Monthnote: December 2024
I’m wrapping up the year today on Christmas Eve, so some final monthnotes and reflections for 2024. I’ve managed six monthnotes this year which isn’t a bad return overall. I plan to keep this going into 2025…
Work
It has felt like a year and a half. Definitely the hardest year I’ve had in this role as TPXimpact has grown, and since those early FutureGov days. There have been some really challenging moments, the need to make big decisions, and to lead my team through some significant changes. But we end the year in a good place, and I’ll be ready to go again in 2025 with renewed belief and optimism. I just need some rest first!
This year, our teams have continued to deliver brilliant and impactful work, and I’ve been proud to support them in any way I can. In 2025, my goal is to help us to tell those stories better, and to help the organisations we work with to share their stories more. Work in the open, it really does make things better etc.
We didn’t have a Christmas party or team gatherings this year, but I’m really looking forward to time with all our Digital Transformation teams in January, when we all come together for planned time in London.
With the end of the period of change for our design teams, we said a final goodbye to Kelly McBride earlier in the month. I’ve only worked directly with Kelly since earlier in the year, but I wanted to say how much I valued her contribution to our Design Leadership space, and in leading Community Engagement work brilliantly right through until the end of her time with us. Thank you Kelly.
Wrapping up the year, I’ve spent most of my time supporting bid work and sales. This is always a theme at this time of year – to the extent the team call in ‘Bidmas’ – I can remember which bid I was working on most Christmas Eve’s for the past 5+ years now. It’s fair to say procurement deadlines don’t always fall kindly for consultancies, so spare a thought for anyone working towards your January 3rd deadline – ’tis the season!
Health
I’m continuing to chase up the treatment for the problems with my left ear, including a possible operation I will need next year. After last month’s CT scan, I’m now waiting for an appointment to see the right consultant again. It’s another example of service design failure. Despite the consultant asking me to call her secretariat as soon as I’d had my CT scan, no one has been able to give me an appointment. I’ve also had the joy of being giving different numbers and departments to call in the process of trying to get anything to happen. Initially, an appointment couldn’t be confirmed because a system apparently still said my scan results weren’t processed. I’m now being told there are just no available appointments, so I’m on a list and they’ll eventually contact me.
Imagine if you could design this better, saving so many phone calls, lost time, and patient frustration – I’m sure it’s not just me.
What I’ve been writing
I’ve kept my writing momentum going this month, with a couple of new posts related to Pat McFadden’s UK Government speech. This was a hot topic of conversation for a few days in my LinkedIn and Bluesky networks. My first post was an immediate response to the speech (first shared as a Bluesky thread), followed by some short thoughts about how the UK government might achieve it’s Missions with better use of optionality: Small bets for digital transformation.
Next year, my goal is to publish more, and to finish/share more posts. I’ve lots of writing already started, but just need to be bolder again with sharing thoughts and more work in progress – that’s the whole point of having your own blog. I’m also working with our TPXimpact design team on how we reset our design blog. Again, with so many great stories we need to share in 2025.
What I’ve been reading
In December, I’ve been listening to The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Bad Decisions by Dan Davies. I’m not sure this one works as an audiobook to follow enough of the detail, so I’ve ordered a print copy to read in the new year.
I’ve also started listening to Great Britain? How We Get Our Future Back, by Torsten Bell, which I’m enjoying so far, and I’ve got a copy of Andy Budd’s new book, The Growth Equation, which I’m planning to have a look at over Christmas.
…and that’s 2024 wrapped
No walking updates for December, but overall I walked over 150 miles in the UK Lake District this year. That definitely merits its own post at some point, having almost completed half of the Wainwright summits now (104 and counting). I’ll be back out on the fells again as soon as the weather improves and the days start to get lighter.
For anyone following along with my updates, I wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year – I’ll see you in 2025.
This is my blog where I’ve been writing for 20 years. You can follow all of my posts by subscribing to this RSS feed. You can also find me on Bluesky and LinkedIn.