A busy and also pretty relaxed week. Things just went at their own pace.

This week I

• In two sessions discussed the results from a series of interviews on data use cases with the client team
• Participated in one of those interviews, this time focusing on municipal level data use cases
• Listened to a session of a client’s colleague on Dutch legislation and policy w.r.t. to AI. There’s a lack in interconnectedness with the upcoming EU regulation on AI I found.
• Had a few conversations talking people through the upcoming EU legislation on data
• Had a conversation with a client who was very pleased with the work of one of our team, up to the point of making ouvertures to hire our team member away from us.
• Had a day long training session with our entire team on having conversations and asking questions. Holding questions was an important part. This was an example of a day that was both laid back and relaxed and at the same time very intensive work.
• Had the farewell party and dinner for a departing colleague. I gave them a piece of meteorite as a parting gift, as a reminder they were a trailblazer in our team and having a lasting impact, a.o. in making me and my partners better employers. The idea to give a meteorite I at first thought impractical but it turns out you can buy meteorites online and have it delivered within days.
• Had an extended conversation with the EU data policy team of the Ministry for the Interior, catching up with their work on transposing the open data directive, and the progress of the data governance act. Also discussed the recently started exploration for the second round of themes for the EU high value data sets, and unearthed some decade old court cases for them that seem relevant in an ongoing dispute they have with some third parties.
• Celebrated my birthday with E and Y
• Spent a morning following up on conversations earlier in the week, sending promised material, making connections etc.
• Did some work in the garden, mostly in the planters on the living room balcony. The bamboo planters needed some food, and with Y I sowed radishes and carrots in two other planters.
• Took Y to her swimming lesson, and spent plenty of time with her outside during the weekend as it was beautiful weather
• Participated in the monthly Microblog Republic of Readers group meet-up, a random collection of book readers from around the world.