Technically, this is a few weeks’ worth of weeknotes. I’ve been saving things up until I could find a little snippet of time to write, which I finally got today. I’m writing this sitting in a cinema in Lewes with a glass of wine and piece of cake, having just ended the week with a kick-off meeting with a new client. (There may be even more typos than usual.)
Kicking off new projects/phases
The kick-off today was for a new research project, and it was different to my usual approach. I’ve traditionally used KOs in a pretty relaxed way, to chat about ways of working and get to know the client and project a bit better. For this project, we have a very tight turnaround time for the work and – as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago – I’m trying a new approach to my project management. It’s a very collaborative project with the client too. To make the most of the budget, they’re going to do some of the work themselves. So I went into this meeting with a very detailed project plan to discuss and a RACI matrix to complete. It felt good, and I think we’re in a great place to get this project done on time.
I also moved into a new phase for an existing intranet redevelopment project. This is a biggie, very collaborative, hugely stakeholder-focused, so again, we’ve been doing a lot of work on the planning and project management to get things to a good, organised place.
Wrapping up old projects and seeing work in the wild
I also wrapped up/started to wrap up three projects. This has been a relief to be honest – I’ve really enjoyed all of them, but I’m looking forward to just focusing on a couple of things for the next few weeks/months after such an intense first third of the year.
One of the projects has also gone live, and it’s been great to see it out in the world. Emily Hill and I have been working with Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park on messaging to support its new Partnership Plan. The Plan looks at the future of the Park and invites consultation on how to address nature loss, make a lower-carbon destination, and build a greener economy. If you live in or near the Park, or visit it you should definitely respond to the Consultation.
I’m really happy with the strapline and strategic narrative we came up with: ‘Here. Now. All of us.’ It was one of those times where the kernel of the idea emerged in an easy, organic way. The saying ‘If not here, where? If not now, when? If not us, who?’ kept coming up in conversations. Switching that up to ‘Here. Now. All of us.’ gave us a rallying cry. But it’s also a distillation of the Plan: the Park is the perfect place to act; it has to be now; and everyone needs to come together. But it’s also an urgent reminder of the climate crisis: it’s happening here, it’s happening right now, it’s going to affect all of us.
I’m going to miss this project a lot. The Park is such an incredibly special place, and I’ve loved getting to speak to staff like rangers and ecologists and hear their amazing stories and the breadth of their knowledge.