Weeks 120 and 121

On some weeks, there can be plenty to write about in week notes: new product milestones, team achievements, research and events. On the contrary, the reality of the day-to-day running of a branch means there can be plenty of things that are not interesting nor appropriate to write about in week notes. That’s largely been the case for the last fornight, so the notes are rather thin. Sorry.

I was due to travel to Toowoomba to speak at the ABARES Regional Outlook conference. Alas, lurgy got the better of me and I had a couple of days off work to recover, but back in fine fettle now. I’m grateful to Ruth, Victor, Brigette, and Natalie, who held the fort, gave demonstrations of the Export Service, and signed up a fair few people to participate in our user research activities. And a big thanks to our friends at ABARES for inviting us.

I’ve read two tremendous books over the last fortnight. The first was The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. It’s a retelling of world history through the lens of the trading routes passing through the centre of the globe. The second was Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, which documents the extraordinary agricultural inventions of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In some personal news, I became an Australian Citizen. This month marks 7 years since I first came to Australia to help set up the Digital Transformation Office. It’s great to finally become an Aussie and I look forward to many more years here. 🇦🇺