Week notes 13/10/23

Published: 2023-10-13

Table of contents:

Intro to week notes

Welcome to the first entry of my week notes – inspired by Alistair Ruff – that I’m starting in hopes of keeping myself accountable for the changes I’m planning to make in my new role at the RCN.

The format of these notes will be freeform and informal, when I start at RCN, they’ll involve work-related notes. But until then I will get started with personal week notes.

How this started

About two weeks ago I decided to start writing regularly as a reference point for things I’m reading or learning and documenting projects & ideas. A personal space dedicated to my design practice.

After deciding this, I spun up a Sveltekit markdown blog, spent little time on the UI and started writing when I could.

Since then, I have spent a lot more time coding than I planned and not enough writing - Click the hero text on the home page for a little easter egg -. But reflecting on the last two weeks, I’m realising how much I’m asking of myself. This isn’t the way to build habits, but I’ve come this far so I’ll keep going with it for now.

My goals are

  • Form a daily drawing habit
  • Write daily personal & professional notes as well as one haiku
  • Turn those into a week notes post on a Monday
  • Write and publish at least one other post a week

This is a lot to ask of myself spontaneously, especially when starting a new role, and I recognise this pattern. I’m also aware that I tend to get an idea and let it slip away by not pursuing it. So I’ll give this a go.

I might not meet my goals or get anywhere with this blog. But I’ve invested enough time to make it as easy as possible to stick to it - setting up a writing workflow and markdown template -. I’ve been meaning to start writing content again for years now.

Writing as a product

I’m treating this as a product release. This is the MVP. There’ll be fast following articles posted soon. And hopefully, the quality will keep improving over time.

The product – written content – will focus on inclusive product design, designing for - and with - neurodiversity. With some workshopping, service design and systems thinking sprinkled in. While I’m working on that, expect blog, book & podcast reviews and week notes.

As all quality products require, feedback is more than welcome. You’ll be hearing from me soon ✌️

Lessons & takeaways

I should have been documenting the process of designing and coding the site. It would have given me content to post. But, I’ve always struggled to stop and think about documentation when an idea comes to me. Understandable, when you just want to get the idea moving. Stopping to evaluate an idea and taking the time to take screenshots and write, is something I need to keep working on.

Things inspiring me this week

  • Re-reading the fantastic Mismatch by Kat Holmes for a book review
  • Reading everything by Sheri Byrne-Haber including the essential Accessibility Handbook published by my favourite UX content publisher UX Collective
  • Using Tim Ferriss’ method of learning to map out a series of articles on inclusive design