Calendars

Last Week: I used FreeBusy to schedule some meetings, there’s still some problems with the way I use it to be ironed out, but I still think it’s been relatively smooth rather than trying to organise multiple meetings simultaneously. I attended BeerCon3, which had an impressively diverse range of mainly “rookie” presenters. I kind of drifted in and out so need to catch up with the recordings once they’re on YouTube. My car was in for an MoT, which was a mess for a variety of reasons… a “wrap around” for the service which appeared to just add a two to three hour delay to all communications, inconsistent interpretations of the MoT criteria, and a vehicle manufacturer embracing the concept of built in obsolescence. No-one to really point the finger at, and I think I’ve found a new garage to use much closer than my previous choice, but still a lot of additional overhead I didn’t need. I had a bit of a rest for at least a day, which might be why this post is so sparse. I often advocate for framing such time as “recharging” to others, so decided to heed my own advice. How I felt over the weekend...

Weeknote 25th October 2021 Taking a cue from Sara Campbell of the Foster writing community, I’ve come up with a more interesting title than “Weeknotes”, but maybe this isn’t the most appealing title. Baby steps. I finished watching The Goes Wrong Show which has to be one of the funniest things I’ve watched over the last decade or so, along with Ted Lasso, and Community. I think I tend towards angry and/or painfully intelligent comedy, but we had to institute a house rule not to eat or drink while watching this, to prevent any unfortunate accidents. I’ve been drained and disappointed by the poor threat modelling that leads to the response to the death of Sir David Amess being a call for less Internet anonymity, and the response to the death of Sarah Everard being a call to contact the Police; but I suspect I’ve been naive about the intention behind those suggestions. I gave that training I mentioned last time, on common threats from the Internet, and only had time to scratch the surface when covering ransomware. I can only see that situation getting worse. I thought far too much about The Chair Game; a very simple idea, but surprisingly revealing in what thoughts it prompts. I look forward to playing and/or discussing it at some point. I fell behind on meetings, then fell behind further while looking at automated scheduling services to help me suggest times to several people, without getting into multiple simultaneous games of “email tennis”. I was disappointed at how many were just simplified clones of Calendly, requiring you to spend time in your calendar interface and scheduling interface simultaneously to manage your avalability, when the aim is to save your time. It took quite a while, But I was finally impressed by FreeBusy; particularly by its Guarded Availability functionality.

Last week Gave some training on common cyber security attacks, moving on to ransomware next session, where the challenge is limiting so much available material. Discussions on exercises with James Bore, other collaborators welcome. Some mentoring of a rookie speaker for BSides London on an interesting analogical approach they’re taking One of my game designs is getting out of hand, I’m regarding a lot of what I’ve done as “design notes” listing intriguing but rejected ideas once I publish something. I’m behind on scheduling meetings so I worked through some automated and semi-automated scheduling services, which just made me more bitter about the state of the technology in general; and also means I understand why virtual assistants are still so popular. I had my last coaching session with a kind of business coach, which has helped change my mind on the benefits of coaching. Get in touch if you want a recommendation. I attended the Autumn virtual meeting of Wargame Developments, a couple of sessions anyway. They/we are putting an updated version of the “WD Handbook” together, to act as a guide and introduction to the group. I’m very interested to see what comes out of that process. For years I’ve had an idea for a kind of “psychic massage” app, something that would give you an emotional boost when needed and/or at random - a lot of people, myself included, find those “you’ve got this” messages inspiuring even though we know how vaccous their source is. But it’s on the big pile of possible ideas, whereas Sarah and Leila have done something with their Feel Better Cards; worth checking out. In having done these weeknotes for a while now, I realise how often I would type out the same thing every week - for example trying to build something to make money, while also needing to earn money doing “day rate” work; also I realise how much I achieve, but also how unrealistic my plans are for what I can achieve each week. I wonder if the bottom of each weeknote should have an “ongoing whines” section, with a counter…

Last week Mostly work I can’t discuss. I’m behind on a lot of meetings, and thought it would be a good time to finally look at automated scheduling services rather than email everyone the same options and hope there’s no clashes. All the scheduling services appear to assume you work in just one way - you’re available unless specified otherwise, and free time is offered to all contacts or none. Disappointing, but I might play around with scripts a little, or search a little harder… A really thought provoking demonstration of a business game, lots of ideas around how it did and didn’t work, and where it could be used. Attended very little of a NATO conference, but got lucky and caught really intriguing ideas on modelling cyber conflict, and python based efforts to run through those models. This fits in with similar ideas I’ve discussed with people elsewhere, I just need to glue them together. And again trying to square the circle where I need a lot of time to work on products and ideas and games that would make money and make a difference, but having to spend most of my time and energy earning money to pay the bills doing “day rate” consultancy has doesn’t have such long term value to me. Suggestions or investment welcome. On a happier note, I had a very wholesome weekend, watching the funny and lovely Free Guy, and it was also my birthday in Animal Crossing… Happy Birthday to me...