Week 141

Big news this week: we now have an office. It’s been a (very) long process, but on Thursday we finally signed a lease on some space in Worship Street. It’s great to have a new home. We’ll be sure to invite you all around when we move in.

I say when, because at the moment we’re all working with the Gov UK team in Lambeth. Our new office may lie empty for a while.

It was my first week working with the team, and I’m really impressed with how much has been achieved. We’ve built a small platform to publish various bits of government information, with a simple workflow and fact-checking facilities baked right in. In the next sprint we’ll build on this, adding more knowledge about the structure of government. That’s when things become really interesting. Remember, you can follow along at home.

One advantage of being based in Lambeth is that we get to watch the other Gov UK team members at work. The whole office has a real buzz; a feeling that everyone’s contributing to something significant.

Jase in Sofia

While most of us have been toiling in Lambeth, Jason took his trip to Sofia to speak at DesignDay 2011. His talk went well, but his attempts to follow a vegan diet faltered.

Miscellany

Other bits and pieces include the fact that James Adam is making one of his regular visits to Austin, Texas. He’ll be working whilst away; our challenge is to keep working as a team despite the time-zone mismatch. We’re not great at it yet, but we’re determined to get better.

Finally, I and other members of the team are busy working on our LRUG Battleship programs. If you want to challenge us, there’s about a week left to write yourself a player. You’d better hope that Paul has implemented some strict security counter measures, because like all good Generals, I intend to cheat. Remember, all’s fair in love and war.