4.09 — weeknotes — learnt a new word Verschlimmbesserung
I’ll start this week by just saying that the tragic events in Ukraine are just beyond belief, the images that we have been seeing have been horrific but we have also seen hope and solidarity emerging. I can’t really add anything to the commentary in the news, but it didn’t feel right to not acknowledge in the weeknotes this week, I know that anyone reading these will be thinking of the situation and those affected.
— — — — —
I am feeling human again which is nice, finally at the end of all the Covid fun and games and feeling bright and breezy!
We continue to come into the building with purpose, and this week we had a management team meeting on Wednesday in Hounslow House. It was so nice to not be at home, to battle the fun of the M25 on a wet and grey day and to be in the building. Made me realise that it would be good to do more!
Was great for all of the team to get together for the morning and we covered such a wide range of topics. We rattled through some day to day queries and decisions, talked through a number of things that were blocked, went through an update on BC plans and thinking. The main event though was a review of the Service Plan for 2022/23.
There continues to be so much going on that finding a way of getting it all presented in a way that is meaningful and makes sense, whilst trying not to leave anything major out, is a challenge!
We also had a nice lunch together — and discovered that there is not only a Pret opening in Hounslow but also the Starbucks that closed is reopening around the corner — it’s the simple things in life for me!
Wednesday afternoon a few of us met to go through the One Hounslow programme, we are working through a refinement of the programme and approach to align everything and ensure that we improve the governance for delivery. We are also trying to get a single delivery plan that identifies all the crunch points and links it all up. Sounds simple? Actually it doesn’t, but made a start on pulling it together.
Learnt a new word this week, Verschlimmbesserung! For all you non German speakers out there I will save you the job of googling what it means:
Verschlimmbesserung is a German noun word for an attempted improvement that only makes things worse.
We have nearly completed the rollout of some new VPN technology to all users but an issue appeared this week on some of the final rollout, when trying to connect to ‘public’ wifi that is stopping colleagues connecting. Verschlimmbesserung certainly appears to apply in this case :-) — will get it resolved!
Tune of the Week (you know I love a remix!): Dolly Parton — Jolene (Destructo Remix — Official Music Video)
