In a month full of birthday celebrations, charitable donations, work normality attempts, podcast-specific community, season 7 of Make Life Work, excessive life tracking, my oldest domain, vinyl classics and a new podcast playlist.

Life

  • Lunch at Bacco Lounge and crazy golf in Rugby for sister-in-law’s birthday
  • Back to school for all the family with typical mix of germs causing concern
  • Virtual gin tasting with disco Princess, Sophie Ellis Bextor and Craft Gin Club
  • PCR tests for both kids following COVID symptoms, thankfully both negative
  • Outdoor charity cinema night at Winwick Hall watching Pirates of the Caribbean under blankets
  • Impromptu dinner visit from Greek holiday chums, Donna & Maizie
  • Raised £300 for Macmillan with our garden coffee morning plus good friend Hayley singing for our guests
  • Garden birthday celebrations with mum and gran
  • Kids started more after-school clubs with football and brownies for Princess and RAF Cadets and tae kwon do for The Boy

Work

  • One new starter and one resignation – the roundabout of line management
  • First Engineering Manager Community (EMC) meet-up in London to discuss shared initiatives for FY22
  • Second work “pub quiz” to break in the longer Autumn months
  • Re-Assembled sessions to bring staff together in London office aligned on FY22 strategy
  • Looked into different pathways for senior software and QA engineers
  • Failed to secure our only recruitment candidate of the month following contract offer
  • Successful probation for my first recruit since returning to ASOS
  • Analysis of late month’s Vibe Survey results identified fair evaluation and remote working as main concerns
  • Team gathering in the office for first time since July with TWO fire alarm evacuations
  • Commenced efforts with working group to create a tech podcast
  • Lightning Talks from Callum about URL injection framework in mobile apps and Georgie on British Sign Language
  • Tried half-hour Tech Develop Wraps for focused snappy feedback from the monthly day of learning

Sides

  • Created ComedyPods Slack community for syndicating and sharing comedy podcasts
  • Make Life Work S07 with Shari, Jamie & Lion and Wookie and Dan Moore
  • Moved MLW certificates to Cloudflare with some unexpected complications on DNS settings
  • More life tracking with Trello (work), TickTick (personal), Strava (exercise and weight), Goodreads (reading) and shares metrics
  • Renewed SuperRams.com for the 19th year despite zero effort to develop
  • Revived sporadic “verbal diary” recordings to and from the train station when visiting the office
  • Setup sijobling.com email on iCloud+
  • Setup Jobling coins on Bitclout

Entertainment

  • Mary Kills People S1 on All 4
  • Help (with the brilliant Jody Cromer) on All 4
  • Back To Life (with Daisy Taggart) on BBC
  • Degrees of Motion – Shine On on 12”
  • Braxton’s The Boss (Masters At Work Mix) on 12”
  • Indeep – Last Night A DJ Saved My Life on 7”
  • Young Disciples – Apparently Nothing on 7”

Podcasts

(NEW: automatically curated with some SQL on Apple Podcasts SQLite database – details here)

  1. S03 EP15: The Emotional Breakdown Special on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  2. Glitterbox Radio Show 231: Presented by Melvo Baptiste on Defected Radio
  3. Stay Curious For a Bit Longer: How to Get to the Root of Issues and Set Goals That Inspire Bold Action with Dave Bailey (Coach & Mentor to Scale-up CEOs) on Supermanagers
  4. #224: Deploying Empathy to Build Better Businesses with Michele Hansen of Geocod.io on Indie Hackers
  5. S03 EP16: Geoff Norcott on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  6. Everything Is Happening on Software Social
  7. Ep 118: Edgar Wright (Live at Royal Festival Hall) on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
  8. BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Tanya Reynolds on How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
  9. S03 EP17: Dreams do come true… on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  10. The September Saturday Sod About 21 on The Disco, Funky and Soulful House Sessions
  11. YouTube’s dead cat problem on The WIRED Podcast
  12. Ep 132. Fish Guy on Sh**ged Married Annoyed
  13. #HKR36/21Hedkandi Radio on Hed Kandi Radio
  14. Ep 133. The Iron Curtain on Sh**ged Married Annoyed
  15. S12, Ep2 How to Fail: Jacqueline Wilson on How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
  16. Glitterbox Radio Show 232: Presented by Melvo Baptiste on Defected Radio
  17. Defected Radio 10.09.21 with Sam Divine on Defected Radio
  18. Ep 119: Jamie Oliver on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
  19. Making strategic photography with Shari Muhima on Make Life Work
  20. #225: Growth Tactics, Audience Building, and Brains with Julian Shapiro of Demand Curve on Indie Hackers
  21. #FinesseFriday – Featuring‚Ķ Gweilo on House Finesse
  22. A Tour Through Struggle: Cam Sloan, Founder of Hopscotch Product Tours on Software Social
  23. S03 EP19: The worst week ever… on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  24. #HKR37/21Hedkandi Radio on Hed Kandi Radio
  25. Stop Sending “Shut Up” Signals: How to Adopt an Improv Mindset and Ritualize Experimentation with Kathy Klotz-Guest (Founder of Keeping it Human) on Supermanagers
  26. Eyes On, Hands Off Management: Best Practices to Lead from the Front with Eli Fathi (Chairman of the Board at MindBridge) on Supermanagers
  27. Builders, Creators, and Operators: Why Team Design is Your #1 Growth Lever (+ How to Get It Right) with Kieran Flanagan, Senior Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot on Supermanagers
  28. Managing Strengths to Scale: Why Hyper-Specialized Roles Are Key to Driving Growth with JP Chauvet (President at Lightspeed) on Supermanagers
  29. #FinesseFriday – Bring Back The Funk on House Finesse
  30. Glitterbox Radio Show 233: Presented by Melvo Baptiste on Defected Radio
  31. LTBH #370 with Glen Horsborough on Let There Be House
  32. EP.160 – SARAH SILVERMAN on THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST
  33. S03 EP20: Stephen Mangan on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  34. Ep 120: Miriam Margolyes on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
  35. #FinesseFriday – House Finesse 27 with VMS on House Finesse
  36. Remote workers are trapped in a quitting nightmare on The WIRED Podcast
  37. Breaking Down Counter Programming’s Epic Twitter Thread on Podcast Marketing on Between Two Mics: The Remote Recording Podcast
  38. S03 EP21: My sweat has started to smell different… on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  39. Ep 134. Bon bons in the knicker drawer on Sh**ged Married Annoyed
  40. EP.161 – GEORGIA PRITCHETT on THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST
  41. Making Ermi with Jamie, Lion and Wookie on Make Life Work
  42. Glitterbox Radio Show 234: Presented by Melvo Baptiste on Defected Radio
  43. Ep 121: Sarah Keyworth on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
  44. S03 EP22: I think you need to go cold turkey from your life… on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  45. #FinesseFriday – Funky House Finesse 50 on House Finesse
  46. Software Social University? on Software Social
  47. Ep 135. Turbo time on Sh**ged Married Annoyed
  48. Applying Behavioural Science in the Workplace: How Positive Reframing Can Make You a Better Manager with Sarah Gretczko (Executive Vice President, Chief Learning & Insights Officer at Mastercard) on Supermanagers
  49. S03 EP23: Viva La bath time revolution on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell
  50. #227: Constraints, Longevity, and Avoiding Competition with John O’Nolan from Ghost on Indie Hackers
  51. #HKR39/21Hedkandi Radio on Hed Kandi Radio
  52. EP.162 – JIM MOIR (AKA VIC REEVES) on THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST