Week 1… it all starts here!
Hello World!!!
Boxfresh and set off from the starting line, in the absence of project-worthy weeknotes, I thought I’d share some insights in to my first week here at HackIT.
I started on Monday feeling both excited and nervous… this is my first adventure in to Delivery Management and so I am super keen to do an incredible job.
How did I get here? Well, I’ve done quite a bit in my past… I’ve worked for local authorities and public organisations for a while, improving services, setting up teams and projects and driving up performance. But I’ve also been a west end DJ, a Pantomime Writer and Director and for my sins I had a brief stint as an Estate Agent (I know, I know, don’t judge me!)
What brought me here however, was an Agile adventure that I was fortunate enough to be a part of last winter, where Hackney Benefits and Housing Needs service undertook a pilot project with FutureGov. I was asked if I could help with the project and I was immediately hooked!
I’ve always loved working at pace and getting stuff delivered quickly and all of a sudden, I found myself surrounded by post-it notes flying up on the wall, working at breakneck speed inside of sprints and testing stuff quickly, putting the user at the centre of everything. (Not to mention show and tells, which fast became my favourite thing ever!!!)
When FutureGov’s involvement came to an end, I knew that for me, it was in fact the start. I decided quite certainly inside of myself that the role of Delivery Manager was calling and that I would do whatever it took realise this new ambition. Nine months and quite the learning curve later, here I am… and I am delighted that it’s for Hackney — I love this organisation.
So to my first week.
How to describe it…
It’s been rather like a super complicated jigsaw…
You see the picture on the box and love the image, then once you’ve brought it and open that box you realise that it’s definitely the image you brought, but… oh boy… this is gonna take some work!
Staying with the jigsaw metaphor, week has been mostly about hunting down a few ‘edge pieces’ and stumbling across the odd corner bit and beginning to create the ‘frame’ from which I’ll be working in from…
- Who’s who
- How the culture of the place works
- The basics of the projects I am going to be working on and their history until now.
This, set against the fact that I’m not from a tech background, so the learning curve of acronyms and tech terms has been practically vertical!
That said, I have LOVED it.
The Delivery team, the leadership and the wider ICT team have been BRILLIANT!
I have really enjoyed the pace of operation, along with the openness and clear will for things to work.
I’ve found my new colleagues to be absolutely delightful. I have thoroughly appreciated their willingness to have me join them and answer my million, billion questions. Everything is done with a smile and strong encouragement.
I have found the leadership to be equally brilliant to work with. A really super mix of support and space to allow self driven learning through autonomy. There’s a real culture of trust, with a clear element of determination together with a healthy dose of humour.
As to WHAT I have been up to this week…
Well, as previously alluded to, this week I have mostly been learning and have been able to be the ‘new person’ for a few days… I’ve been introduced to the projects I will be working on and have been making plentiful and deep enquiries about them, so that I can gently shed the ‘newbie’ shell and step in to delivery as quickly as I can.
- I’ve enjoyed watching a number of retro’s, from project phase ends, through to incident recovery.
- I’ve been privileged to have had the flexibility with my time to invest in learning about the HackIT manifesto and absorb some of the How To guides.
- We went straight in at the deep and and started exploring how we can better understand and articulate the return on investment of the projects that we run.
- I’ve observed my Delivery Manager Colleagues facilitate a number of sessions, being stand-ups, retro’s, workshops and sprint planning.
- I’ve spent time learning how the delivery pipeline works and how and why we work on the projects that we do.
- I’ve started learning about New Builds, Space Bank, Digital Support Services and the HackIT manifesto, all as projects that I will be working on to varying degrees and we’ve started to consider exactly what those varying degrees look like.
- I’ve also launched my own project, in the form of ‘me’ becoming a brilliant delivery manager in the shortest possible time, so next week, I enter “Sprint 1” of myself!!
My colleagues really have gone over and above to make me feel welcome and an important part of the team from day one. I’ve felt able to share my views in all forums from the very outset. I stress that everyone’s been brilliant, but I do think an extra mention has to go to Cate, David, Nic, Felix and Philippa, who have helped me tremendously in my first week here.
Finally, and by no means is this small fry… I cannot stress how thrilled I am to be working in an office that has bean bags (that are actually used) and ‘emergency pom poms’ (that I am determined to find a use FOR).
Thank you HackIT… can’t wait for week two, and to gently replace my general experience with some week notes which will offer some serious value.
