Had an invigorating time listening to the London Film Festival (LFF) user research report this week, by the one and only, Olivia. I appreciate user research for obvious reasons, but actually being involved with it and listening to the deep analysis was fascinating, and with the topic being LFF, I just think it doesn’t get much better than this.
Adding to the list of exciting things I’ve witnessed my colleagues do this week: the Knowledge, Collections and Learnings show and tell on Friday was so good. I was mesmerised by the QA work that Prashanth had done, and yet again another shout-out to Olivia for her user research work on this. Cannot wait to see what Oliver and the team bring to us next.
These sorts of gatherings are so good for feeling like you’re part of an Agile team; learning from each other and breaking down the barriers between our workstreams - I can’t get enough!
As for me, I was mostly basking in the warm glow of my colleagues’ wins this week. I didn’t achieve too much.
I have started breaking into the backrooms of fund guidelines, trying to figure out how business needs and user needs can be woven together. I’ve been reading the National Lottery funding parameters, BFI funding plans, and even dipping into the Subsidy Control Act 2022 to do this.
I also started doing some research on other funding bodies to work out what they’re doing right, or wrong. Just to give a better idea of the field.
Some research I’ve put together on Arts Council funding pages.
I’ve also been researching sprints. I’ve taken part in them before but have never been part of the facilitation team, so I want to make sure I’ve got all the theory down before our January sprint on the digital programme.
Not sure if there’s a winter cold brewing inside me (which would add to the spring, summer and autumn colds I’ve collected this year, so at least I’ll have the whole set) but I’ve felt a bit sluggish this week. I’ve found it difficult to build momentum with any one task and the week sort of ran away from me at some point. That’s why I was doubly glad I got to sit back and see some incredible work delivered by my colleagues, that kept me going without a doubt.
On Friday afternoon I was informed that a former colleague of mine had passed away. She was only in her late twenties and it came as a shock. She was a kind, hilarious and joyful person. Rest in peace, Adrianne.
I’ll let my Spotify Wrapped do the talking.
Proper saddened by Shane McGowan’s death this week. The Pogues featured heavily in my childhood during our big family parties, and this song in particular brings back happy memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAEFKjqPtlU
Inspired by Neil’s blog, here’s a bunch of things that are good for trying to resuscitate your brain.