I probably should wait a bit before writing these notes – I had my diabetes eye screening this morning which includes the demon drops that leave my vision even more compromised than usual. I am fully Mr Magoo-ing it at the moment but this is the window I put aside to write so I’ll persist….and hope for the best!

I had a bit of a bumpy return from Hamburg – delayed flights, incorrectly refused access to the Lounge, chaos at the Boarding Gate, arguments in the queue when boarding finally started, issues on the Tube into London…it didn’t dampen what had been a great trip but it didn’t really set me up for the week. I don’t know if stress/anxiety really causes my blood sugar to spike (or more likely it was the ‘cheat’ weekend diet wise) but I was not in a great place Sunday/Monday and it was Wednesday before things got back on an even keel. I don’t think I let it obviously affect my mood in meetings etc but it was on my mind a lot.

Of course my mood might have been affected by all the OKR action this week! There was a lot of it. Honestly it was fine though – as OKR templates go I quite like one that GOV.UK uses, the teams pretty much generate everything themselves and while I do still think there is a lot of process I’ve seen worse and it is a supportive and collaborative environment to share and discuss the drafts. As Lead I am ‘accountable’ for the OKRs of two teams plus a couple of other activities that don’t neatly fit anywhere. I’m also ‘responsible’ for some Key Results elsewhere in the programme.

Part of that ‘responsibility’ had me volunteering to design and facilitate a couple of Design Sprints in the upcoming quarter. I last did this in my very final days at DBT and while I do find them exhausting I do enjoy them – especially when the issue at hand fits the format. Which is what we have here – though the usual logistical challenges are yet to be faced!

I gave a presentation to the GDS Product Community (well a small subset of it) about Product at Heart. I really enjoyed it – there were lots of questions and it is a lovely cohort of product people. I still had the post-event buzz as well so I am glad I did it so soon after attending.

If I was worried back in Week 36 that I was being a bit passive in meetings I’m pretty sure that changed this week – I felt much more sure footed and opinionated in a number of calls. I am trying to keep my hot takes to a minimum but throw my weight behind the ideas of others where I can and keep my interventions to places where I can have most impact. It is a tricky balance and I don’t know if I am striking it yet but I think it is worth the efforts.

The ‘machinery of government’ move with GDS shifting to DSIT means we have – in theory – had access to the annual DSIT internal events series this week and next. It had a bit of a bumpy start (after going through the MoG stuff with DIT/BEIS I expected nothing less) but there have been some fascinating sessions already (I particularly enjoyed hearing from Lord Vallance) although I am mainly excited about next weeks about the National Data Library! I have also been enjoying hearing from the Digital Centre of Government team as well as they shape their plans.

I’m really enjoying operating at this ‘Lead’ level – and was barely even tempted to go for the Head of Product, GOV.UK role – but was chatting to someone about whether it would be even more fun to be a Senior Product Manager. Maybe that is my new five year plan – continue to step back every couple of years – finish my career as an Associate PM or something 😂

I wrote this blogpost about just how untouched I am by interactions with the Government – especially given my career focused. I had some interesting conversations off the back of it.

Like everybody I know I am reading Platformland – and like everybody who wasn’t in Edinburgh this week I had SDinGov FOMO.

Very much enjoyed the first couple of Agatha All Along (though it really is so Marvel niche – a seriously obscure character, spinning out of a pretty cult Marvel show)  – Kathryn Hahn is fantastic and it is always good to see Aubrey Plaza letting loose.

Slow Horses and Only Murders are both back and brilliant as usual also so it is a good Autumn already TV wise.

LL Cool J’s new album is on repeat here – mainly for the guest verses and Q-Tips production to be honest but it is still a banger.