What did I enjoy? Spending time away from the home office - not one, not two, but three different workplaces in one week. Monday at the Department of Health & Social Care in Victoria Street, London, for a first all-in-person Joint Digital Policy & Strategy senior leadership team, followed by a nice Italian dinner in … Continue reading Fortnightnote: 28 February to 11 March 2022
What did I enjoy? Wednesday in the Leeds office, which is becoming a regular habit. There weren't many of us in, but I did have a chance meeting with Jane, one of our small but brilliant commercial team, who I'd preciously only worked with via video calls. I was privileged to chair the Joint Digital … Continue reading Weeknote: 21 to 25 February 2022
If my reckoning is right, it's 25 years since I started my first job in digital, with PA New Media in Leeds. Please excuse the self-indulgent thread about the things I've seen in that quarter century. I've had ringside seats to watch two massive service sectors - first news media, then telecommunications - turned upside … Continue reading Quarter century
What did I enjoy? A couple of sessions with digital urgent & emergency care (UEC) colleagues on our strategy and programme benefits. Having a sharper focus on realising actual outcomes from our work has been one of my top two mantras ever since I took on this role last year. (The other is the need … Continue reading Weeknote: 14 to 18 February 2022
What did I experiment with? This week felt a bit like emerging from winter. It's now light enough that on two mornings I got out for a short bike ride before starting work for the day. On Wednesday, I had an old laptop to return to Quarry House, the office base I've barely visited since … Continue reading Weeknote: 7 to 11 February 2022
I don't usually do my weeknotes as a march through the days, but it seems appropriate for this week, as a time of transition. This was the last week of working under the NHSX brand, before my directorate and I become part of the new NHS England Transformation Directorate. Monday We started the week in … Continue reading Weeknote: 31 January to 4 February 2022
What did I experiment with? In an NHSX senior leadership team meeting, I had an opportunity to highlight some things we need to keep hold of as we move to a new chapter in NHS transformation. I think we're still feeling our way into telling this story in ways that will make sense to our … Continue reading Weeknote: 24 to 28 January 2022
What did I experiment with? Stepping in to look after my wider directorate on an interim basis means I have to support my colleagues to make sense of change while we all have imperfect information. The remote nature of our collaboration right now makes that especially challenging. I realise I've spent more time than usual … Continue reading Weeknote: 17 to 21 January 2022
What did I experiment with? Getting out for a short cycle ride around midday on 3 out of 5 days. It makes the most of the daylight and gives me thinking time away from screens and other distractions. What was hard? Maybe it's the approaching 2 year point of not working together in offices, maybe … Continue reading Weeknote: 10 to 14 January 2022
What did I experiment with? A new set of questions for my weeknotes, hoping that if I strip things back and simplify, I'll be better at publishing every week. Thanks as ever to Sam for the great collection of weeknote styles. What was hard? An awkward conversation wth some colleagues where we're still not aligned … Continue reading Weeknote: 4 to 7 January 2022
In no particular order... When teams are under pressure, the path of least resistance is to stick to what they know. To collaborate with people who work differently slows things down and feels like a luxury. It's easy to overlook adoption and improvement of what we already have in favour of more and more new … Continue reading 21 things I learned in 2021
As a product manager in the late 1990s, I had the good fortune to work in a multidisciplinary team with pioneers in two nascent roles. The first was someone we would now call a data scientist, a biologist who – years before Google Analytics was a thing – married statistics learned studying fish populations with … Continue reading The SRO in the observation room: why 2 hours every 6 weeks is a must for every senior leader
What inspired me this week? Natalie, our team's new PA/business support officer helping me to get my calendar under control and make sure I'm directing my atention to the most important things. The kindness of a stranger who tracked down my oldest son on Facebook to tell him they'd found his brother's wallet in the … Continue reading Weeknote: 18 to 22 October 2021
What inspired me this week? A couple of new starters to the Urgent and Emergency Care digital team in NHSX. I can see they're both going to bring a lot to the work. A good introductory meeting with the review team lead for our upcoming Gate 0 review. We're fortunate to have been assigned a … Continue reading Weeknote: 11 to 15 October 2021
What happened this week? Went to the HETT conference, in person, saw some old friends for the first time in ages, and met some NHSX colleagues for the first time With NHS England colleagues, presented to a board committee, got really helpful feedback on our plans for digital transformation in urgent and emergency care Observed … Continue reading Weeknote: 27 September to 1 October 2021
Matt Edgar writes here 