Simon Wilson

Papyrus

Papyrus

{% include image.html url="/assets/11b4088c-1686-4af7-979d-2ac6c5730769.jpeg" description="Ryan Gosling in the Saturday Night Live sketch about the Avatar logo" %} Several days back it was Ryan Gosling’s birthday, the cue for design people on Twitters to reshare the Papyrus Saturday Night Live (SNL) sketch from

weeknotes

Weeknote, Monday 9 to Friday 13 November 2020

Projects It was project MT for the first three days of the week. The service design side is going along fine, there’s an understanding of what the structure is and could be, there’s abstract possibilities for service improvements, but there’s a reliance on a few things shifting

running

Run note for August, September and October 2020

Patterns for these notes: * I’ve been doing them monthly since early last year * I’d start by telling you where I was up to with my running numbers, coming into the month and leaving the month * There’s a little commentary about some things that happened, tough stuff and

weeknotes

Weeknote, Monday 2 to Friday 6 November 2020

A very busy, at times hectic week. In a way a perfect week for some reflection. And, no, I’m not going to mention The Other Thing going on. It’s the first week for a long time (like maybe 6 years) where I’ve been split over two clients

weeknotes

Weeknote, week Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October 2020

Two days off this week, three days working. Funny how we use the word "off". How work focused are our lives, eh. Two days not doing work Two days off for the kids’ half term and My Birthday. I am now 45 years old and in these times

weeknotes

Tone

Weeknote for week commencing Monday 21 September 2020 Talking to someone this week they mentioned how at the moment they find it — and I quote — “nerve wracking” getting feedback to their work. Here’s a chat between two “senior”, “experienced” people. Hey, with all that experience you’d think they’

Covid-19

Shed life, then and whatever is next

Going into my little summer break I wrote a little list of things I was going to do. Even for such a little list in the end I did not much of it. For the first time in years I had a break where I did nothing work related. I

weeknotes

Weeknote, week commencing Monday 14 September 2020

I’ve been using a new pad to help me with my working days. _For as long as I remember_ I’ve started the work day taking my notebook and writing a list of times for the day and carrying over my day from my various calendars, any other tasks

weeknotes

Weeknote, week commencing Monday 7 September 2020

Coffee: I’ve been limiting my drinking to no more than two mugs a day, none after lunchtime. Knock on effect: I’ve been drinking more tea. I went right off black tea a few years ago and went right on to green tea. But green tea after green tea

running

Recycling running shoes (draft)

In my run note for last month I briefly mentioned I had retired a pair of running shoes and looking into what to do next with them. I like running. I wear running shoes to help me run. Obvious, sure, but the emphasis there is on the purpose and usability

running

Run note for July 2020

During July I ran 162 kilometres. This brought my total for 2020 to 1138 kilometres. That’s an average of 162 kilometres every month so far, which is weird synchronicity with the distance I ran in July. I have a spreadsheet I keep track of this stuff which you can

designing

On service design, service designers — or just designing

Over the last few years I’ve had a few people tell me what Service Design (with capitals) is and service design (without capitals) is. Oh, what they ain’t. Service Design as a process — a methodology, a set of tools — versus service design as a thing you do, the

homeschooling

The system

How’s homeschooling been going for you? Things heated up at my end a few weeks back when the amount of the boy’s schoolwork increased. We got access to an email address we could access online through Outlook, which led to access to Microsoft Teams. Then came a Trello

weeknotes

Weeknote, Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July 2020

Maps or models, eh. Is there a difference? What is the difference? Does it matter? Early in the week I rejigged the layout of the desk in the shed, swapping the MacBook from being in the centre and the monitor to the side. Now the monitor is front and centre.

running

Run note for June 2020

After running 218km in May at the start of June I’d run 718km in the year so far. I was aiming to do 300km in June. A bold target after being badly injured a couple of months back, but something that might give me a focus and then some

weeknotes

Weeknote, Monday 22 June to Friday 26 June 2020

How’s your hair doing? * Fathers’ day last Sunday. The kids wanted to get me a coffee machine but I’ve got a good kettle, a V60 dripper, a coffee grinder and a handsome glass decanter. That works for me, well enough I can make a coffee and feel involved

service designer

Why service design or a service designer?

I recently shared ten questions for a new role. In the blog post I position the questions as pertinent when looking for a specific role, but they can easily be adapted for looking at project work too. Over the bulk of the last twenty years of my career I’ve

weeknotes

Weeknote, Monday 15 June to Friday 19 June 2020

Not sure where that week went. * Had some fun hacking an inbox-browser prototype together. * Had less fun breaking another one and spending more time than I really have to fix it. * Giving new starters to the NHS Jobs team an overview of the service. Realising some of the stuff I’

diabetes

Diabetes notes, number 8

Last week I shared I have started wearing a FreeStyle Libre sensor, so I can measure by blood glucose levels. For the best part of a week every few hours I have opened the app on my phone and held the phone over the part of my arm the sensor

Ten questions for a new role

Over the weekend I shared on Twitter an Evernote document with ten questions I ask when looking for a new role. My current contract ends soon so at the moment I am talking to people and places about what I could do next. This usually means a shorter chat up

weeknotes

Weeknote, Monday 8 to Friday 12 June 2020

* I had some unexpected but welcome thinking this week. I had a look through my guiding principles for work and was reminded I try to and I have tried to work as openly as possible over the last six years or so. So, why haven't I been recently?

diabetes

Diabetes notes, number 7

Earlier this month I posted I was going to wait for my doctor's surgery to get in touch and in the meantime keep on keeping on. In the days after publishing that post I recognised an increasing pattern of feeling very spaced out at the end of the

running

Run note for May 2020

Coming into the month I felt my leg was better following injury but not best. I’d notched up 94km of running in April, to take my annual total to 500km. Most of that running came in the last three weeks of the month. My leg felt solid enough to

diabetes

Diabetes notes, number 6

This morning my phone reminded me I need to sort my “three months on blood test”. It’s been nearly three months since my last few diabetes notes, when I documented the days after being told I was “officially” diabetic. I had been told to keep doing what I was

running

Run note for April 2020

A very long month with all the work on. A very long month not helped with my running hampered, coming into the month in the middle of a three week stint out due to a leg injury. I left last month’s note ending _I’d be happy with whatever