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2022 Review

2022 Review
Photo by Tran Mau Tri Tam ✪ on Unsplash

A look back over the year from a couple of different perspectives. Looking back its been a pretty big year for me professionally, with lots of challenges, some successes and opportunities for learning.

Endings

In September, I left my role as Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Original Cottages. I look back on my time with immense gratitude and also pride. I learnt and experienced so much during that time, and i know that the experiences and skills i've picked up during that time will continue to be important and of use as i continue on whatever my path ends up being. During  my time at the company I helped build a great team that i think had a really catalytic effect on the business, for example, enabling to adapt and thrive during and post pandemic and provide the enabling tech to scale the business. Ultimately this led to a successful sale of the business, and after helping integrate the two businesses it was time for a new adventure.

Beginnings

It's early days in my new role but currently its ticking a lot of boxes, working with nice people, doing interesting and varied work, with plenty of opportunities to learn and try new things.

Coaching

I'm nearing the end of my studies towards a post-grad qualification in coaching. As part of the qualification i've been lucky enough work with 3 Coachees on a pro bono basis during the 2nd half of 2022. The experience has probably been one of the highlights of my year, packed with useful learnings and a really satisfying experience. my plan is to do more of this in 2023 as i continue to build my skills and experience after achieving the qualification.

Personal projects

I've not 'released' any new music this year, bar putting one song on my soundcloud, I have been making a lot of music this year, but in really sporadic and non-linear way, where i've got maybe about 10 decent songs all between 30-45% finished and several that are just chord ideas and a basic melody. One of my aims in 2023 is to complete these.

I started a long term music project this year, that i've actually been thinking about and planning for since around christmas 2021. I've started field recording locations along the north norfolk coast, i've made videos of the locations i've recorded so far, you can find them here and on my youtube channel. I'm on field recording haitus over the winter but will get out and complete the field recording at the other locations i plan to visit as i progress from west to east along the coast. The plan is that use the field recordings as a source of samples and inspiration for a piece of music for each location. I reckon this will take me most if not all of 2023 to complete and i'll be posting about my progress along the way. Why am i doing this? a few reasons:

  • Its fun to plan and create something
  • I love the North Norfolk coast, one of the things i love about it is it very unique sound character so i wanted to try and capture that
  • i'm learning stuff e.g. how to field record, how to manipulate samples, how to work them into a piece of music
  • The process is enjoyable, both the making of music, but also just going to lovely locations and just standing still, listening and being present.

In terms of professional projects, I started and am about 75% through creating a short book about technology leadership, sort of an actionable mini handbook for someone either aspiring to or doing a technology leadership role. I'm pretty pleased with it so far in terms of the raw content, but need to spend some focused time knocking it into a sensible structure.

Back in late 2021 I paused the How to IT Strategy Podcast and Newsletter so i could focus my attention on my coaching. I also paused my work on creating a companion 'how to IT strategy' course. I'd like to pick this back up at some point as i'd started to build a bit of a following and interest, so it feels like something that could be useful to some people.

Plans for 2023

I've got a few and i'm sure some will come to me during the year, but these are the ones at the front of my mind:

  • Complete my coaching qualification
  • Continue pro bono coaching with a small set of clients
  • Consider and make a decision on the next steps re my coaching journey e.g. more study? paid clients?
  • Make good progress on my north norfolk field recording/music project
  • Release a first version of my technology leadership book
  • Make a decision on whether to revive and revisit the 'how to it strategy' newsletter/podcast and course
  • Get to a point of feeling comfortable and bedded into my new role
  • (the perenial) Get fit and not injure myself (again)

and my final plan for 2023 is to start posting more content on this website. I've recently move it from wordpress to ghost with the intention of making use of the newsletter functionality at some point. My current intention is to share more content around tech, tech leadership, strategy, coaching, as well as sprinkling of personal projects. We'll see how this and any of the above bullet points go, i'm not going to put pressure on myself, i've got a nice list of things to have a stab at that are enjoyable to do and represent an opportunity to learn or develop myself in some way, so whether i do all, some or none of these things, i'll have still benefitted from the act of doing and learning.