Whoa – this has been quite the week. We’ve been working with [redacted] to get something ready to launch in time for [redacted] and it is the kind of high profile activity that has a lot of important eyes on it (as well as opinions). It has got ye olde heart pumping but I have to be honest I’ve quite enjoyed it – it is the most I’ve felt like a proper product person in gosh knows how long. In conversations multiple times a day with brilliant designers, developers, architects and delivery folks – getting good air cover and guidance from leadership – and having to make educated trade offs to deliver something great in challenging timelines.

It is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for when I signed up for this gig – a big shift from my most recent roles and a much needed toe dip into the sharp end of things. Properly knock off the rust my product instincts.

The reality is I cannot sustain this sort of pace for long these days but these short, sharp bursts are good for the soul.

I ‘attended’ a session about the National Data Library from a number of the DSIT team leading that initiative. It has been a bit difficult to pin down what it actually is to date and while I am still not 100% sure on all the points I have a much better idea of the ambition and the next steps – I’ll remain an interested observer whenever the opportunities arise. I was also involved in a few conversations about data.gov.uk which felt sort of nostalgic if I am honest but also relevant to the NDL conversations.

The other big news was that I was invited to speak at the 2025 edition of the Camp Digital conference in Manchester. This is one of my very favourite events and I couldn’t be more excited to be speaking at it again. It isn’t until July so I have plenty of time to make it the best talk possible.

This is important as I am pretty determined that it will be my last bit of ‘proper’ public speaking (there is likely to be a certain amount of it in-house as part of my work but no more talk proposals, stressing on stages or fear fasting before talks). I’ve said this before – as far back as 2015 – but I’m pretty sure I mean it this time. I’ve had a good run, spoken at some great events – including SXSW, Code for America, FWD50 in Canada and Practical Democracy in New Zealand. Not to mention Service Design in Government, a couple of Agile in the Cities, Wikimania, OpenTech, Camp Digital itself plus events in Swansea, Plymouth, Newport, Shrewsbury, Oxford, Liverpool, Cardiff and a few home games in Bristol. I’ve had my say on all manner of topics on a whole bunch of stages and it feels like a good time to shut up and get out of the way. 

It is also a chance to do a talk I’ve been thinking about for a couple of years – a different spin on my working in the open spiel. More personal. More about what being so open online all these years has meant for me professionally and personally, good and bad. How it changed me as a person – not just as a product person. The plan is to do a few versions of it in the new year at friendly gatherings so I can sharpen the ‘material’ and be ‘off book’ by July.

I’ve also been thinking for ages about doing a kind of ‘special edition’ talk – with bonus gifts for attendees. In this case an illustrated paper with an expanded version of the talk including images and some other pieces from other wanderers of the ‘open’ road. Oh and inevitably stickers. Which will be based on the slides that I intend to get designed by a proper designer.

So I have nine and a bit months. No problem.

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I read 3000ish pages of the comic book Invincible at the weekend – didn’t leave much time for anything else to be honest! The first 2000 odd pages are really wonderful – some of the best modern superhero storytelling out there. Rarely goes for the lazy ‘dark’ tropes and just tells fun over the top tales with characters you can root for. It falls apart in the later issues for sure but it is always enjoyable.