Weeknotes — 2019 12 13
Week 11 — the election week…
Not a normal week this week, although I’m not sure that there is such a thing as a normal week. With some time off on Monday and the Election, things have been a bit all over the place.
I had blocked out pretty much the whole week for either leave or for the election is some way or another. So this meant very little meetings scheduled in, a few did sneak in last minute but this left time to be on standby for the Election if needed but then mainly time to pull together a number of documents.
Monday
Had the day off and drove to Salisbury to pick up my Mum and Aunt who had been away. Had a quick look around the City which was lovely and had a long ‘lunch’. So a lovely start to the week.
Wednesday
Had a really good meeting with our IT Business Relations Team in the morning, talking through their victories and challenges and what I think we are aiming for in the role. This team are really the link from Digital into the rest of the Council to think about strategic change and the future. Luckily there wasn’t any disagreement with this ambition but we are some way off, as a team, in achieving the outcomes that are needed. The team gave me lots of insight into some of their challenges and certainly some food for thought on the journey.
Met with Liberata’s Head of Customer Strategy and Insight. They manage a range of our services including Council Tax and benefits as well as the payroll, so a key partner for us. Was a really good meeting where we chatted through our ambitions for Digital in the Council, what they have done in other areas and how we may link systems more and improve things. Certainly some areas we can look at in the future as part of the digital strategy.
Had the second of our Pop-In Pod sessions in Hounslow House. A chance for colleagues to drop into the team and talk to us about stuff…. Over the space of an hour we had about ten colleagues come and a couple of Councillors chat to the team about a range of questions and queries including mobile phones, windows and office…
Thursday
Election day — probably least said about that the better but… I love the democratic process and love being part of it. Started the day by voting in Crawley.
Digital has such a role in the running of a successful election, which is an odd thing to say for such a paper based system. But I am very pleased to say that there were no issues with the technology surrounding the election — always a relief. There was a last minute change in the venue for the Postal Votes on the day but this was the right decision. (you can tell I work in Digital — initial draft of that sentence said — ‘change in the venue for the post-it notes..’ — concerning!). The success of the technology around the election was a real team effort from IT, we had colleagues involved in all areas… supporting the election team, the systems, the infrastructure, manning a poll station, providing weekend cover, out of hours support, supporting the postal vote opening or involved in the count last night and so on…. Very proud how we come together…
I was a senior count supervisor at the Count which meant making sure of the successful running of 8 Count Supervisors teams of 8 undertaking the Counting. Pleased to say all went well, and although it was my first time at a Hounslow Count, I have done far too many of these to remember and it is amazing how quickly it all comes flooding back. The quality of the chocolate was definitely improved being so close to Christmas. Although not sure of the orange t -shirts…
Friday
Got home just before 6am, but as usual with a general Election can’t go straight to bed and have to watch some of the coverage on the TV. Definitely a slower day today…
Tune of the Week: Emeli Sandé — Read All About It (pt III) [Lyrics On Screen] — a nice calming end to the week…
