Mostly about my long weekend in North Wales

PI (program increment) planning

I'm heading to London today to join PI (program increment) planning tomorrow. So I'm writing these notes a bit late, from the train (again).

Last week was a bit of a break from our usual user research rounds, but we think we have a new user researcher lined up so normal service should be resuming soon.

It gave us a bit of time to prep the work that is going into PI planning. Nothing is signed off yet, but I think the tech team have a much better idea of the size and scope of the work.

I'm hoping that by attending PI planning I'll get a better sense of the different teams and stakeholders that are working across the program.

A long weekend in North Wales

I had a day off on Friday, and we travelled to North Wales for a weekend staying in Bala to celebrate a good friend's 40th. We stayed in a big house with a group of friends and their kids. There was 30 of us in total!

Bala is a small town on the edge of a huge lake called Llyn Tegid. Apparently it's Wales’ largest natural lake. We didn't have much time to spend on the lake but it looked beautiful and we could see people canoeing, wind surfing and paddle boarding.

On Saturday we went to a pub for food. We were very happy to have found somewhere to serve all 30 of us. After food we stayed there to watch the rugby. There was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed being surrounded by lots of Welsh speakers.

On Sunday we went to Zip World Llechwydd. The historic slate mines there have been converted into an underground trampoline park that was loads of fun. I think maybe the parents enjoyed it more than the kids.

Llechwydd is near Blaenau Ffestiniog a town that is surrounded by huge mountains. We were just constantly blown away by the vast scale of the landscape as we drove around the area.

Cofiwch Dryweryn

On the drive back home through Gwynedd and then Ceredigion (passing through some more beautiful scenery) we spotted some graffiti with the phrase Cofiwch Dryweryn. Welsh for Remember Tryweryn, it marks the flooding of a Welsh valley in the '60s, to create a reservoir, which destroyed the communities that lived there.

Without realising, we'd driven past the reservoir (Llyn Celyn), on our way from Bala to Llechwydd earlier that day.

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