Jude’s weeknotes — 23 January 2021
Reduced working and learning a new balance with ‘homeschooling*’.
I’m currently working 2 days a week and being off with my children 3 days a week. My partner is off the 2 days I’m working. We’ve both been very grateful to our employers for letting us flex how we’re working to give us time to support our children to continue learning while school is closed for a half term (maybe term).
My weeknotes are normally work focused but I thought I’d adapt to make them reflect what’s going on.
What did you experiment with?
We had a rough few days of working with the children, without a routine non of us want to get up and start doing what needs to be done.
So as a family we all wrote down what needs to be done during the day and what we’d like to do. We then found where we’d said similar things (thankfully it wasn’t just the adults who wrote brush teeth). Then my 10 year old too charge of putting everything into time order. When we knew the order we put ideal times next to things. I wrote these down on the whiteboard.
It worked for one day then my youngest was told he had a daily call at 9.30 so we couldn’t walk the dog 9–10. So we’ve had to stay really flexible and we walk at 8.30–9.30 if we all get out in time, but we also know that if we have a lie in we’ll have to walk the dog after lunch.
Having some agreed time-blocks has helped us keep the conversations constructive and less naggy.
(Note: taking Vitamin D might help with Covid so our kids take it too)
What was hard?
I’m struggling with my patience at the moment. Also not finding time or motivation to do yoga or general mindfulness that I know would help.
We had prioritisation meetings at work, I’ve struggled with getting my head around the slight shift in what we’re going to working on. Also learned about myself that I really need to transparency to buy into what I need to work on.
Only working 2 days is hard. It means managing my own expectations about what I’ll be able to contribute. Thankfully everyone is being very understanding and I can keep to flex to make sure we get the balance that’s right for both of us
What did you enjoy?
A new colleague reached out to me to work through something. I’m really pleased that despite getting to know each other virtually we’ve managed to create a relationship where we can support each other.
What did you learn?
When chatting to my colleague I shared that I felt like ‘homeschool’ days feel like marathons and work just gets me on rest days when my energy is low. I also shared with my team what I need around sharing experiences outside work. As an extreme extrovert my needs are not the same as the rest of the team. Having chatted through this I think we’re in a better place.
Chatting about participatory design vs human centred design I was asked the question ‘how do you build in iteration into participatory design while managing the expectations of people with lived experience’. Very interesting question that I’d not thought about before.
Who did you talk to outside of your organisation?
I’ve started Acumen Academy Introduction to Human-Centered Design with friends from a past workplace. We had a great first chat. We’d not done the homework but we learned what we were all hoping to achieve. Also got set up with a Miro board and agreed when we’d meet but more importantly we just chatted.
What would you have liked to do more of?
Calm — I wish I wasn’t so shouty at the moment.
Time — it’s hard only doing 2 days at work. I can’t help but check messages in between, but it feels like the right balance.
Progress — I’m looking forward to getting going with some work now that we know what we’re working first. But we’re still in that tricky kick off phase where we’re figuring out what if we’re asking the right questions and our approach is going to give the outcomes that are needed.
I love that the double diamond says this is supposed to be a bit messy, and I’m increasingly getting comfortable with it, but I still feel very disruptive when starting a project and need to think about how much it’s worth asking all the questions vs just getting started and seeing where we get to.
I surprised myself because I enjoyed Y3 music (Three little birds by Bob Marley) and Y5 art (Banksy). Two subjects I hated when I was at school.
What do you wish you could have changed?
Except for there not being a global pandemic and the country being in lockdown nothing specific.
What are you looking forward to next week?
Getting started on the work project and the course and weekly yoga with my friend.
What are you reading?
Design, When Everybody Designs by Ezio Manzini — but I’m struggling with it. The academic writing isn’t a style I’m used to. I’m sure there are good things in there because I’ve been recommended it by great people, but I’m used to books which are written to be easier to read.
Ends
Week notes took 45 mins on Saturday morning sitting next to my eldest playing Fifa.
*I’m putting ‘homeschooling’ in quotes because it’s such a weird balance, we’re basically shepherding children to work that’s been set for them. It’s mostly about keeping their momentum and letting them vent their frustration.
