Category: Introspective

Left, Staying, TBD

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In Nov 2015 I wrote Leaving, Moving, Staying to tell folk that I’d soon be leaving Dstl, moving to London and (hopefully) staying in the #OfTheGovernment community (HT Jason Caplin for his phoenix moment blog post).

After a break and some freelancing I rejoined the Civil Service in July 2017 to do A Regular Job in the CO. This was to lead the Better Information for Better Government (BI4BG) programme – trying to start transforming how government manages and uses information. 

After two shifts of job title and business unit over four years, and a roller coaster of ups and downs, I ended up as Head of Knowledge, Information and Records Management for central government in April 2021. And it’s that job that I left, after much reflection, at the end of last September.

I’m staying in London. And I’m taking some time to reflect on my experiences in and around government. What’s next for me is still TBD (to be determined).

Part of that taking time involves giving myself some space, so I’m not going to be at UKGovCamp today. I’m sorry not to be there – GovCamps and the events they’ve inspired have been regular highlights in my last decade of work. I hope that the lovely organisers and participants have a great day.

Leaving, Moving, Staying

glynrjones9 Comments

Just over 7 years ago I hung up my Royal Navy uniform and became a civil servant working for Dstl (the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory).  It’s been a challenging and hugely rewarding time.  I started in the geospatial intelligence team, working on a variety of research projects as technical lead or project manager (occasionally both).  Working with some great colleagues I was able to play the lead role in establishing MOD’s spatial data infrastructure – a technical coherence framework that formed the basis for a major investment in the Defence Geospatial Services programme.

An internal secondment led to a new job in the CIO’s team Read More »

On camping… and #camping

glynrjones7 Comments

I’m in Shropshire for the first of two summer holidays camping with my wife.

I’ve been camping for longer than I care to remember. As a young boy with my parents, as a youth with scouts and as a young man when courting. In fact half our honeymoon was spent camping and we indoctrinated the children from an early age. Most of the last 20 years I’ve been under canvas at least once a year.

I’ve got used to life on a campsite. The opportunity to slow the pace of life, enjoy the sunshine (at least occasionally) and revisit simpler pleasures: reading a book, playing cards or even singing ridiculous songs around a campfire. It’s a familiar comfort zone, and I’m very much at ease in it.

It was only in January this year, however, that I started #camping, Read More »

Driven – often to distraction

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I’ve been thinking recently about what drives me.

Something must do, because those around me frequently comment on it. Sometimes favourably: “…an inordinate capacity for hard work.” Sometimes less so: “…if you don’t switch off you are going to burn yourself out.”

It would be easy to write lots of words about different motivations, their combined and shifting effect over time, but I think I’m going to try for a hole-in-one and go with ‘improvement’.

I want to help make things better. Read More »