# The Early Morning Reflection

> You’ve not heard from me since April, but here’s what I’ve been working on at a very high level.

> Last updated: 2023-08-15

## The Early Morning Reflection

For the first time in ages, I’ve woken up at 4 a.m. thinking about work. It’s hard to keep a track on my work without writing it down too, which means a return to weeknoting and journalling what I’m doing will help.

But given I haven’t written any weeknotes since, ahem, late April, I’ve got a few months to catch up on. Loads happening, so these notes will be brief.

## Work things

- Changes to the cadence of how our whole team operates has gone well, and bringing more rigour to show & tells has helped with cross-team awareness and knowledge sharing.
- Leading the team coaching alongside our coach, [Stefan](https://www.stefanpowell.co.uk), has been fantastic, and it’s highlighting which team-forming workshops are a must (establishing ground rules, mapping roles and responsibilities across a value stream, working to a shared vision, etc.).
- The growth strategy I started working on is kicking off properly in October, as a discovery with our users. There’s not enough evidence to hand to validate assumptions with, and unlike other design systems we don’t have the closed boundary of a company to help set one strategy for all teams.
- That discovery will only look at opportunities for feature work, scaling work or extending product-market fit, though: the community strategy is at the heart of the GOV.‌UK Design System’s growth, and we’ve begun planning a small conference.
- Do you shape people’s experiences of using the web? Designers, developers, researchers, UXers, product managers, content folk, and other tech superstars of all shapes and sizes, come along to [Design System Day 2023](https://design-system.service.gov.uk/community/design-system-day/)! Better yet, answer our [call for speakers](https://design-system.service.gov.uk/community/call-for-speakers-2023/) and tell the community a story of a cool component, pattern or design system you worked on.
- The early work Chris and I did on native apps became fruitful: we learned how the Digital Identity team crafted a component library and some guidelines for a GOV.‌UK-style app; we learned from HMRC everything they’d learned over the last 6 years about building an app; similarly we learned lessons from the NHS App team; and I put the person leading a cross-government app strategy in touch with teams working on apps (not part of my contract, but something worth doing).
- The GOV.‌UK Frontend squad is close to getting [v5.0.0](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/milestone/46) out the door as a pre-release, a chance to collect feedback before a full public release in Q3.
- The Design System squad launched [Exit this Page](https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/2023/08/14/exit-this-page-fast-with-the-design-systems-new-component/) and has been beavering away to [make our components and patterns compliant with the new WCAG 2.2 guidelines](https://github.com/orgs/alphagov/projects/46?pane=issue&itemId=15258274).
- The work includes an epic I ‘commissioned’ to [re-design how we write and publish accessibility content](https://github.com/orgs/alphagov/projects/46?pane=issue&itemId=15258274), which ~85% of our users say is the biggest benefit they get from the GOV.‌UK Design System (but there are improvements to be made).
- We’ve [updated the team playbook a few times](https://github.com/alphagov/design-system-team-docs/commits/main) but need to focus on defining and writing the low-hanging fruit.
- I’m still very interested in [shaping and working on big bets](/2022/11/09/a-team-for-thinking-big-and-starting-small/) and getting more agency-type experience, so hit me up if you think there’s something I could work on from February 2024 onwards (when my contract at Government Digital Service is due to end).
- There’s a few blog posts sitting in my drafts folder that need to be published, and I’d like to write one on delivery pacing (vary the intensity consciously).

## Not-work things

- Ultramarathon training has shifted to marathon training, as I was trying to do too much too soon. The 80/20 plan is fantastic though, making high weekly mileage but sustainable.
- Low-alcohol life is going well! Granted I took a week off in July to enjoy wine in Croatia, the reason for visiting, but I have developed a new relationship to booze – I’ll write about that.
- I haven’t been fastpacking or camping since April, must get a trip in the diary before summer is out.
- My family treated me to a pizza oven for my birthday and, you know what, I don’t think I’ll need to spend £14 on a Napoli-style pizza ever again.
- Went to my first Eisteddfod and had a _cracking_ time.

## Bookmarks

My reading habit is obliterated. Need to fire up a routine again. Here’s what I’ve read since late April, anyway.

- [How do you decentralise emergency alerts?](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/04/how-do-you-decentralise-emergency-alerts/), 3 mins
- [When part of your job is _not_ caring](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/05/when-part-of-your-job-is-not-caring/),
- [TikTok spied on me. Why?](https://on.ft.com/3NGQ7Xv)
- [Why AI’s ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton quit Google to speak out on risks](https://on.ft.com/3pbpVtR)
- [New public course: ‘Ethics in Design’](https://cennydd.com/writing/new-public-course-ethics-in-design)
- [Artificial intelligence could lead to extinction, experts warn](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65746524), 3 mins
- [Make me think!](https://ralphammer.com/make-me-think/), 4 mins
- [“Deskilling” and AI as a Tool](https://www.laurahilliger.com/techie/deskilling-and-ai-as-a-tool/), 4 mins
- [How to Launch a Mobile App Successfully](https://themindstudios.com/blog/how-to-launch-a-mobile-app-successfully/), 12 mins
- [Native Apps vs. Mobile Web: Breaking Down the Mobile Ecosystem](https://www.wired.com/insights/2012/11/native-apps-vs-mobile-web/), 5 mins
- [How to release a mobile app](https://runway.team/blog/how-to-release-a-mobile-app), 9 mins
- [What Is a Hybrid App? (Detailed Guide for 2022)](https://www.upwork.com/resources/hybrid-app), 8 mins
- [Why trust is more important than good UX](https://medium.com/writing-by-if/why-trust-is-more-important-than-good-ux-99eff4b4bba7), 5 mins
- [Why are people so quick to proclaim failure for new products?](https://hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com/p/209-proclaiming-failure-prematurely), 5 mins
- [Hybrid combines the worst of office and remote work](https://world.hey.com/dhh/hybrid-combines-the-worst-of-office-and-remote-work-d3174e50)
- [Creating rituals that reinforce focus & accountability](https://bynd.com/opinions/creating-rituals-that-reinforce-focus-and-accountability), 3 mins
- [Intuitive decisions](https://interacciones.org/2013/06/14/intuitive-decisions/)
15 August 2023 · [Weeknotes](/tag/weeknotes)  

Related posts: [The Research](/2023/01/21/the-research/), [The Back Once Again](/2022/12/18/the-back-once-again/), [The Joy](/2022/12/21/the-joy/)

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