We are very much fast approaching the end of the year.. and that always means a few things for me:
- I’m usually on my 2nd or 3rd winter cold (right on track this year🤒).
- I’m thinking about what song to use for this years 1 Second Everyday video(this year is my 6th year doing this project!😲).
- Work has usually slowed down a little, usually to match the energy levels of the team.
- It’s time for some reflections on the year…
So with that in mind, I’m going to mix up the format of these last two weeknotes of the year. This week, I’m going to be taking it back to an old structure of Good things, learnt things, difficult things, & Achievements. But reflecting on the year as a whole.
Good things
So much personal development and growth
This year I feel like I’ve learnt so much about my own SD practice and have developed my skill sets massively. I think a big part of that has come from the vast mix of projects I’ve been on this year; A follow up strategic piece of work on the roll out of housing reforms, my first and second Beta project and experience of service assessment, and now taking a project through to live and learning about everything that comes with organising a public beta. I’ve also been involved more this year in public speaking, sharing my work, supporting others in projects, and equally, shadowing others.
With all of this has no only come practical development in my service design skills, I also feel like I’ve grown in confidence in my own abilities — which is something I’ve struggled with for the longest time. I’ve still a long way to go, but I can really reflect on a chunk of progress over the last 12 months.
Service Design Days in Barcelona with Marianne
Jetting off to Barcelona in September to attend Service Design Days with Marianne was a really great thing to happen this year. This was my first experience of going to a Service Design conference in person, and not joining remotely over zoom. They were two very long and full on days, but really great to be surrounded by likeminded people all looking to share SD knowledge and make services better for people.
It was also just really nice to spend some time with Marianne. Remote working means we don’t see people in our teams, or at dxw as a whole, as much as I’d think we’d all like. So it was really nice to have this time, to bond, catch up, talk about life and work, and career stuff. Plus, the glasses of Sangria together was a lovely addition too ehe.
Going abroad, twice!
Slightly related, but having the opportunity to go abroad twice this year felt like a long overdue luxury. I’ve never been one to go abroad often, and definitely not twice a year?! But, pre pandemic, I was backpacking asia, then returned home where we were all stuck indoors unable to travel anywhere for 2 years. So, walking across that tarmac and traveling to a new country twice was such a beautiful moment.
After SD Days, I stayed in Barcelona for a few extra days with my partner for a little holiday, and then 6 weeks later I flew to Amsterdam with some family friends for a long weekend. I can confirm, Amsterdam in late October was considerably colder than Barcelona in early September haha. But delightful nonetheless.
Learnt things
Beta projects and assessments
There have been two big practical learning themes this year; Beta Project and Beta Service Assessments. These were both totally unknown spaces to me last year! And now I’ve done two of each. Although, and I’ve been very honest about this, Beta’s are not my natural favourite place to be as a Service Designer — I’ve still really really valued the opportunity to experience this phase of work and pull some of those learnings and thinkings into other phases of projects.
Service Assessments.. You know, a small part of me has kind of enjoyed these?! And definitely again, valued the opportunity to be part of these experiences, as many of our teams haven’t ever been through one. So to have done two now so early in my career I think is really valuable. I’ve been involved in lots of chats recently about sharing experiences of Service Assessments and helping others better understand the process, so I’m glad I can share my experiences with others in the team.
Don’t always have to be driving
One of the things I’ve struggled with at times in these beta projects, and maybe why they’re not naturally my favourite spaces, is because I’m often supporting processes and development from a backseat. And this has sometimes lead to guilt, or feeling like I’m not being useful or productive. But Gaz, our Head of Design described it to me this year, as not always needing to drive to car, but sometimes offering support and direction from a backseat instead.
We can’t all always drive the car, theres an elements of taking turns. And where I may lead the direction or focus of projects as the Service Designer at times, other times the UR or Development might be driving, but my support from the back seat is still super important and essential to make sure we’re driving in the right direction. This really helped me feel more comfortable and valuable in projects, and less like I wasn’t helpful or being useful.
It’s okay to pause things, or even let them go
This year I’ve really taken the time to acknowledge it’s okay pausing things, or even just stopping them completely. And actually how important that is. For example weeknotes, I love writing these weeknotes, I really do — but I don’t always have the capacity, or even the energy to write them. So now, I do them when I want to, rather than committing to the bi-weekly structure. I’ve also taken a step back, for the time being, from some internal bits of work I was involved with. I’m more conscious now of not overloading my plate and either burning myself out, or not fulfilling promises to others.
This year I’ve also made progress with the idea of actually taking sick days. Crazy right?! dxw is the first place I’ve worked where sick pay is a thing, so before joining dxw, I kind of had no other choice but to go into work sick, otherwise I’d not get paid. So, taking the day off when I’m sick isn’t something I’m used to ahah. But this year I’ve tried to be better at this, and prioritise my health, even if it’s just taking a half day — like Tuesday this week. When I just needed to go to bed and sleep the worst of this cold off.
Difficult things
Staying focused on long projects
This year I’ve worked on more longer project. I’m currently 7 months into the project I’m on right now, with a good few months left here. Which is quite a bit longer than the types of work I was involved in last year. And I’ve found at times, keeping that focus, drive and momentum hard when you’ve been in the same space for so long! It doesn’t help that as a team we’re feeling a little burnt out and fatigued from the pace of work at the moment — so are all welcoming the festive break aha!
It’s been helpful to mix things up occasionally, work on something slightly different, mix up the structure of my day etc. But it’s definitely a thing I’ve become increasingly aware of.
Balancing work and life
At times this year, it’s also felt difficult to balance work and life. Whether that be me doing a fair bit of overtime, longer days, or missing my lunch break, or just not being able to switch off at the end of the day and not have my head still in work. There was a point in March this year, as we approached a project deadline, where basically every night I had a dream about project work, and was waking up in the middle of the night writing notes down about things I had to do or ideas — not ideal!
I think right now I’ve got a bit better about overtime/missing breaks, and being more vigilant on giving myself those breaks and logging off on time. But still finding I can’t always switch my brain off at times.
A mental health rollercoaster
From a more personal perspective, but open and honest in these weeknotes as always. 2022 has been a mental health rollercoaster for me. I started the year in a really difficult place with the usual (but particularly bad) January blues, had a real wobble in the middle of the year when life and adulting really got on top of me! And am currently working myself back out of a wobble again and already starting the fight against the pending January Blues. I also think the uh..state..of the world in 2022 has been a big contributing factor to this — but we wont go into that right now!
Becoming a Samaritan has definitely taught me so much about my own mental health though. And although it can also really negatively affect my own mental health at times, and was some what a slight tipping point to this recent wobble, I feel it’s also equipped me with the tools to support myself better. And feel more comfortable opening up to people around me and reaching out for help when I need it, which is great!
Ending on the best bits — Achievements
Promoted to practitioner
Earlier this year I was promoted from an associate Service Designer to a Practitioner Service Designer, and even a few months on, I feel chuffed by this! Even more so with the recent feedback I’ve had and our next steps for my career path. I’m so proud of how much I’ve grown and achieved in my career this year!
Spoken at two events this year
This year I also made big steps towards a high level personal development goal of mine: Find my confidence in public speaking. Earlier this year I spoke to over 50 people Ladies That UX Belfast about how my passion for Mental Health and career in Service Design have influenced one another. Then in September, I traveled to Edinburgh to share the stage with two other dxw-ers and deliver a talk about designing for experts, to over 70 people SDinGov 2022.
And I absolutely loved both those experiences. Don’t get me wrong, I was cacking my pants the whole time ahaha, but both of these experiences were fab and I’m excited about when I might next stand on stage in front of people to speak about what I love.
Samaritans
An obvious and massive achievement personally this year has been my work with Samaritans. I feel like I talk about this a lot, oops. But, it’s been a pretty major part of my life this year, and I feel proud of that. On shift last night, I counted how many contacts I’ve had this last year, and across phones, online chat and emails, I responded to almost 150 people in crisis. Which yes is a lot, but when I also think about the fact I am just one of 20,000 volunteers across the country — it’s crazy the impact and reach the Samaritans service can have.
To wrap up my part one of 2022 reflections, here’s a blog from Timeout about their top 22 things that happened in 2022. https://www.timeout.com/uk/things-to-do/amazing-things-that-happened-in-2022 (I’d personally argue that no.9 is not an amazing thing to have happened.. but hah)
See you in my next, and last weeknotes of 2022.
