By @edent · retropost work · 1 comment · 300 words · read ~388 times.
This is a retropost. It was written in July 2021, but published after I had left the Civil Service. An MP has written to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster asking about some work our department is doing. This is all rather usual for Government business. In the letter, the MP mentions me. By […]
Continue reading →By @edent · jobs startups work · 13 comments · 650 words · read ~517 times.
Just before I graduated from University, I went to a careers fair to help me decide what I wanted to do with my life. At one of the stalls was our local Police force1 - advertising the exciting new world of digital forensics2. Here is - almost verbatim - the conversation I had with the […]
Continue reading →By @edent · meta work · 6 comments · 600 words · read ~200 times.
I'm terrible at networking. I forget people's names minutes after meeting them, I never have business cards and lose the ones I'm given, and I can't go five minutes without burbling some nonsense. But I recognise that networking is a skill and, like any skill, it takes practice to succeed. I've always been told that […]
Continue reading →By @edent · covid19 nhsx retropost WeekNotes work · 4 comments · 750 words · read ~329 times.
This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in 2020, but published four years after the events. It's May 2020 as I write this. I'm typing to capture the moment. Right now, I've no idea what the impact is. This is the exact moment, on Thursday May 7th, I hit the Big Red Button - three of […]
Continue reading →By @edent · dhsc meta nhsx retropost work · 350 words · read ~204 times.
This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in February 2019, but published much later. My life is weird. Again. Looking out over London from the top floor. The Eye is glittering and the Palace of Westminster is glowing. Someone pours me a glass of (very expensive1) champagne, as the Secretary of State laughs at my witty […]
Continue reading →By @edent · dhsc retropost work · 350 words · read ~280 times.
This is a retropost. It was written contemporaneously in 2019 - but posted in 2024. I had just been seconded to the Department of Health and Social Care to help kick-start NHSX. I kept a diary of my time there - including working through COVID. As it has been 5 years, and I no longer […]
Continue reading →By @edent · OpenIdeas personal work · 250 words · read ~179 times.
As previously mentioned, I quit my job. So now I'm no longer working for The Man. Instead, I am working for a man. Specifically: me1. I've launched Open Ideas Ltd. It's a bespoke computing consultancy focused on open technologies. Here's a brief run-down of what I offer: Open Source Want to understand open source licencing? […]
Continue reading →By @edent · NaBloPoMo wfh work · 6 comments · 750 words · read ~1,070 times.
One Friday last year, I posted some farewell messages in Slack. Removed myself from a bunch of Trello cards. Had a quick video call with the team. And then logged out of my laptop. I walked out of my home office and sat in my garden with a beer. The following Monday I opened the […]
Continue reading →By @edent · career NaBloPoMo work work/life · 14 comments · 950 words · read ~437 times.
(Welcome to #NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. I'm publishing a new blog post every day in November.) My employer encourages employees to have "career conversations" with their line manager. And I hate it. I don't resent them for making me participate, and it's probably good for me to engage in a little introspection. But […]
Continue reading →By @edent · canada meta work · 2 comments · 450 words · read ~133 times.
I'm off to a wedding in Canada which means dealing with the bureaucracy of the Electronic Travel Authorisation. The form asked me if I'd ever had a previous visa for Canadaland. As it happens, yes! I spent a year studying in Ottawa. Well then, said the form, you'd better tell me your old visa number. […]
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