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Nick Smith

@skynick.bsky.social

220 followers 350 following 130 posts

I'm not new here anymore. I do agile-ish things for government.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 6h

It's buggy and the interfaces look like they were designed by a drunk monkey. Everything I look at reminds me of this graphic (as in, I wish they'd seen it and internalised the point).

Regularly used image showing the importance of graphic design. The sentence 'You will read this first' is big and bold in the middle. Visual users will indeed read this first. Then there are other sentences: 'and then you will read this'; 'Then this one'; 'And you will read this last'. To make the point, the last sentence you read is the first a non-visual user would have read out on the page, it's at the top.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 1d

Life finds a way

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 8d

Oh, that makes sense. I've seen a few 404s. Yes it could fail much more gracefully / usefully

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 8d

*somewhat (not someone)

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 8d

URLs (or URIs *) are someone second class citizens in MS world, it seems.

* feel free to have that discussion elsewhere.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 8d

Therefore in Google Workspace it's easier to trust linking between documents. To create a web of documents.

You can imagine what this is doing to me, having grown up on the web. This is how my brain works

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 8d

So if the culture of your org is used to how the web works, vs desktop publishing, and you regularly link out to guides from wiki pages, be ready for lots of links to break regularly as (quite rightly) folder structures change

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 8d

My understanding is, and nobody seems to talk about this, a big difference between how Google Workspace and MS Sharepoint works: files in Google retain a canonical link. So moving a file between folders in Google, the link to the file stays the same. Move a file in Sharepoint and the link changes

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 10d

I just started #Daily30 (a food supplement) and can say I have more energy and am eating less. It’s part of attempting marginal gains to improve my diet and lose weight

Photo of a 30 day calendar pinned to a fridge. Each day is crossed out. It’s a record that I took a supplement each day. The calendar is printed and has QR codes with info from the supplement manufacturer, Zoe.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 10d

This post sent with the smugness of someone who, after 5 months, has finally switched off all of the ways Microsoft services like to play sounds with notifications

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 13d

I’ve heard this before where English wasn’t someone’s first language

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 15d

Why use 'whilst' where 'while' will do? 'Whilst' doesn't make your sentence more formal

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Sep 14

Oh no. Best wishes to her and you all, hoping for a speedy recovery

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Sep 13

So interesting. Pollinator Pathmaker. Design your own garden for free. An art project using code to design gardens for pollinators (and humans). Art, code and gardens, right up my street. Featured on BBC Gardener’s World last night: pollinator.art

Pollinator Pathmaker

Design and plant gardens for endangered bees, butterflies and other pollinators using the algorithmic tool - an artwork by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Sep 11

Agile delivery manager ≠ project manager.

There's crossover in what they do and they can learn from each other, but they are not the same. Assuming they are devalues them both.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Sep 4

I worked for them in Greenwich in the late 90s, early 00s. Back then it was a public private partnership. The council owned the buildings, GLL ran the services. They expanded across London in the 00s, then went national following that. IIRC it was skilled and tightly run, hence their success

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Sep 2

Here's a thing @visitmy.website and Xander wrote about: gds.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/07/w...

What happened when we stopped having meetings and sending emails

We took advantage of the switch to remote working and tried new working practices in GOV.UK Pay. Our aim was to help people find a balance between work and life that works for them. Here’s what happen...

gds.blog.gov.uk

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Sep 1

Solar install update. Our first year.

Since April we’ve had a better than expected June. August was a smidge less solar than predicted. Our peak was 34 kWh on 8 July. It came out of nowhere.

Solar is down in August but still greater than the energy we used in January 🎉

bsky.app/profile/skyn...

Graph showing the months January to December and expected solar generation versus historical household electricity consumption, both in kilowatt hours. Consumption meanders across the middle, generation follows a bell curve. Between April and September solar generation is greater than consumption and we’re net zero over the year.

Graph showing the months January to December and actual solar generation versus actual household electricity consumption in kilowatt hours. Consumption matches the prediction on the previous image. Generation is significantly higher than predicted in June and a smidge lower in August. The figures end in August, drawing two thirds of a bell curve.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Aug 20

Despite their eagerness, I'm never going to sign in to the BBC News website to read the news

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Aug 12

Without going into specifics, and without trying to seem like I have all of the answers, my job over the last while seems to have been coaching many levels of an org to have a healthy approach to change. Being deliberate. Being aware of my own emotions. Trying to find the words people need to hear.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Jul 31

Winning! 🎉

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Jul 15

*possibly

… Which was as far as I got before the AI went on another tangent. But at least now I know what driving change literally looks like.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Jul 15

OK, we're getting somewhere.

But are you sure that's the most literal image you could possible create for driving change? Why don't you try again and create an even more literal image of driving change?

AI generated image of someone driving an oversized Flintstones style grey stone car on a road with trees and fields in the background. The car has the word ‘CHANGE’ on the side.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Jul 15

I want the most literal image you can possibly create for 'driving change'…

AI generated image of a hand on a car steering wheel that’s connected to a large rough grey block of stone with the word ‘CHANGE’ written on the side. The hand looks ready to turn the wheel.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · Jul 15

Generate an image that's *even* more literal…

AI generated image of a red Tesla driving on a sleek motorway. The wheels are fashioned into a complicated triangular rail system. The road has grooves that the rails sit within.