Weeknotes – series 06 episode 02

Onboarding

It’s the end of my second week, and even though I’m out of the official onboarding week, there’s been plenty of things to set up. Luckily, it's mostly felt very easy and straightforward. Everyone has been very supportive. The Ops team are really organised, and seem to respond to all questions within minutes.

Because I’m new, I was treated to lunch on Friday along with other new starters and a random selection of people from my region (South West England and Wales). There are quite a few people from South Wales here, so I'm looking forward to some in-person social events coming up.

The Chalet

Now that I’m done officially with onboarding, I’ve been moved into the chalet (also known as the bench). This is where people work when they aren’t assigned to a client project. I like that this is explicit and organised. We have stand-ups and Trello boards to use if we want.

It seems that people are encouraged to do training, help with their community of practice, support bids for new work or even take time off when in the chalet. Although I’m also noticing that some people can find it unsettling to be off client work for long periods.

I’m going to spend the time chatting to people I know around the organisation, getting prepped for my first project, and helping out with the community of practice and academy.

I need to think about setting some objectives for my first 90 days, in order to help me pass my 3 month probation. One thing I really like about Made Tech so far is the balance between having just enough process and assurance that I feel like I have some direction, paired with the feeling of a tech start-up that is self organising and able to move quickly.

Design tools and kit

I’ve spent a couple of days this week getting my design tools setup.

So far I've installed…

I've been working my way through the GOV.UK Prototype Kit Tutorials and templates which are all really well written and easy to follow. Hopefully I can find some time next week to do the advanced usage section.

I’ve also used some of my new starter tech budget to buy a keyboard and wireless headphones. Luckily I’ve got a lot of home working kit already, but having some wireless headphones should encourage me to use my standing desk more often (and to move to cooler parts of the house when it’s hot).