The 42nd week of ’24. A busy week, too busy. I’m definitely too optimistic with allowing conversations and meetings in my schedule. But in large part it was also necessary as the coming two weeks are mostly spent on other things (first with our company, spending several days working together, then a week that Y is free from school).
I am better at finding my energy, and that is both good and a relief. But my resilience is still low, small things and interruptions can irritate no end.

This week I

• Had the monthly Monday stand-up with the team in which we discuss the company’s financials. I always present our current situation and the rolling forecast until the end of the year. This year is looking ok, as does most of next year already.
• Outlined a first draft for an ethical advice on the use of digital twins for spatial planning. This to pinpoint specific ethical issues to pursue in more detail later.
• Had a session with my psychologist. I think we’re mostly done for now, although checking in every now and then will be useful. We set another meeting in 3 weeks, and then perhaps leave a longer gap. I want to add a few of the things we discussed as reflection questions to my weekly schedule. To create an early warning system of sorts.
• Figured out how to use Google API for book search. Makes me think what other (non-Google) APIs are out there I can have small personal tools around.
• Wrote an item for a client’s newsletter about the renewed Dutch data re-use law. A good reason to more closely read how the EU open data directive has been translated into Dutch law.
• Prepared a client’s membership and first voting submissions for a Dutch normative commission in order to participate in the corresponding European standardisation committee.
• Had a conversation with a new colleague about systems convening, personal knowledge management, and an upcoming PKM course (in German) we both will be participating in.
• Had the kick-off conversation with the Ministry for the Interior for a guide we will be writing on how to apply chapter 2 of the Data Governance Act in the Netherlands. This chapter allows for the re-use of protected data types held by government (statistical and economic secrets, personal data, copyright protected materials) for certain types of re-use. My impressions until now is that Dutch government and the competent authority (the statistics office) have a more limited definition of the scope of this law and the potential solutions than my reading. The coming months we will closely work with them to build this guide. I look forward to this work a lot, even if my time is limited at the moment. In two weeks I will have a new colleague to aid me on this.
• With E booked a trip to Berlin for the three of us. Making the bookings took us a bit of time to get around to, but we did in the end. Traveling by train, 4 nights in Berlin. Y wants to visit the botanical gardens, that played a role in a book she read recently. It’s been a decade since E and I last visited Berlin. I wonder how it will have changed.
• Discussed a conference workshop design with a colleague, which resulted in finding a very interesting paper on ethics.
• Reached out to Bev and Etienne Wenger-Trayner for a potential all-team systems convening training next year again. By then we will have 4 new team members, and we want to integrate the systems convening work deeper in our own practices.
• With a client did a presentation for the team of the Dutch government federated data system and intergovernmental data strategy, on our view on the European data strategy and its consequences. I think some of it was quite a challenge for the participants. Agency in this context lies in networking and influencing, not in hierarchical decision making. That does not chime well with institutional structures.
• With three colleagues made sure we can respond to a public procurement that fits us extremely well.
• Did part but not yet all of the monthly invoicing.
• Was pleased that I at least in several instances knew when to take a break, and in another to ask a colleague to take on a task I would otherwise keep postponing myself.
• With E and Y visited the opening weekend of Dutch Design Weekend in Eindhoven. This annual week long event brings together makers and designers from a wide range of disciplines. Saw some interesting things, exhibits and art, but also a lot that gave me deja-vu.