Weeknotes s01e10

TLDR: Nudging the Business Case along and a load of old cobbles.

[Week ending 15/03/2019]

Started the week with a checkpoint call on the NHS App Business case as it works its way to the final approval meeting at the end of this month. We went through the feedback from the various reviewers and were able to clarify quite a bit on the call, with a few things to follow up with, but no show stoppers identified in my view. This was followed by the normal Monday meetings to kick the week off well.

On Tuesday afternoon I popped over to Salford Hospital to find out a bit more about their various streams of work. I was impressed by the digital experience labs they had, where various bits of kit could be tried out. But mostly I was impressed by the signage — having visited quite a few trusts in the past 12 months, this was the most easy to navigate.

On Wednesday I spend a productive couple of hours with one of the accountants updating the budget plan for the NHS App for 2019/20. This has been a moving target for a few weeks, as corporate overhead rates have been recalculated and internal team recharging is being negotiated. It will take a few more days to get it to a position where Tony and I are smiling, but we’re getting there.

Took the day off on Thursday with a couple of friends and cycled up some of the cobbled streets around Calderdale. The weather forecast said to expect a high chance of wind and 48mph winds. We did have strong headwinds at time, but kept dry and enjoyed some proper sunshine.

On Friday I caught up on my email backlog from Thursday, getting to #Inbox20 by the time I shut down the laptop, which isn’t too bad to go into next with. Had a good catch up video call with Adam going over some of the handover stuff I’m collating. I’ve used video calling pretty frequently over the past few years, but since reading ‘Work Together Anywhere’ last week, I’ve been turning on video in every call I’ve joined, as a signal (and driver) to remain engaged in the call. I’m also trying to do that thing where you look at the camera, not people’s faces — no one has told me it looks strange so far!

Interesting stuff read this week:

• Avoid the seagull Effect -the 30/60/90 framework for feedback. This was also mentioned in Work Together Anywhere. Really like the concept of being really specific about the type of feedback you’re seeking at a given moment.
• Shades of Grey IT by Richard Corbridge.
• Article about Dylan Roberts from Leeds Council, who manages to span Local Authority and Health responsibilities. Impressive!

Also listened to:

• All in the Mind — neuro-myths from 18 Dec 2018. Main thing I noted was that learning styles shown to have no scientific basis, but continue to be referred to, particularity in children’s education. Checked out a couple of articles to find out more — Guardian and Science Alert.

Other things noted to consume at some point:

• Book: A Seat at the Table and The Art of Business Value
• Trilly’s Service Design talk
• “Should We Have Deadlines?” by John Cutler https://link.medium.com/wFnpbvJ50U

Books finished this week:

• Fiction: Irène by Pierre Lemaitre. I read “Alex” by the same author a couple of years ago. The translator Frank Wynee deserves a big nod because this feels like the essence of the gripping narrative has been maintained whilst translating it into English, which I guess is no mean feat..
• Non-Fiction: Managing for Happiness by Jurgen — Appelo. It was interesting to compare the notes I took for the two times I’ve read this book and it was quite surprising to see lots of the same things emerge (see table below). I was expecting my personal context to have a stronger bearing and show more differences across the whole book, but looks like just the first half! In 2017 I was in a well-established, high-performing team, and my context was about trying new things to an already innovating team. In 2019, I’m reading this in the context of starting a new job in a few weeks, with a lot of unknowns in terms of agile awareness. I can see that the topics in the early part of the book resonated with me both times, but in the more recent reading I’ve just added a few points around motivation and driving new initiatives.

Currently Reading:

• Fiction: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. I’ve probably read half of Dicken’s work. Most of them are meaty reads — this is about 900 pages. I’m in the normal stage with picking up a Dickens — about 100 pages in still in the process to being introduced the vast cast of characters.
• Non-Fiction: Tony Benn a Political Life by David Powell. Still plodding through this.
• Non-Fiction: The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins. As the new job start gets ever nearer, this feels a timely read. This was highly recommended to me by Ian Thomas, who knows a thing or two about making a massive impact in his first 90 days. I’m finding the practical exercises at the end of each chapter very thought-provoking.