Weird mix of drained and still wired coming to the end of this week. Work is coming to a head in many ways – teams trying to assemble properly across multiple orgs to work to a pretty tight timeline. I can’t really share much about why what/why/how sadly.

So, instead you get some more generic reflections:

• Working on something time sensitive, that has a big impact on people is tough. Decisions are hard, and almost never perfect for everyone. It’s given me a renewed sense of respect/sympathy for those who led design and research for COVID services and similar things. I can see that there is only so long you can work in that way.
• Sort of related, some decisions just have to be made. There might not be enough time to test something, the risk of harm might be too great, or you might already know enough to know that more research won’t help you make the decision.
• I’ve grown so accustomed to people who default to collaboration that get caught off guard a bit by people who don’t. I’ve had a couple of examples recently where I didn’t pick up on the ‘we’ll share when it’s finished’ vibe and nip it in the bud.
• I’m not very good at just sticking to established ways of working and structures. I saw that in a couple of ways recently.
  • There are numerous off the shelf workshops and activities for certain stages of translating research into granular tasks for a team to deliver. But of course I decided to come up with my own approach – to only realise later that I’d effectively just redesigned a user story mapping session. Not very efficient, but as I reminded myself, spending time with the research and thinking about what it translates to…is the work.
  • With new team structures in place, I was already thinking about how to work across them, and roping others into those conversations. You could say I like to think holistically, you could also say I’m not very good at following instructions…
• I need to switch off, I’m really struggling with that at the moment. Like I said a weird mix of drained and wired. I’ll often grab my notebook once the kids are in bed, write a few words, and then realise I can’t really concentrate/think clearly. I need something to help me switch off. Last night I picked Angry Birds on the iPad, I think I need a new book to read. Any suggestions?

P.S. I still have about 10 sets of stickers left. I wasn’t planning on printing more, it’s not exactly a side hustle…so pick them up whilst you can.