Hello all — I’m a little baffled that it’s been just over 2 months since I published some weeknotes. Think that sums up how busy things have been! But, it’s good to be back, hello.
So, let’s get stuck in; here are 8 stories from the last 2 months.
Project Progress
Sprinting through the sprints
I’m still working away on the same project, and have hit just over 6 months in this team. At times, it’s been a pretty taxing project, but also incredibly rewarding. Part of the taxing aspects come from the pace at which we’re working — we’ve been working very flat out since we joined this project, but have also made some incredible progress. This piece of work, prior to dxw joining, has been going on for 2 years with little progress. But in 6 months, our team have researched, designed and built the MVP for the service, and are about to launch into public beta. Which is an incredible achievement for everyone involved!
There is still a lot of work left to do, not only on continuous improvement on our MVP, but also starting some discovery-type work on different parts of the service. Which I am incredibly excited to get started on and sink my teeth into. I think this is where we can really add some value to the end users of the service!
Service Assessment
Spoiler — we did it!
Last week, we took our private beta MVP to Service Assessment. This was a fairly last minute decision, so required lots of mucking in from the team to get things put together ready for assessment.
This is now my second Beta Service Assessment, and my biggest take away from those two assessments is how different the two experiences have been. It’s interesting that we’re assessed against a set GDS Service Standard, yet the things that were expected of us or asked of us seemed quite different to one another. This has also led to some interesting discussions with dxw about Assessments in general and how they operate.
But, either way, we passed! Which is very exciting. We’ve also been given lots of feedback to take on board and start to think about, which in my mind is a massive positive. There is always room for improvement, and now we have a clear list of things to start with.
Service Designer Team Away Day
Our first time all in a room together
Two weeks ago our SD team travelled to Leeds and got together for our first in person Service Designer away day (albeit we couldn’t all be there, so just means we’ve got to organise another day soon right?😉)
It was really nice all being together, talking about SD team plans, sharing updates on our work and current projects etc. It was super valuable to be in a space together too do that!
18 month review
How am I doing?
This week, I had my 18 month review. My Line Manager and I reached out to a number of people I’ve worked with (both dxw and clients) over the last 6 months, since my last review to get some feedback on my performance. Things I do well, things I could improve, peoples experience working with me etc.
One of the things that came out of that feedback was to have better faith in myself and confidence. I will hold my hands up (and by the sounds of it many people would agree), that probably one of my worst habits is selling myself short, not giving myself enough credit, or acknowledging my achievements or abilities. And a lot of my feedback was some lovely comments about my abilities and the value I bring to the team — so that is definitely something I need to take on board and try to remember.
I also think quite related to this, one bit of constructive feedback was around sharing my work more publicly and with the team (and writing weeknotes more, so hello 👋). It’s been really interesting to hear this bit of feedback, as I feel like part of this comes back to a confidence thing — having the confidence to share my work, to lead more, to play my thinking back to teams and in Show and Tells etc more often.
It’s been something on my mind recently, and in particular I have spent some time starting to reflect why my confidence seems to vary from project to project; is it the team dynamic? Is it the type of work, or the relationship with our clients? Is it my confidence in my role on a project? Or is it just me in general and where my mental health/mood varies? I don’t yet have the answers, but it’s definitely something I want to spend some time reflecting on.
All the recruitment
What a valuable experience?!
In the last couple weeks I’ve been part of lots of interview panels and scoring shifting questions for recruitment, primarily within our design team but also other teams. And although it can be quite exhausting to be so heavily involved, I’ve also found it super valuable and interesting!
We’re recruiting for a senior service designer right now, and it’s been really informative and valuable to hear from their experience, their understanding and their answers to our questions. I definitely feel like I’m learning from all those candidates and if nothing else, it’s also helped me to think about things I could be focusing on developing or experiencing as I plan to move more towards a senior position in the hopefully near future.
I do however think I’m going to have to start coming up with a different answer to “what you’re favourite thing about working at dxw?” — Might have answered that about 15 times in the last 4 weeks now aha!
My next art fair, tomorrow
Trying to get back into it all
Tomorrow I have my next art fair with my illustration work. I’m dead excited to set up shop again and share my work with the world!
I have to admit though, my illustration stuff has been a forgotten hobby recently, I’ve just not had the time, or maybe the energy to sink some time into sitting down with a pen and paper. But, I’m hoping getting back out there tomorrow will respark that joy. I’ve also been thinking about whether it’s time to maybe mix up my work, think about new mediums, new materials, something to just spark something new into it — for me but also for people who like my work.
I’m currently working on a little illustrated plant pot as a christmas gift for my dad, which shows the cycle between summer solstice, autumn equinox, winter solstice and spring equinox. It’s got a long way to go yet, but I’ve actually really enjoyed working on a different material and doing something a little more 3D — so maybe there is a future thing here🤔
Another lap around the sun
Officially closer to 30 than 20 now!
During my 2 months disappearing act, I also did another lap around the sun and turned 26. I’m not usually one for big birthday bonanza or anything like that, but I somehow managed to drag this birthday out across 7 days ahah. And it was quite literally 7 days full of food and drink… the perfect way to spend a birthday I’d say. Heres a selection of photos from that week to make you (and me) jealous 😉
Taking care of myself
It’s the season hey?
It’s quickly approaching that time of years, seasonal blues. I’ve certainly already been feeling this, feeling a little more melancholy and down. Always surprises me how the shorter days have such an impact on me and so many others! To add to that, I recently had a very difficult Samaritans shift, which quite frankly knocked me a good bit. But, I’m getting some support from other volunteers and making sure I keep talking things through with them.
But combining both those things together, has made for a particularly blue few weeks. So, I’m making sure it remind myself how important it is to look after my mental health and wellbeing, now more than ever.
Taking breaks when I need them, getting that fresh air while it’s still light outside, saying no to things to ensure I’m not overloading my plate, asking for help when I need it and just trying to be mindful of how full on things are right now.
And so here is a reminder to you also: Make sure to take time to look after you.
Hopefully see you in 2 weeks for some more weekenotes, but if not, see you when I have physical and mental capacity to share an update on things!
