Weeknotes #5
Getting ready to look forward by looking back.
As I don’t write about my 9–5, I think out-loud about things I’ve read, events I’ve attended, chats I’ve had — always with a dash of personal reflections. It’s only been five weeks and I can sense benefits already. I’m planning on dedicating #10 to a weeknotes retrospective.
I ended last week as a woman with a very full brain.
Last week there were three events in Sheffield which has given me almost too much to think about so here’s the headlines for now.
Louise Elliot outlined her ‘Agile lessons from the world of Roller Derby’ at Sheffield Ruby UG.
- The Roller Derby team self-selects how they will work together and each member ensures all the required activities are covered — including doing things they don’t really enjoy.
- The Jammer (the point scorer) does not cling to this role. Each team member has a turn and no one person takes all the glory.
- Everyone is accepted and diversity of thought is welcomed.
It was an interesting talk and I’ve lots of notes I’ll draw on in later posts.
Sheffield’s First Annual Digital Conference made me think. Lots.
I’d like to write a full post about this as it was a great day and I’ve not had chance to gather and prioritise my ‘what next?’ thoughts and actions. Sheffield Digital has shared all the outputs so far and I need to read them too.
Catherine Howe opened the day and many of her words keep coming back to me. As one of the 150 people attending and having knowledge and experience of the power of digital (yeah, I’m aware that word means all sorts to all sorts):
I’m one of the ‘elite’.
That feels uncomfortable and important as I’ve written about wanting to help Sheffield grow and how I strive to behave in ways which are inclusive. I need to keep moving (literally) on this one.
Catherine said one of the aims of the conference should be about ‘creating the future people want to change for’ and not a future for the tech elites. It’s about ‘creating a shared civic space online’. Finally, my favourite —
It’s about the ‘ability to convene as much as the ability to direct’.
I’ve reflected on finding my hashtags before and I found another one at the conference:#LeaveNoOneBehind.
It’s good to change your mind.
I also attended a ‘Building Confidence’ event at Sheffield’s Google Digital Garage. I wasn’t sure about attending this as I sometimes find these events patronise or assume things about me. I’m glad my mind was changed. A few headlines:
- Karen Perkins shared her thoughts about making presentations. I liked her idea of thinking of them as telling a story instead.
- When stressing about something, Holly Crosby asked us to consider ‘will I remember this in a year?’ I tweeted one of her other questions:
- Credit to Emma Molloy and Annie Ivanova for helping to create an environment where women quickly felt able to share their fears and, just as importantly, their achievements. I’d love to be able to bottle that kind of environment so it could be shared more easily.
And finally, an apology.
Weeknotes for me is also about passing on and sharing articles I’ve enjoyed but I didn’t read very much last week. I’ll make up for it this week!
