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Weeknotes 1

TL;DR: Experimenting with weeknotes; New website, who dis?; Women in AI Security vibes; Reflections on the Policy Foundations Programme;

I am trying something new. Weeknotes are big in the Civil Service, serving as a way for teams to share progress with others who need to stay in the loop. After reading (and enjoying) several over the past few months, I thought why not start one myself? It seems like a great way to track progress and maybe even help with my terrible memory.

I am treating this as a bit of an experiment over this quarter, aiming to publish one every week and then reassessing in June. By the end, either it will have become a habit that I wouldn’t want to give up, or I will realise that the added pressure isn’t worth it.

Highlights of the Week

My Website Got a Facelift

The highlight of my week was finally giving my website some much-needed love and care! It had been sitting there, neglected and collecting cobwebs, for over three years. I was looking for a free alternative to Super.so (which I previously used with Notion) and decided to give Hugo a try. I am super excited about this revamp because I found a theme that supports sidenotes, a feature I have wanted for ages.

Surrounded by Women in AI Security

On Friday, I attended the Women in AI Security event hosted by the Alan Turing Institute. It was my first time in Stratford, despite living in London for nearly three years. The event was great. Being surrounded by women working in AI is a rarity, and it was refreshing to see. Unfortunately, I was not feeling particularly social that day, so I did not talk to too many people. But I did walk away with my brain buzzing with thoughts and ideas for research.

Wrapping Up Policy Foundations Training

Tuesday marked the final session of the 5-week Policy Foundations Programme, a course designed for those new to the world of policy-making. Coming from a technical background, I found it incredibly useful in getting up to speed with policy lingo and frameworks. The weekly group assignments were extremely valuable, even though we lost three team members over the five weeks, leaving just two of us to present our findings to Lord Lansley (who played the role of a DSIT minister). The course gave me several threads to pull on and potential rabbit holes to explore when time allows.

What Else?

  • I came across Andrew Bosworth’s blog post, A Career Cold Start Algorithm, which suggests structuring 1-1s during onboarding by first asking what they think you should know, then discussing the team’s biggest challenges, and finally asking for a recommendation on who else to talk to. While I’m not exactly joining a new team, I realised the last step could be really helpful for networking and learning about different teams. I’ve already started incorporating it. Despite the awkwardness of the question, I asked someone for a suggestion for the first time in a conversation on Monday.
  • The YouTube gods blessed me with The Truth About Being Multi-Passionate by Adam Thomas. The thumbnail caught my eye, and I am so glad it did because watching it made me feel seen!

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