Crikey, this week’s been good, both at the office and at home. Let’s unpack the highlights:

The Work Front

Nearly 5-ish months in the deep end covering for my boss, Vice-President, PMO – what a ride! I’ve been reflecting on the impact I’ve made and how to keep that momentum going across different projects.

Speaking of big-picture stuff, we’ve kicked off the 3-year planning exercise. This is essentially a roadmap for the next three years, helping us chart our course and prioritise initiatives. Companies do this for a few reasons: to anticipate future trends, ensure alignment across departments, and make sure we’re all rowing in the same direction. The process itself usually involves a mix of top-down direction and bottom-up input – think strategy sessions with senior leadership and feedback loops from individual teams.

Wrapping up Q1, we’re reviewing the status of key H1, 2024 deliverables. It’s all hands on deck to make sure we hit those targets. 96% of those are on-track for H1 completion - not a bad going for a tough year, but I know it’s a long-way to go and a number of hurdles to get past.

One area I’ve been focusing on is streamlining processes without adding extra hoops to jump through. For example, we have a limited number of architects, and some folks are debating how to prioritise their workload. Instead of creating a whole new approval process, could we empower engineering managers to handle some of the solution architecture work, especially for smaller initiatives?

Beyond the Office

The second parent meeting at school was a cracker! The teacher was absolutely delighted with our little one’s progress – a right proud moment for a parent, that’s for sure. It made me think back to the brave decision we made to move to a new village where we didn’t know a soul. We took a bit of a gamble, but seeing how well our son has settled in - made friends and everything – feels like we’ve landed on our feet. Talk about beginner’s luck!

Speaking of taking a plunge, swimming has become a real joy lately. I was a bit fixated on speed, but then I watched that film about the lady who swam from Cuba to Florida (NYAD, right?). It reminded me that my original goal was simply to be able to swim a mile for surfing. Back to basics it is!

One thing that keeps cropping up in these weekly reflections is the need for focus. I still feel like I’m running around like a headless chicken sometimes, time just slipping through my fingers.

Alright, folks, eleven weeks in and I must be honest – is this working? These #weeknotes and regular reflections keep circling back to the same themes – focus, taking a step back, intent, the whole shebang. Is it the timing, or am I just spinning my wheels here? Maybe I need to tweak the format, change the timing to Monday morning, or maybe there’s something else entirely going on. What do you think? How can I make the most of these reflections?