Weeknotes 11 of 2024
It's been over a month since my last weeknote, though I know I'm the only one counting. I took my kids away for two weeks, visiting the Okanagan and Calgary. We spent many lovely days with my brother's family (I have two nephews who are similar ages to my own kids) and also with some dear friends. We played games, we went boating, we went to the stampede, we took many, many walks. It was a joy watching them together and also very, very exhausting.
Then, last week and this week, my partner took the kids on his own adventure and I've had some quiet, family-free time. I've taken work trips and one personal trip away from my family but never had any significant stretch of alone time in my own home. It was strange and wonderful and also I really missed them. I read, and rode my bike, and went for walks, and cooked good food that I actually wanted to eat, and slept a lot (thought I was disappointed to find out that I still feel tired even when I've had a full night of sleep.)
What I've done
- I co-lead a kick off with our Hazardous Waste team, and supported on a number of other workshops. We're initiating some long-overdue work in this area that is both exciting and daunting.
- I helped out with a hiring panel which is always a lot of work. We had some fantastic candidates. This took up the majority of my time last week.
- I initiated some work to understand the problems designers in ENV face and what they need help with. This kind of work will help us strategically plan out where to focus our (my) efforts when it comes to supporting designers in our ministry through things like tooling, resources etc.
- I've had some really interesting conversations with designers working on our IPM (integrated pest management) program to understand how to help them move forward with a solution.
- I've attended some great meetups: Vancouver Service Design Community, HmntyCntrd's workshop (I'll talk about that below), the BC Gov Design Community's two latest meetups (one I could only watch the recording for) and our own ENV design community which I host every month.
- And the usual slew of regular meetups and one-off catch ups with various people
What's gone well
- I started working with an executive coach provided through our central HR group (PSA.) I've been super impressed by the coaching and advice provided and I've already implement quite a few of the strategies we've discussed.
- I attended HmntyCntrd / Vivianne Castillo's session called Regaining Control: Overcoming Feelings of Helplessness at Work, which was really validating and helpful for me, both as a leader and a person. What I found really helpful were the exercises in understanding what's in our control, what we're able to influence, and what's out of our control/influence. And then learning some strategies for working through the feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. Also through it I've discovered a new (free!) app called "How We Feel" which I am now using to track my emotions.
- I've had to give some constructive feedback to a few different people which was really challenging, but overall I think it went quite well. I felt I've approached these conversations with empathy and care, and I think the other people feel supported and heard, although one person flagged with me that I need to provide feedback more often and in smaller increments which is totally fair and something I will be focusing on in the future. The feedback sessions have already led to some positive outcomes and I think is helping to build more trust and collaboration with the people involved.
What's been challenging
- Life feels heavy right now. A friend lives in Jasper and has lost her home. Another friend is reeling from the sudden loss of her father and it's reminding me of those early days of my own grief when my dad passed away. These tragedies are not mine but I'm holding on to hope and peace for them and thinking deeply about the fragility of everything we hold dear.
- Feelings of overwhelm. I was very busy before I went away for two weeks, and very busy when I came back. I had to hit the ground running, no gentle transition back to work. But - things are slowing down a bit which I am very, very grateful for.
Inspired by
I've been avoiding 'work reading' due to being on holiday/being too busy (I even took the bold step of deleting LinkedIn off my phone which has been great and I may not ever add it back) but a few things good posts stood out for me:
First, please check out the most recent BC Gov Design Community Calls - they were both excellent. Featuring two wonderful speakers: Vimla Appadoo and Vicky Houghton Price.
This is a great read and also I'm really saddened by this statistic: GDS was a prolific blogger back in 2012 publishing over 200 blog posts. At the midway point in 2023, it had published 7.
David Mann
This is a great overview of what it takes to lead service design work:
Catherine
I really loved and viscerally felt this post on moving 'back' to Canada after living in the UK
Nicole Aleong
Reading, watching, listening
For once, I've had plenty of time for all of these things!
- Reading: I finished books. I'm not going to link them all because I am lazy and it would take too long and also I doubt my loyal readers (ha!) are clicking through:
- Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See (I really liked this)
- The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson (this was ok but I figured it out pretty quickly,)
- This Other Eden by Paul Harding (a vivid portrait of harmful colonialism, the story was excellent but I found it hard to read and understand,)
- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (excellent storytelling, it was hard to keep track of all the characters and backstory but it's a story about a small town so I think that's kind of the point.)
- Watching: I watched the lastest series' of Trying and The Bear. Both are favourites of mine. I also finally got around to watching the Olive Kitteridge miniseries which was bleak but good. And I hate-watched Bridgerton because I love the costumes and music and britishness but I found the storyline really flat and not as clever as I would have hoped.
- Listening: I spent about 30 hours in the car on my adventure with the kids so got lots of podcasts in. I won't name them all but here are a couple I can't stop thinking about: Love, Jenessa (a really messed up story about scammers and a woman caught in the middle) and many episodes of Search Engine, the new PJ Vogt (from Reply All) series which I resisted listening to given the whole toxic workplace / union controversy from a few years ago. But, to my dismay, this new podcast is really good. So I feel compelled to keep listening and just hope that the new workplace is less toxic. Anyway, these are my favourite episodes so far:
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