What I’ve been doing
Phew. What a difference a few weeks makes. As we’re now in April and our big delivery deadlines in March have all been completed there’s finally a bit of room again to be thinking and planning with intent and consideration. There’s still stuff to do of course - organisationally that includes writing/publishing our annual report; strategic roadmap for 2026-27 and end of year accounts for 2025-26 - all of which I’ve been drafting in the last couple of weeks. I’ve also done the monthly reconciliation for March and given all the team their financial reviews.
I’ve also been doing some light touch support of PAIRSx Africa (mainly admin and social media related) and enabling some spin out (from the main PAIRS events) work to progress.
The final batch of videos of the online PAIRS event were uploaded and shared on socials. There’s still a few of the in person event but I’m waiting on Tim to do the edits before they can be shared.
We had our first Team Confab in ages on Monday. We tend to progress work through 30 minute check in sessions focused on a project or a theme. Confab is a space we come together to talk about what’s going on around the edges; where perhaps there’s some more independent working; what the organisation needs. I love Confab as a connection space but also this organisational chat is always pleasing to me. As we enter our final year (if you haven’t already, I highly recommend taking some time to read Jeni’s blog about why we’re winding up in 2027) this space will be even more important to plan and deliver our intention of ending well.
What I need to take care of
I need to do a first draft of a blog about selecting venues for activities. As a team we felt like this is one of the things we’ve learned lessons on that we wanted to share (generally but also as part of our archiving / legacy work).
I will be continuing to progress the annual report and end of year accounts. As part of that I need to sort out having a sandbox space for the website.
A “sandbox” is a space to test changes before making them live - allowing you to play and not break things).
The process for getting a suitable sandbox will require some software installation and likely drivers updating and various other steps that I can’t event predict yet. I learned this week in a 1:1 with Jeni this is known in programming circles as “Yak shaving”.
Yak shaving is a seemingly endless series of small tasks that have to be completed before the next step in a project can move forward.
Knowing that frustration is in my future it has become a bit of a frog…so I just need to get on and “Eat the frog”.
Eat the frog is a phrase used to describe doing the difficult/hard task that you really don’t want to do.
Next week I’m taking a little trip down to Plymouth to look at some bus stops. Specifically some bus stops with fabulous posters in them as part of a new Let’s Talk AI campaign. The thinking behind this campaign has a direct line back to the People’s Panel on AI that we convened in 2024 - and we’ve contributed/supported the thinking ongoing since then too. It’s exciting that the campaign is out in the wild! Selfie to follow!
What I’ve been inspired or challenged or moved by
I’ve mentioned before about how much music as an art form can move me. This clip on Instagram of the Voice UK coaches in 2018-19 (the best line up imho). The way their voices and styles come together in this performance makes me weep every time I watch it. The song too, of course, is clearly constructed and well chosen and adds to the sense of power. I wish they’d released this so I could have it on my listening lists.
What I’d add is that part of why I loved this line up of coaches is they all seemed authentically respectful of, and impressed by, each other. I think you see that in the video. You certainly see it in this one when Jennifer Hudson gets going. Incredible.
What I’ve been reading
I’m still reading ‘Sisters of Sword and Shadow’ by Laura Bates. My “read every day” pledge has definitely fallen by the wayside but I’ll get that back and this will be finished quickly.