Weeknote #6 (20241006-20241012)

meta

This was an …okay week, I guess? Got a couple things done at work, handled a few days of solo Dad with Ms22 while TheWife and Mx17 did a quick run over to Chicago, to visit both TheMIL and Knox College.

did

  • watched the Timbers have a disappointing draw — not feeling super optimistic about the playoffs right now, to be perfectly honest
  • wrote up friday’s networking fiasco
  • spent probably too much time thinking about stage-setting a q4 planning meeting at work — and then lead that meeting, which went pretty well, i think?
  • dealt with the latch in the main door to my office breaking and preventing the door from opening (by replacing the latch bit that goes inside the door)
  • gave myself an extra rest day, but went to the gym twice (Tuesday/Thursday) — next week back to the M/W/F grind, I hope?
  • watched the Thorns have a great win against previously undefeated Orlando, which was awesome

read

Why these Welsh weeknotes are so good

These notes are published on the web. They’re open. They’re external comms as well as internal governance.

This is an attribute of good agile communication: rather than doing the work, then crafting careful PR-style messages about how brilliant it is, your task is different. You do the work, and you peel back the wrappings so that the outside world can peer in and see for themselves how brilliant it is. Or what problems it’s dealing with. Or what blockers are in the way.

This is where working in the open demands courage, because if you’re truly going to peel back those wrappers, you need to be prepared for the outside world to see the truth.

That’s the first consequence of genuine open working: truth.

Which in turn unlocks the second consequence: trust.

When you open up about your work as it’s happening, and regardless of how well it’s going, you might be exposing truth that in other circumstances you would have preferred to keep hidden. But opening up about those truths builds trust with your funders, your sponsors, your stakeholders and your users.

  • Finished A Flame in the North — mostly I enjoyed this one, but it was also a bit of a slog for me, for some reason — it looks like I took almost 2 months to finish this one; not sure why
  • Started Wake up…: City of Roses Vol 1 - started this; enjoying it so far despite the somewhat confusing intro

listened

  • I pulled the soundtrack for Dogs In Space out of my vinyl stash and listened to it, and was reminded not only of how much I like the song “Shivers” by The Boys Next Door, but that there’s also a second version of it on the B-side of the record

watched

  • TheWife and I are still binging our through NCIS S15
  • My solo binging has been focused on re-watching Criminal Minds from the start, before moving on to the recent new episodes — currently in S3

cooked

It looks like next week, The Grey is going to try to get started for the season, so this is close to the end of the grilling part of the year…

photo

Sammy Genehack doin’ a blep

looking forward to

This coming Monday, I get to report for jury duty in Oregon for the first time ever! Looking forward to seeing how that process goes.