Blogs are strange things: when you're feeling good and therefore writing, it's the proverbial outboard brain; when you're not and therefore not writing, it becomes a source of guilt ("Must-update-my-blog-with-something-good"). In short, I feel I owe you, and my blog, an apology. I've been more or less absent from these pages for a couple of months now, as some have noticed.
Basically, I started a new job at the BBC in February which has taken a vast amount of time and energy - almost like a startup phase. I'm now responsible for the tech and design across all the BBC's Radio & Music sites; which means I'm responsible for trying to weld the vagaries of XP and Scrum to UCD to the opportunities afforded by RSS or XSLT, say. Whilst trying to revamp the Radio Player (more soon!), say, and instigate some blue-sky thinking time, some coherent multidisciplinary experience design project management processes, advocate user research, and solve some little local difficulties with bureacracy (in the bad sense of the word) - bringing new ways of thinking about a new medium to a division of the BBC which has been around, one way or another, since 1922.
Amongst other things. Which anyone who manages a team of any size will be familiar with.
I'm also trying to find a way of sticking close to products too; I'm a designer, for better for worse, and still think of myself as one - yet am struggling to find the time - and opportunity, without treading on toes I should be, er, nurturing - to actually design. (Nurturing toes? Jeez). Of course, design by proxy, via a team, is a fabulous thing when it works. And that's the stage I'm at, but I'd be intrigued to know if others felt this way about their work ...
Don't get me wrong - it's a fantastic job, I'm very lucky, and I'm enjoying it very much. And I aim to bring much of the development work back here, for public consumption or criticism ... However, as I work flat out, it's difficult to find as much time as I'd like for this. Folks will know I don't usually use this blog for personal matters, but folks will also know that personal matters affect everything nonetheless.
All this naval-gazing is merely an excuse to myself really, though. As somehow I have to figure out a way of achieving all of above whilst writing here, thinking here, responding to the brilliant people who mail me via this ... I'm horribly reminded of Clay's aside that blogging is a daily activity.
Anyway, just wanted contextualise the lack of input here a bit. Somehow I'll figure it out.
