Weeknotes 4 March

This was a tough week, where I didn’t always prioritise the right things. So I’m finishing it (ok I’m definitely logging in over the weekend…) by prioritising one thing I want to be better at — working in the open.

Rose — What went well

• We had a great cross-service roadmap session for the first time in a while. We’d put quite a bit of thinking and working into getting the session planned and setup, so it was great to get feedback from PMs who had valued it.
• I saw, and took part in, some great silo busting between programmes across my corner of DfE with competing priorities. Teamwork and collaboration feels good.
• I got to spend some time doing actual thinking, both about how we work as a set of teams to deliver better outcomes, and about actual policy challenges. Those are two of my favourite things to think about at work.

Thorn — What didn’t

• I prioritised a lot of things I shouldn’t have — tasks I don’t need to do, meetings that I didn’t need to be in, recurring catch-ups with no agenda.
• I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in the cycle of stress — working long hours — being less productive — repeat.
• I felt distant from the teams (again), and only attended 2 playbacks and no research sessions.

Bud — Opportunities

• I can prioritise the big things for next week — we’ve got some space on Thursday which could be the first step towards transforming how we work together across programmes
• We can also really start to move with a new policy discovery I’m leading.
• To do these well I need to give them the space they deserve, that means kicking out some meetings and add some new ones in
• Sleep more!