#WeekNotes - week beginning 15th February

A better week, but these are quick week notes because…

A busy fruit and veg shop entrance, woman in wheelchair, wearing a face mask with lots of shopping bags.

Capacity

There’s *a lot* going on.

There are so many opportunities out there at the moment for interesting work and projects, that I know the team is struggling to hold them all and consider them properly, as well as do everything we’re already working on. I know I am, and it’s a bit exhausting. If I don’t make good decisions, then I pay for it later. Collectively, it feels that there has been an unleashing of questions from across the sector.

Let’s try and remember that answering them well takes a bit of time. We don’t need to rush everything, and we need to take care of our people.

Evaluation and learning about place

I had a conversation with Sport England about their local delivery pilots and how they think about evaluating their work.

There’s a lot of good stuff in these documents, particularly the long People and Places report, but it’s at real risk of getting lost. As people are thinking about learning and evaluating, then decision making and change, we are at risk of losing nuance. I’m basically repeating the above point, but from a different perspective. Let’s try and slow down!

Designing and building

I’ve written before about about dealing with uncertainty, how it’s never ‘either/or’ always ‘both/and’. I’m in the middle of conversations about designing and building new things, and that’s exciting, but it forces decisions of either ‘this’ or ‘that’. It’s hard but reminds me to put values first.

Reading, listening and watching

I re-read Andrew O’Hagan’s new book, Mayflies this week. Or, more honestly, I listened to it after having read it quickly when it came out. It is a wonderfully focussed study of male friendship, and the love between two people. I adored it, and have long admired O’Hagan. I think he writes women well (not all men do), but this book is only really about two men. Throughout, every character is suffused with a decency, a generosity of spirit, that just made me feel really good.