Well we’ve made it to half way through 2025 and despite the best efforts of the universe we are still here…though if it gets much warmer in my flat I might expire soon.
The last few months have been pretty good. I continue to be doing a solid job of keeping my blood sugar under control with the help of the sensors and the diet changes continue to lead to what seems to be a steady and sustainable amount of weight loss – something like 13kgs this year. I’m still avoiding exercise like Trump avoids the truth so I suspect I am going to have to make a renewed attempt to find something I’ll actually stick with – this remains a long shot though!
Work has been pretty light touch for May and June – I was mainly doing some coaching/advising stuff for a team at MHCLG just a couple of days a week. Enough to keep me engaged and be useful but gave me plenty of downtime to recharge my physical and mental batteries (and sweat over my CampDigital talk) after a tough start to the year.
I’ve decided to hunker down for the rest of the year at MHCLG though with a role closer to full-time (well 4 days a week) as an interim Head of Product for one of their programmes (they don’t have Lead PMs in their structure but that is what it is really.) I spent some time with the teams this week and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in.
I have been doing a bit more blogging the last couple of months – mainly related to my ‘make things open’ stuff or spinning out of the jobs newsletter thinking;
Recruiting and Retaining [Public] Service Technologists – beyond improving the salaries
Recruiting and Retaining [Public] Service Technologists – five more thoughts
Civil Service Jobs Beta – first thoughts
A decade of Internet of Public Service Jobs – aka #jukesiejobs
[Make things open] Picking a platform
[Make things open] The Process
[Make things open] Talk at Camp Digital 2025
[Make things open] Beyond blogging
I had a lovely week in Amsterdam including attending the fantastic User Needs First conference but that has been the extent of my travels so far this year. Well apart from a few stops in the Midlands for work (as well as the successful Birmingham Product for the People) and Manchester for CampDigital.
Later in the year I am doing a curtailed InterRail trip with stops in Brussels, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona culminating with the Mozilla Festival (15 years after my first trip to Barcelona for the same event.) Oh and I am going to Edinburgh for Service Design in Government in September – another long train journey!
Honestly the last few months have very much been focused on my performance at CampDigital and with that now out of the way I feel unusually relaxed. I was tempted to jump straight into something new but have talked myself down – especially as it seems like the idea that most people are interested in me pursuing is the one I realise I have the least interest in doing and visa versa.
I’ve got a bunch of blogposts I want to write to cover the ideas I had that couldn’t fit in my talk and hopefully that will purge the urge to try and write a book but other than that and my newsletter I am going to go side hustle free for the rest of the year.
That’ll do for now. If you haven’t yet go and watch Superman – get some hope and positivity (and silliness) injected into your soul – or at least go and get an ice lolly!
Digital by Default 
One response to “[2025] Half-time”
RE finding some exercise you like – I’ve been doing small group strength training (think like the gym, but with the same people each time, so there’s more of a community feel to it) for a year and a bit now. As someone who’s always been a bit exercise-averse, it’s been great, and I feel the best physically that I have in ages. The one I go to is in Thornbury. I could probably get you a free trial if you’d like to give it a go?