With apologies to usesthis.com

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m Matt ‘jukesie’ Jukes. I am a Principal Consultant with Foundry4 with a focus on agile and product working in the public service. Truth be told though I am mainly know for my jobs newsletter and blogging these days I suspect (and honestly it is just the newsletter!)

What hardware do you use?

My main machine (as of the last 48 hours) is a M1 Mac mini with a Dell P2419H display. My work machine before this was a 2017 Macbook (12 inch) and it was (a) struggling with its new workload and (b) killing my eyes. I still have it – there is always a chance I’ll have to return to that commuter / nomad working life and I sometimes like to work from my bed 😂

I have a Mac keyboard, a Logitech M590 bluetooth mouse, a Logitech C920 webcam on a posable arm. My microphone is a Blue Yeti Nano. My desk lamp has been a real win – stops me looking like I’m in a cave on calls and really helped lessen my eye strain.

A first-generation Amazon Echo basically just acts as a Spotify speaker all day.

When I finish work and move the two feet to my arm chair I switch to my iPad Air and 2nd generation pencil – I find digitally doodling has been a nice mindfulness practice for me (as has the Marvel Unlimited app!).

I have an iPhone SE (2020) and a screen smashed Pixel4 on a desk somewhere I’ve never got fixed (smashed it last March!)

My desk is some Ikea thing my dad cut down to fit a space at my parents place before I was gifted it. I have an Amazon Basics chair (this is somewhere I really need to invest in at some point).

My flat is so small I have just added a ‘room divider‘ to hide the view of my bathroom or kitchen (depending on angle) from any future calls!

I love writing with my Kaweco Sport fountain pen but am as likely to grab one of my Muji gel pens. I mainly seem to just use notepads the company supplies these days – they are nice enough (and free!).

These days Post-Its are strictly for communicating with delivery people!

And what software?

It is all pretty generic –

A lot of Google Docs. Lots of Google Slides (I miss working in Keynote but these days Slides just wins out as its all collaborative working.) Slack of course but more and more of Teams. Which makes me a quite sad but it isn’t the end of the world. There is a little Zoom, some Whereby and even a rare Skype. Modern life IS rubbish.

Then there are the Kings of Covid apps. Notion, Miro and Figma all seem to have emerged as big players in my corner of the internet in the last year. I love Notion, am enjoying learning Figma and have come to tolerate Miro.

I’m learning to use Pipedrive. Under duress.

I use the Notes app a lot for scribbling/jotting ideas now as I’m so embedded in Apple these days.

Still use Tweetdeck. Completely all-in on Spotify.

Oh and I’m still on Tinyletter for my newsletter. I know all the cool kids are on Substack now but I’m keeping it old school.

What would be your dream setup?

Honestly the main thing would be having my own office. Having a space to go to for some separation between work and home is currently my dream.

Beyond that I have always wanted a big, intimidating retro desk of some kind. Something that looks like its lived a hard life. I also suspect I need to get a decent (read expensive) office chair.

Bit by bit I’ve pieced together the other things I need over the last year or so – just need somewhere better to put them than my living room.