organised. I gave some insights into a particular area of my expertise, which was facilitated by an agency who connected me with an organisation by phone. They asked me a series of questions, appreciated my insights, and the money should be in my account soon. Colour me impressed!

Next week, I’m sinking my teeth even further into the Catalyst project, and starting some business development for We Are Open. That may or may not involve doing the pilot episode of a new podcast! I’m excited.

Weeknote 49/2020

Posted on December 5, 2020December 5, 2020 by Doug Belshaw

Even while a thing is in the act of coming into existence, some part of it has already ceased to be.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

This week, having paused Thought Shrapnel for this month, I published three posts here. All of them, for some reason, were questions:

The third references a decision I made on Wednesday morning, with the aid of my wife, to stop working in the middle of next week. I’m going to take the rest of the year off and recharge.

I started this week in a very pleasant way, going for a walk on the beach with my mother to celebrate her birthday. It was cold, but the light was beautiful and the sky was clear.

Work-wise this week, I’ve been collaborating with Outlandish on productisation, Catalyst bids, and new products and services around ‘Building OUT’ (Openness, Understanding, and Trust). On Thursday evening, a group of us from Outlandish did the online version of the Amsterdam Catacombs event room, which was mildly terrifying (but fun!)

On Wednesday afternoon, I attended an interesting Co-op College workshop called Let’s Talk About Race. In the morning I’d participated in the internal testing version of a Building OUT workshop on team communication, so I had a very professional development-y kind of day.

Other than that, I’ve been purposely working more slowly than usual, which I actually find difficult. In my twenties, I worked close to 100% speed all the time, which led to burnout. In my thirties, I’ve managed 90% much of the time, with occasional migraines forcing me to pause. Now, as I approach 40, I’m looking for ways to work both quickly and sustainably.

I don’t usually write weeknotes in December, and I want to liberate myself from things that I feel I should be doing, so I’m going to make this the last one of 2020. It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it?

Photo of Druridge Bay, Northumberland.