I think I’ve started every set of months notes saying I’ve been busy. But hoo boy was I not prepared for July!
Normally this would be the start of the summer slow down - not this year. I’m not even sure how to cover everything that happened in the 5 weeks of July, but here we go:
- General election & Welsh politics
- In work this month…
- CrowdStrike
- Outside work
- A final word on Twitter
General election & Welsh politics
Election day was just over 5 weeks ago. I stayed up all night watching the results come in - first time I’ve done that for a long time. I enjoyed some results in particular - not least that my new MP is a neighbour.
Not sure what else to say, other than I’m hoping for some stability. And boring, competent government at UK level. There’s huge challenges ahead - and it’s going to be difficult to deliver the promises made during the election campaign.
Alongside the General, there’s also been huge upheaval in Welsh politics this month, with Vaughan Gething resigning (after only 4 months at the top) and Eluned Morgan taking over.
I have a theory that governments and parties have a shelf-life. If they don’t reinvent themselves regularly and find new ways of improving life for the people they represent, they become stagnant, and unstable.
Welsh Labour have been in power for 25-years. The iPhone didn’t exist until nearly a decade after Labour first came to power in Wales. It’s been that long. The world is fundamentally different now, but very little has changed in the delivery of public services in Wales.
They’ve done a huge amount in that time - some good, some not so good. And while some of the most controversial changes - like the recent 20mph speed limit in built up areas, are starting to show benefits in terms of reduced injury and deaths, there’s huge challenges: funding, NHS waiting lists, large areas of inequity.
In the world of digital/tech delivery, Wales is still vastly behind UK level. There have been small steps forward, but practice, culture and the expectation of Welsh Government is still firmly rooted in the pre-iPhone era. Something has to change - but it might take a reinvention of government for that to happen (as it did in the UK in 2010).
There’s a new, more proportional, electoral system for the Senedd in 2026, which could see a very different set of results. Will we see another Labour majority? Or will Plaid break-through? What about Reform, or another far-right party?
With just over 18 months till the election - lots could happen.
In work…
I’ve been focussed on 2 major reviews this month. The first, reviewing a project to deliver new technology in British Columbia. The second, a review of a system used by a large UK charity.
These reviews are always full on - lots of interviews, delving through documents, trying to read between the lines. Then figuring out the best, and most impactful, recommendations to make. Probably my favourite type of client work we do.
Alongside that, I also spent a few days in Cambridge working with our Global Impact team supporting an international workshop on Digital Public Goods.
We’ve also been gearing up for a something new with a very large client that we think will kick off in August. Lots of planning, lining up the team, pencilling in travel etc.
Outside of client work, I’ve been very focussed on building our technology community of practice. We’ve grown the team - with Rob, Julia and Pete all joining us over the last month.
I’ve been thinking about what skills we might want to add to the team over the next year, how we are going to approach hiring, and how we continue to add expertise to the Network.
I’ve also started to pull together the many different voices from across PD to start to better articulate what we think about various complex topics. Hopefully the first result of that work will start to appear on the PD website and blog over the next few weeks.
CrowdStrike
On 19th July the world was hit by what we now know is the largest IT failure we’ve ever seen. Millions of computers broken by a faulty update pushed out by CrowdStrike.
The impact is still being felt in places 3 weeks later.
My comments on the incident got picked up quickly and published in various places. It led to a printed piece in the Times, and my first ever radio interview on LBC.
I’m immensely grateful to Liam for helping me get my thoughts into a sensible structure to be published.
I then worked with Rosemary to get a special newsletter published, pulling together content and thoughts from across the world.
I’m immensely grateful for the whole tech community at PD for supporting all of that - including finding good stuff to put into the newsletter, providing comments, and sense checking my thoughts.
Non-work things in July
House work has been continuing. We’ve now got the structure of the link that connects the studio to the house. The stud work to divide the studio has gone up, new roof structure is being built, and the original stone wall is being reconstructed.
The gin we made at Silver Circle Distillery has been bottled - all 400ish of them. Really enjoyed doing this with Nina and Duncan. You can now buy it here.
A final word on Twitter…
Although this is really an August thing, I didn’t want to end this note without a comment on Twitter.
Many people, myself included, have stepped away from it. I don’t want to be part of, or support, the hate that now pervades there.
In the early days - Twitter was a connector.
It introduced me to tech and digital people all over the world. It convinced me to leave agency world and join the public sector and Consumer Focus.
It introduced me to the GovCamp and TeaCamp movements in government. There I met many amazing people including Baskers, Sharon, Emma, Tom, Richard, Jamie, Steph, Dave, Jane, Harry, Paul, Hadley, Neil and Simon.
Twitter is almost certainly what got me onto the career path that led to where I am now.
Twitter is where I first met my wife Ann.
Twitter brought many of us together and was a huge force for good. Through Twitter I found my tribe.
But not anymore. It’s filled with hate. And conspiracy. Led by the far-right. And that makes me sad.
I’m no longer there. And it’s time for it to die.
You can find me on BlueSky, or with the AI-bots on LinkedIn.
Photo of the month
Dilys at a rural polling station - complete with eggs for sale.
