It’s been a heck of a rollercoaster over the past 4 weeks, I went on leave (hi Cape Verde) being informed my contract was 100% going to be renewed (spoiler.. nope), I then returned to find no renewal and suddenly contractless!

Matthew Solle, out of the blue suddenly got in touch and upon returning from holiday, I found myself in a great chat and signing up for a really exciting opportunity with Defra in a whirlwind!

What did I enjoy:
The onboarding at Defra is next level, it is completely stress-free. I have found myself with time to look around the intranet, and the project notes, all whilst setting up my accounts using “the other” (if you have worked within public sector.. you’ll know this adventure only too well) computer provided.

Learning about the new project I am on, it’s a really interesting assignment where I am leading the interaction design solution(s) within the alpha phase, and personally already learning about the climate effect and how that impacts investigations and reporting things like floods.

The welcome at Defra was amazing, the community feels healthy and supportive and… it helps I’ve managed to work with a handful of them before!

What challenged me:
Usual things, nerves joining a new team, finding my place etc, slowly getting used to it though!

After not working for 4 weeks, managing my coffee intake.

What am I looking forward to next week?
Getting deep into the discovery findings and working out what was found, what we could look at and start planning and prepping (even this early) a possible story for the user needs in regards to the alpha assessments that always seem to catch teams out (from my past experience).

Watch of the week:
I have a list of films that I want to watch (if you have any - get in touch!), all provided by my most film-obsessed friends who I know only deal in good 8/10 at least films. This week’s big one was White Heat (1949), James Cagney at his best, and his character at his worst. Worth a watch for sure.

Tune of the week:
Revisted a band I have long loved, but not listened to for a while - Incubus. Great memories of going to see them at gigs and it’s still amazing that they are still going, handful of brilliant albums but Morning View is an absolute banger.

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