Weeknotes #3

A slightly less productive week this week, primarily caused by a bit of illness, along with a lot of admin, stakeholder management and feedback. The organisation also announced a voluntary severance scheme in light of financial pressures, therefore have been managing the outcome and comms of that with the team/org. Spent a nice long weekend in Stafford visiting some mates, I don’t get to see as much.

Work 💼

Time in meetings: 19.5hr

Team management: As mentioned, the organisation has now offered a voluntary severance scheme in light of financial pressures, subsequently have been managing some of the digital comms for this, as well as speaking with the team and individuals to alleviate any concerns and provide support.
2026 Strategy: Wrapping up the digital experience team strategy along with the master roadmap for 2026.
A LOT of admin, however useful to tick off a lot this week.

Read 📚

Work

Vector databases for machine learning. Slowly becoming more familiar with the process of developing RAG LLMs. https://machinelearningmastery.com/the-complete-guide-to-vector-databases-for-machine-learning/

Listen 🎧

Learn

Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, Dan Wank. 2.5. A good insight into China’s engineering revolution, precisely fuelled by a leadership with vast engineering experience.
The standard EMQs + Rest is Politics + Foreign Desk for my weekly politics

Music

Top 3 songs of the week:

Play 🕹️📖📺💻

Sports

Strava:
- Workout: 2hr1m
- Run: 11km
In general a far lighter week of exercise due to illness.

Watch

Celebrity traitors - always been brilliant tv, and expect no less from this series.

Other

Spent a long weekend in Stafford visiting mates, really lovely.
Titanic themed escape room.
A couple hours of painting on Wednesday.

Executive Learning 🧠

Being ill some of this week whilst managing some important conversations has made me realise how important taking time to rest and time to yourself is in recharging my battery.