Week 21 means it has been 100 days (well it is 99 as I am writing this) since I started as a Senior Partner – Major Projects at TPXimpact. Feels like a good time for a retrospective, especially as I am off on holiday for a couple of weeks Monday and the little announcement from Downing Street yesterday evening means the future is a little unknown at the moment.

So with no further ado;

The Good

As I suspected, the real selling point of TPX is the people. A mix of people I know well, know by reputation, know on social media or am just getting to know for the first time. Everyone, at every level, in every profession, has been brilliant. Smart, passionate, empathic and fun. I’ve learned a lot being back and have witnessed some very talented people bringing their A games all over the place. There isn’t a monoculture either – it is really an amalgam of cultures and approaches with tech, data and design folk working together and sharing their own perspectives…does need more product though 😉 

I’m particularly lucky to be a part of the Major Projects posse – it is a great collection of thoughtful, clever people that I really admire and trust. It does trigger the occasional moment of impostor syndrome but if it didn’t I think I’d be worried.

I’ve also got to work with some great folks on the client side – again some I knew before and some not so much – but I’ve really appreciated the chance to work with them in an open way. I hope I’ve added some value in the discussions I’ve been in because I’ve really enjoyed those opportunities!  

Elsewhere I’ve really been enjoying writing these weeknotes, doing some other blogging, continuing with the jobs newsletter, designing new stickers and launching the new Bloggers Blogging about Blogging side project. I’ve really felt pretty inspired again.

The Bad

Okay. Two things.

The internal, TPX, admin associated with this role blows my mind. So many spreadsheets, trackers, tools etc require manual interventions and constant attention. It actually, somehow, feels like an even bigger burden than it is and my inability to manage it properly has been like a black cloud that has followed me around. Any work related sour notes featured in these notes boil down to this really. I absolutely knew there would be an element of it and I understand why much of it is important but it does make me miserable and takes me away from working with teams, helping clients, writing bids – all the things where I know I justify my job. 

Also as a bit of a counterbalance to the positive people stuff the role can be a bit lonely I find. I think this was partly on me for not recognising it sooner and finding a way to deal with it but the nature of the role is a little helicopter parent-y so you aren’t really in a team day-to-day building those relationships and feeling like a part of something. Instead I often feel on the periphery of things. I need to work harder to deal with this now I have diagnosed it.

The Ugly

This isn’t really work but it has definitely had an effect. My health problems only really came to light two months ago but they have been a constant distraction since. The stress of finding out I had multiple conditions in the ‘urgent intervention needed’ category (diabetes, cholesterol, kidney function, blood pressure), the new daily handful of meds, the horrible side effects while we find a combo of meds that my system can tolerate, the absolutely no-fun diet (oh bread, beer, chocolate and rice how I miss thee!), the blood tests (and constant finger prick tests), the blood pressure tests (multiple times a day), appointments…it has been un-fun.

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Right – that’ll do. I’m off to Texas on Monday so next week will be a special edition Austin interlude.

Take care folks.