Last Monday was a Bank Holiday in the UK. The Tuesday was a "Privilege Day" - a day off for Civil Servants for the Queen's birthday. Thursday was my wife's birthday - which I had booked off ages ago. So I decided to cash in my TOIL and take Wednesday and Friday as holidays as…
Continue reading →You've got to show up to make a difference
by | | 2 comments | Read ~156 times.Eleven years ago, the BBC announced plans to encrypt all of its free-to-air digital TV channels. The technology world was aghast! I saw thousands of Tweets from hundreds of people, angry blog posts, mailing lists erupting with fury. There may even have been a petition. The regulator, Ofcom, announced an enquiry and solicited for feedback.…
Continue reading →When part of your job is *not* caring
by | | 7 comments | Read ~797 times.Many years ago, when I worked at Vodafone, we had a senior network engineer give us a talk about keeping the network stable in the hours after the 7/7 bombings. He was completely dispassionate. He spoke about analysing network traffic, predicting demand spikes, routing around damage, physically securing sites, supporting the emergency services - and…
Continue reading →Week Notes - COVID19
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What started as a fairly ordinary week, quickly transformed into something extraordinary. Large swathes of NHSX were suddenly told to de-prioritise their day-to-day work and focus on COVID19 response. I probably can't talk specifically on what I've been working on, but it has been one of the most intense working weeks of my life. As…
Continue reading →Why I make my work calendar public
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If you'd like to set up a meeting or call with me, chances are, I've sent you a link to my calendar. It's a public website where you can see when I'm available. One important note, before we go any further, this public calendar only shows my free/busy status. It doesn't show the names of…
Continue reading →Weeknotes: A year at #NHSX
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A year ago, I swapped my comfy job at GDS for a new role at the Department of Health and Social Care. So, this is a sort of informal end-of-year review. It has been a fun and challenging year. Some of the things I've tried have worked, others less so. The Good Helped kickstart NHSX.…
Continue reading →The Corridors of Power
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These are the lyrics to my constant earworm: Sometimes my life it feels like fiction Some of the days it's really quite surreal George Harrison - Pisces Fish I occasionally find myself having meetings in the Palace of Westminster with People From The News. I want to talk about what that's like. I'm waiting to…
Continue reading →Weeknotes - Mid-year Review
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I loathe performance reviews. OKRs, KPIs, EYRs? Bleugh! There's a level of introspection which always makes me intrinsicly uncomfortable. Besides, I always feel like I've done nothing worthwhile other than arse about on a computer. In my new job, I decided to keep an achievement journal. Well, a Trello list of tasks I've done well.…
Continue reading →UK Gov Camp Weeknotes
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I'm finally feeling like I'm settling into my new role. I spent my Saturday at UK GovCamp - an unconference for Civil Servants. I ran a session on Acronyms in the Workplace. It was hillarious listening to people try to introduce themselves without any abbreviations. "I am the Chief Paperclip Office for the United Kingdom's…
Continue reading →Every Acronym I've Learned This Fortnight
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Previously on "The Terence Eden Adventures!" I have a new job. I am a bit scared by my new job. This week - WTF? OMG? BBQ??? I've been working for DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care) for two weeks. I've made a list of every single new acronym that I've heard. Here it is:…
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