Making the most of the summer by getting out for a bike ride before work every morning What inspired me this week? Colleagues from NHS England, NHSX, and NHS Digital all together in one remote meeting, reflecting on the emerging plan for urgent and emergency care (UEC) recovery, and the different ways that digital can … Continue reading Weeknote: 23 to 27 August 2021
Back to work after two weeks by the sea What inspired me this week? I enjoyed getting back to work rested and refreshed after a two-week holiday. I came back determined to notice the progress colleagues are making and assume good intent even when I see behaviour that doesn’t make sense to me. One piece … Continue reading Weeknote: 16 to 20 August 2021
A couple of weeks' notes were left languishing unfinishished in my drafts folder, so this note covers 3 weeks, not the usual 1... Cycled along the canal The rush of meetings slowed down this week, as people started to head off on their holidays. This gave me the chance to properly read some documents and … Continue reading Weeknotes catch-up: 5 to 23 July 2021
The Old Palace at Hatfield House A 4-day working week because I took Wednesday off to help my oldest son move between student houses. He and his housemates left their old house cleaner than they found the new one! How am I focusing delivery to support system outcomes? I joined my first Urgent and Emergency Care … Continue reading Weeknote: 28 June to 2 July 2021
17th Century map spotted on weekend visit to Hatfield House Objectives and milestones I spent quite a lot of time this week thinking and talking about objectives - clarifying and wearing smooth some goals we set for ourselves, share with our colleagues, and intend to deliver for NHS staff, patients and the public. One set … Continue reading Weeknote: 21 to 25 June 2021
Sunday afternoon visit to York Gate Garden, Adel Listening to users Thanks to digital urgent and emergency care colleagues in NHSX and NHS Digital for responding rapidly to my request to observe user research this week. It's great to see how users are involved throughout design and development. This week in user research, I heard … Continue reading Weeknote: 14 to 18 June 2021
The cat has taken to obstructing my desk when he thinks it's dinnertime Deep dives Diane led deep dives on four initiatives in the Urgent and Emergency Care digital portfolio. I think I'm allowed to play the new kid card for a little while longer, and as an introduction to the key issues in each piece … Continue reading Weeknote: 7 to 11 June 2021
Never been a football fan, but delighted to make a second visit to Elland Road on Monday A 4-day working week, fully back in the world of urgent and emergency care (UEC). I've been at NHSX for 2 months now, and am starting to get a sense of the portfolio and how things get done … Continue reading Weeknote: 1 to 4 June 2021
Sunday bike ride around Wike and Harewood Making progress There are 3 things I identified quite early on in my time in Urgent & Emergency Care (UEC), and this week, I saw progress on all of them: Connecting our activity to the UEC system priorities: A couple of good catch-ups with team members to work … Continue reading Weeknote: 24 to 28 May 2021
Drawing on my recent experiences with different delivery teams, on Tuesday morning I posted a thread on Mastodon and Twitter about two different responses to team interdependencies in software products. I like one much more than I like the other. On initiative A, the team learned that a "strategic" solution to their needs would not … Continue reading Code is cheap; ignorance is costly
It's been a while since I posted my weeknotes here. At the end of March, I moved to a new role at NHSX, a joint unit of NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. My starting date coincided with the pre-election period, and then I was asked to help out on what … Continue reading Weeknote: 17 to 21 May 2021
The run-up to a new role gives me a privileged few weeks to start some habits the way I intend to continue. One that’s high on my list is to ask better questions. Asking questions has to be more than a matter of once-and-done induction to a new domain. I will never close my mind … Continue reading I’m curious: 3 questions I’m asking right now
What was hard? A lot of my colleagues are experiencing the combined effects of the third national lockdown, home-schooling, pressure to deliver, and the freezing cold weather. Sometimes we need to have some hard conversations about priorities and team behaviours, and doing these remotely doesn't make it easy to read how people are feeling. What … Continue reading Weeknote: 8 to 12 February 2021
What was hard? I struggled with procrastination a few times this week, perhaps accentuated by prospect of continued home working stretching out ahead of me. There are some things on my to-do list that I meant to get done in the working time between Christmas and New Year, didn't quite get to them, and now … Continue reading Weeknote: 11 to 15 January 2021
What did you experiment with? A new weeknote format for 2021 What did you enjoy? Working with NHSX colleagues and some of my other favourite people on a new piece of workAn intro call with Laura, our organisation's new chairA walking meeting through the snowy woods near our house What was hard? Struggling to strike … Continue reading Weeknote: 4 to 8 January 2021
Matt Edgar writes here 