Epoch 1 Note

If you ignore the intervening year since my last weeknote, it's like I never missed one at all.

Weeknotes are kinda revealing, no? For someone who cares about privacy, and keeps social media to a minimum, there's a lot of information about my life here for stalkers or a dystopian UK state to use against me and my rebel cause – lol no, I'd shamefully keep my head down, we all know it*. I decided a period of mystery wouldn't be a bad thing. And oh boy, you missed a lot!

At the same time, I was not having fun at work: "Work continues to be tricky at the moment [...] My sleep is suffering." Long story short, my team exploded due to yet another cut in a pattern which suggested that the far reaching impact of our work as a services team wasn't understood or valued by our senior leadership. As the only remaining experienced team member, and as a hiring manager, I didn't feel I could talk openly without further damaging the team(?) but also couldn't ignore what was going on.

If not for my lovely colleagues I would also have left ❤️ I reached out to friendly faces across different groups, discussed the situation and the potential risks to their teams, and sought support. I also found myself a mentor I could talk with candidly about my options and external job search, who was exceptionally understanding and helpful – I'd leave every meeting energised.

A crisis is a catalyst for change. With the help of my mentor and the people around me, I tried to make the most of that and did a bunch more advocacy work, talking with senior leadership, giving talks, and took the opportunity to take part in my first round table conversation at our internal tech conference – interesting. My efforts seem to have paid off somewhat! I was super pleased with my end of year feedback, because I wasn't sure what to expect:

> Lee has responded well to the situation and has worked very hard with the team around him to form positive vision and plans for the future. I'm way more excited about Origami than I ever was before and that has an awful lot to do with Lee.

Total brag. Thank you for the kind words, anonymous 🙇

My team is growing, more people are engaged. I'm now a manager and I've enjoyed it more than expected, I've learnt a lot and continue to work on trying to be a good manager. It's meant seeking advice from experienced managers, taking part in internal training, and ample reading. I'd totally recommend Larua Hogan's Resiliant Management as a starting point – even if you're not a manager, it's a good way to learn what you should expect of your manager.

Today we're back to a team of 3 engineers, along with our existing part time delivery teammate; we have a new part time product manager; and we're hiring our first dedicated designer in forever!

Though I'm enjoying a leadership role, I have been missing hands-on technical work which was hugely squeezed over the last year. It's great to share responsibilities with dedicated disciplines rather than half wear so many hats. I'm beginning to have more time to focus on my role as technical lead. We have some exciting technical architecture decisions to make this year.

So what else have you missed? I can swim now; I went to a cycling confidence thing as promised; I have an allotment; I started to take driving lessons and my test is coming up; we did lots of fun things, most recently visiting Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro; and, oh yeah, our wedding is approaching fast.

What. A. Year.

* off the scent, they'll never suspect me now