Weeknote 14 of 2024
I'll start with the job news: I've just moved on from my temporary role in the Ministry of Environment, to a brand new (permanent) one in the Ministry of Health. The working job title is still TBD, but it's still within the service design field. My new boss Danton blogged about it a while back which I really appreciated. I'll share more about what I'm doing as I come to understand it for myself.
I've been sitting on this for a while - I actually interviewed and accepted the offer for this role a couple of months ago but I wanted to finish out my TA in Environment. Danton was very flexible about this later start date which again I really appreciated.
Technically this new role is a demotion from my previous temporary role (I'm going from a Band 3 to an IS30 for those who speak BC Gov language,) although it's a promotion from my 'base' position (the role I was 'on loan' from) so I guess that lands me somewhere in the middle. It might sound odd but I'm actually thrilled at going down 'the ladder' because A) the role feels like a better fit for me personally, and B) this means I'm once again able to work compressed/flexible hours (which is generally not allowed for management bands. I have many, many thoughts on this but perhaps that's for another blog post.)
As always, there's sadness in closing a chapter. I'll miss the wonderful people I worked with in Environment, but I'm not going far and will continue to connect with them through the wider BC Gov design and digital communities.
What happened
- I spent my last week in ENV working on offboarding documentation
- I facilitated a workshop with our hazardous waste team
- I led a convo between our organics partners and our CleanBC team about user research and the potential risks of connecting with people publicly
- I ran my last ENV designer's meetup 🥲
- I did a session with the executive coach I've been working with which was super useful as per usual
- I read a lot of different documents about various projects my new team is working on
- I worked on a presentation for a workshop I am doing next week with a team in Environment (something I had committed to before the job move) - a followup to a talk I gave on giving better presentations
- I sat in on a few meetings (but didn't contribute much yet) as well as connected with the two other service designers I will be working with, one on one and together.
- Overall it's been a quiet, slow intro to my new job which has been really lovely.
- Oh and my kids started school - Grade 4 and Kindy. I did wonder if it was mad to start a new job the same week as my youngest started school, but it ended up being perfect - this week has been a quiet, slow intro to my new job which has been really lovely. I've enjoyed having the extra headspace for my kids, and also having a mostly empty calendar to accommodate the weird timings of the Kindergarten gradual entry.
- I started my new job on the same day as my daughter so she suggested I do this 😆
What went well
- I had a nice quiet goodbye from the ENV team - a virtual card filled with nice words that I can keep and look back on. I've realized that I prefer "Irish exits" from jobs, I like to quietly fade away without there being much fuss, commotion or emotion, so this was perfect.
- I've really enjoyed getting to know my new 'small but mighty' service design team. I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot from my colleagues and also the partners in other orgs that we work with. Also joining a team that calls themselves 'small and mighty' was a nice parallel, as that's how my ENV team also described itself.
- As I mentioned above, my fortnight of offboarding/onboarding has meant a bit of reprieve from meetings and heavy work. This has been really great for my mental health. I know it won't last but I'm hopeful I can be mindful about the amount of stuff I take on as things ramp up.
What was difficult
- The end of summer and beginning of new chapters meant there were some big emotions in our house and my kids were acting out in ways I didn't expect. We may be over the hump now that they are enjoying school, but time will tell.
- It's scorching hot in Southern Vancouver Island right now, which I used to love, but our current house has no air conditioning and no natural shade and my office is currently 36 degrees so I'm really looking forward to a drop in temperatures next week.
Inspiring things I've read this week
A spot on post from Kuba at GDS on a topic I care a lot about:
I always enjoy Craig's openness about his ADHD struggles - this is a great read:
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This was a super interesting story Jennifer Pahlka shared of her home invasion, and she followed it up by connecting back to government policy
Jennifer Pahlka
This is not a short blog post but I really recommend you check out this free ebook How to be Autistic by Rachel Morgan-Trimmer. It's so wonderful and helpful.
Reading, watching, listening
- I started and finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road and I am not ok. It was probably the most devastating book I've ever read. Brilliant, but devastating.
- Watching - nothing new (still on Mad Men re-runs)
- I was gripped by this Radiolab episode called Uneasy as ABC - about a tragic event that profoundly shaped how trauma physicians assess patients.
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