Weeknotes 19

‘Time-hopped’ with new team members

Recently we’ve had new contractors join the department to help with the programme of work my team are responsible for.

This is a good thing, it really is, but at times it can be exhausting for everybody involved and I’m not sure we truly recognise that.

What do I mean? Well, new people need to be brought up to speed and of course, being new they have lots of ideas, lots of questions and want to challenge what has been done to-date.

It is totally natural and utterly human nature, we challenge things before we accept them but doing so is not without cost.

Revisiting past events means having to relive previous debates, recall previous context and re-evaluate past decisions.

That shit is not easy. It can be outright uncomfortable in the presence of new people because the safety is not there yet.

Going through that is worth it and needed to be able to walk people to the light of your hard won insights and discoveries.

I described it as team ‘time hopping’, a reference to a feature on many social media platforms that will replay past events to you.

It feels like you’re being second guessed and having to prove yourself because you are!

In the same way as friend viewing a time-hop and then saying ‘What was that haircut all about’ is not intended to be offensive, neither is a new team member asking ‘Why did you make that product/design/research decision?’.

So if you’re an existing member, give new people a break, they don’t mean anything by it.

And, if you’re a new member of an established team, go easy on the existing colleagues, they’re tired and doing their best.

Struck

Enough has been said about the industrial action happening in the UK.

Suffice to say, the sensible decision of my department was to stipulate that unless we informed them we were NOT striking, they would assume we were.

So I spent the day grateful to live in a country where brave people who have gone before me, thought hard and sacrificed to give workers the right to strike and protest.

Finished our ‘media wall’

In my personal life, I’m happy to report that I’m no longer cricking my neck to watch TV in our living room. We now have a rather lovely ‘media wall’ and fire place.

Key benefits are reduced energy consumption and the floor space we have regained because we don’t have a traditional television stand any more.

My brain is also more calm as I don’t see wires any more! They are nicely hidden from view and organised behind the TV.