Week 33, 34, 35: a bumper edition

Our workshop venue - BFI Stephen StreetOur workshop venue - BFI Stephen Street

Workshop - good energy (and pizza)

We ran a team workshop to discuss our internal knowledge base idea. I think it went well, it felt as if people spoke quite freely which isn’t always the case at these things. It was only half-day so we kept it short. We talked about the why, the what and got stuck into an example topic. I think we also got good alignment from everyone - a key outcome of the day.

A good energiser for the team, a reminder that getting everyone out the office away from the day-to-day is extremely valuable. Finished off with some very tasty pizza at Rudy’s on Tottenham Court Road.

Some of our key take-aways:

  1. There was a clear sense that the service topic pages need to help support live calls and enquiries.
  2. There was a helpful distinction between a ’policy’ and ‘operationalising a policy’. In practice this might mean providing the actual phrase someone needs for a safeguarding call for example.
  3. People felt that it was important to define our service… what we do / don’t do.
  4. Content governance is going to be important. Creating a whole new category of content will require its own governance model (content owners, editors, sign-off, review cycles and a system for ensuring that if similar content is changed elsewhere, for example on the website, that those changes are mirrored in our internal system).
  5. On service topic pages - email templates and conversational prompts seem popular.

Fix the forms!

We’re doing a bit of work with Caroline Jarrett on our advance decision form. I’ve wanted to work with her for years and guess what… we’re finally doing it!

Kind of exactly how I expected. A wealth of experience and the ability to see through our complex subject matter. It’s been super helpful so far, aside from talking specifics - we’re getting some great challenges and ideas about how we approach our form.

More to come from this piece of work.

Other things…

A busy time!

Glastonbury

So, I went to Glastonbury…

Lots of people…Lots of people…

If you know me, this will be a surprise. Let’s just say I’m not your usual sort of festival goer… In fact I’d never been to a music festival before (never really wanted to). When I mentioned I was going to people the surprise and shock was telling, but go I did.

I have a three word review… not for me.

I always said if I was going to try any festival, Glastonbury would be the one. I have for a few years enjoyed watching it on TV. My partner wanted to go, and luckily enough got tickets so it happened. Glad I went, but I’m just not sure I like music or any particular band enough to put up with the rest of it. It’s a lot of faff. I think the ‘other’ side of Glasto which people say is the great bit (think massages, talks, non-music stuff) is slightly overblown. It’s for me still VERY much a music festival. Also a lot more rave’y than I expected.

A good (if very expensive) experiment.

My highlight was probably watching Keane.

Could it be… hope?

So, a new Government. This is a bit of a late reflection, but I had a genuine moment of what can be best described as hope the day after the General Election. I felt everyone breathed a sigh of relief and even the most cynical person might be forgiven for thinking better times are ahead.

We’ll see. But I’m allowing myself some enjoyment of a new Government, with serious people and a return to politics of substance and integrity.

I find myself now turning to the US election. Where the stakes seem incredibly high. Sad about Biden, but early signs are positive for Kamala Harris I think? A similar hope?

I ate and watched…