Monthnotes - 20th Jan to 6th March 2020
(3 minutes reading time)
I’m getting worse at doing these regularly, but that’s mainly because I’m busier which is OK.
Work
Made some diagrams to illustrate why working on our frontend is so hard, and where we want to be and how to get there. I presented these to our Lead Product Manager who said they were super helpful for putting our current frontend problems on GOV.UK into a higher level perspective.
Later my team used these diagrams to present at our GDS Tech Community meetup, and it was an excellent presentation. I’ve asked for them to present to the rest of GOV.UK. I also used these to during my Programme Check-In with our senior leaders on GOV.UK. Our super-glamarous Head of Product said “Not only are you dealing with the task in hand that you’ve been given, but you’re also thinking ahead. It’s really impressive”… 😳
I’ve been suffering humongous imposter syndrome during on-call incidents. In fact, I suffer them during all of the incidents I’m involved in. My line manager (recently promoted to Lead Developer on GOV.UK! That’s how good they are) reminded me I’m never alone and there are always people around to help.
But it’s also the lack of sleep around being on-call and the stress that’s starting to get to me. It really affected my day and also my partner’s. Also her cat!
In order to mitigate this I’m tackling this on two fronts: reduce the number of on-call shifts I do and also set up Game Days in GOV.UK. I’m getting help from an SRE who helped to organise Game Days at Google.
I’ve also been working with Kevin Dew (Snr Developer) and Alex Juribita (Snr Frontend Developer) on coming up with an RFC that would help to set out a plan to remove Static and Slimmer from our frontend architecture.
I also feel I handled a situation well with a team member, where I applied some of the learnings I experienced from having Pablo as my Tech Lead. He isn’t just great at his job, he’s an amazing, compassionate and kind human being. I try to do this as much possible as a Tech Lead myself.
Life
The news on coronavirus (COVID-19) was having an effect on me too, coupled with how there are anniversaries for a bunch of major life events around this time of year.
I’m torn between being pragmatic and being cowed by fear and sensationalism. And it’s stressing me out.
I’m flat hunting.
Got an event coming up (which I’m now doubting whether to have because of COVID-19) and I made a mix tape for it.
I love this Pacemaker app. I can’t mix, but I know when something sounds alright. The app will do it automatically for you, but some were iffy so I adjusted them. Some I decided would sound better knowing where in the song certain sounds would come in.
My time with the NHS ended this month and I had honestly thought it wasn’t going to be any sort of wrench, until my good friend Hannah said I must be sad. The person I’d been dealing with seemed to really help me. It was at that moment I realised that Hannah was right. Not sure about the new guy yet.
Onwards.