Day 44 – 5 March 2014
On Monday I left my pen at home. Yesterday I managed to go out with no money on me. No wallet, no credit cards, nothing. Fortunately I managed to get away with it but I think old age is creeping up on me. I need to do that thing where you slap each of your pockets before I go out.
We’re planning a conference. We have one every year to sell our wares and engage with our customers. It helps us to present a more professional front and tell our story better. We offer such a wide range of services across many locations and so it is a great and probably essential opportunity.
This morning we met to work out what we are going to do for October, our current target date. There are the small things to sort such as where we are going to go, which speakers we can persuade to come along who would be of interest to draw in a crowd and what stands we will be displaying. October seems like a long way away but we need to crack on.
Next up was another digital Durham meeting. Have I mentioned this before? The government want to throw some more money at us as part of their Superfast Extension Programme. It needs to be matched and so we set aside one of the joint programme team meetings to have a look at how we would work this out. There has been a set of guidelines issued which are as tortuous as a Gordian knot. They require us to do things in the wrong order and in timescales that are impossible. But other than that they were fine.
It’s like living in a Kafka novel.
After lunch it was my turn to update the Senior Project Leads meeting. SMT take turns and so every five weeks I get a chance. It’s an opportunity to share my thoughts with the next layer of management and for them to ask questions of me. We had some good, open and frank discussion during which it came to mind that there are three situations when we in ICT Services are at our best: When something big goes wrong; When we’re working together as a team and; When we are working in front of customers. Bringing people together in different ways is always difficult but it is worth persevering.
Learning points for today: Brian is a bubble burster; People are reluctant to have their photo taken and; When I’m not there SMT has pie.
Today’s enjoyment rating 8/10 – A couple of days off.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 