Tweeknotes 13 of 2023

It’s been a minute since my last weeknotes. I’ve been travelling and just generally feeling the overwhelm of life and heat and that feeling of needing to make the most of summer while also feeling anxious about doing too much.

Also I went into kind of a numb state all last week as wildfires burned the city my mother and many family members and friends live in. I’ve experienced living in a city in an extreme state of emergency before, but this felt new, being outside of the emergency and watching helplessly, obsessively for updates. Fortunately my family was all unaffected.

I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much in the last few weeks, yet I feel like I’ve not had a moment of rest so I must have done something, surely?

What went well:

• I took some time off and spent it with extended family
• I wrote up my talk for SD in Gov
• I did some research analysis and reporting back to my team
• I had some helpful and inspiring chats with people, including a great connection with Shannah from the Ontario Digital Service
• I signed up to do more speaking engagements
• I threw a party for my daughter’s 8th birthday

What was difficult

• My mental health hasn’t been the best. I’ve been doing too much, drinking too much coffee, letting my anxiety spiral. I’m not sleeping well. I’m ok and reflecting on how I can pivot.
• Because of this, I’ve let some things slide that I’m normally on top of. Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe people will notice I’m not doing them anymore and realize that they deserve more priority than to be a side of desk thing.
• I showed something to someone and their response was mostly positive, but they added something along the lines of, “and you have lots of time to fix the look of it which I’m sure you’re doing next.” But … I wasn't planning on fixing the look of it. That was the one part I was happy with. I’m not offended but I can’t help obsessing about what’s wrong with the look. Should I change it? I probably won’t, I have too much on my plate. And feedback is always helpful. But maybe a lesson here is, be specific about what you want feedback on, and what’s not up for discussion. And ask for specifics, which I could still do but probably won’t.
• I’m struggling with whether this weeknote is even useful or fit for publishing. But I guess it’s important to see the ups and the downs.

Thinking about

So many things rattling around in my head right now:

From mouthset to mindset shifts in co-creating systems change

This blog is co-authored by Emma Blomkamp, Thea Snow and Ingrid Burkett

It's time to phase out - a rethink of the traditional service standard phases - dxw

Ben Whitfield-Heap, one of our Senior Product Managers, wonders if the service standard phases have had their day

Digital proof: where one service ends, another begins - dxw

Harry Scott-Trimble explores the possibility of using digital proof to make delivering, accessing, public services…

Homesick

Burning out personally feels a lot like burning out professionally.

What I learned from founding an innovation lab

Government transformation is hard work, but it's also contagious. Carolina Pozo founded Ecudaor's first innovation lab…

Team memory, organisational sharing and serendipity in distributed workplaces - Emily Webber

Reading Time: 7 minutes How do we know what's going on when we're working in remote or hybrid organisations? How do we…

From mouthset to mindset shifts in co-creating systems change

This blog is co-authored by Emma Blomkamp, Thea Snow and Ingrid Burkett

Reading, watching, listening:

• I’ve just started Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson and I’m not quite sure what to think yet.
• In addition to re-watching my comfort show, Mad Men, I’m also watching Dopesick, something that’s beenon my list for years but I’ve never gotten around to til now. It’s terrifying.
• This Radiolab episode is excellent: The Internet Dilemma.