Terence Eden’s Blog 2023-08-11 Weeknotes: fin. (So what did I accomplish?) https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/08/weeknotes-fin-so-what-did-i-accomplish/ I hate being introspective. But I'm told it's good for me. A few months ago, I handed in my notice to Cabinet Office. And now I'm no longer a Civil Servant. It's hard to sum up those 2,462 days. Every day brought new challenges. I saw my work presented to the highest offices in the land, discussed on the nightly news, cancelled due to General Elections, and implemented across the nation. I represented my country across the world, helped protect it from attacks both digital and biological, and tried to speak a little truth to power. Along the way I met some fascinating and fantastic people. I was challenged technically, intellectually, and emotionally. I leave a little less naïve, but just as enthusiastic about the power of open technology to transform the state. It would be impossible to list everything that made me proud to be a Civil Servant. And I carry with me the memories of hundreds of brilliant people that I met. Whether the informal explosion of creativity which is GovCamp, to the rather more genteel meetings in the House of Commons, everyone I met was generous with their time and passionate about their work. Here is an (incomplete) list of my highlights in no particular order. Obviously, the absolute top of the list was meeting Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, Larry. [Image: Blurry photo of me and a cat. Taken inside Number 10.] I know it's a bit "I've danced with a man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales" - but I've scritched a cat who has been scritched by monarchs, emperors, and presidents. That's pretty nifty! And, yes, I got the obligatory photo of me outside №10. [Image: Photo of me doing a silly pose outside Number 10 Downing Street.] I learned that it's not a brilliant idea to wear a black shirt while standing in front of a black door. So I tarted up my wardrobe for a subsequent visit. [Image: Me wearing a red shirt while outside Number 10.] It's sometimes a little heady to think of the audiences I've addressed. I spoke around the world on technology matters in Government. But it was absolutely surreal to address the various security services. [Image: Photo of Terence presenting. The background has the NCSC logo.] Obviously, there's no photo pointing the other way! I had the immense privilege to represent my country at a number of international events. In the final days of the UK's membership of the EU, I was one of the delegates to an EU committee looking at closer co-operation through technical standards. [Image: Photo of Terence's laptop in front of a UK sign at an EU meeting.] I was also the Government's representative to the W3C - which allowed me to become an editor on the HTML5 standard. [Image: Screenshot showing my name as one of the editors.] While I didn't get to the UN, I was a delegate to ICANN. Which meant I got to enjoy the experience of simultaneous translation. [Image: Translation booths for English, French, and Spanish.] I've blogged extensively about my time at NHSX - and may blog more once the inquiry has finished. It was... intense. Being asked to help launch a new team, briefing the Secretary of State on tech matters, launching an app which made headlines around the world, and only once getting into trouble with the press! [Image: Selfie by Matt Hancock, featuring some of the team behind NHSX.] Some of the highlights are less tangible. If you search the Digital Marketplace you'll see that nearly every project mentions open source, open standards, and open APIs. If you read various announcements by ministers, departments, and directors you'll see them banging on about the need for interoperability. That is, in part, due to my influence. One of my main reasons for getting into the Civil Service was because, a decade ago, I was appalled at the lack of security on .gov.uk websites. .social-embed {all: unset;display: block;}.social-embed * {all: unset;display: revert;}.social-embed::after {all: unset;}.social-embed::before {all: unset;}blockquote:not(*) {all: unset;}.social-embed a {cursor: pointer;}blockquote.social-embed {box-sizing: border-box;border: .5px solid;width: 550px;max-width: 100%;font-family: sans-serif;margin: 0;margin-bottom: .5em;padding: 1em;border-radius: 1em;background-color: white;color: black;display: block;}.social-embed-header {display: flex;justify-content: space-between;}.social-embed-user {display: flex;position: relative;align-items: center;text-decoration: none;color: inherit;}.social-embed-avatar {width: 3em;height: 3em;border-radius: 100%;margin-right: .5em;}.social-embed-user-names-name {display: flex;align-items: center;font-weight: bold;margin: 0;}.social-embed-text {margin-top: .5em;}.social-embed-footer {display: flex;align-items: center;justify-content: space-between;}.social-embed-logo {width: 3em;}.social-embed-hr {border: .1px solid;margin: .5em 0 .5em 0;}.social-embed-meta {text-decoration: none !important;color: unset !important;}.social-embed-reply {display: block;}.social-embed-text a, .social-embed-footer time {color: blue;text-decoration: underline;}.social-embed-media, .social-embed-video {border-radius:1em;max-width:100%;}.social-embed-reply{font-size:.75em;display:block;}.social-embed-meter{width: 100%;background: #0005;} [Image: ] Alex@blangry[Image: ] "Dear The Government, I have found over 500 vulnerable websites. Please fix them?" - @edent pic.x.com/n35wsjbyob[Image: ] ❤️ 3💬 113:27 - Sat 08 March 2014 I spent the last 18 months helping fix that. The vast majority of .gov.uk sites use HTTPS by default, there are effective policies which stop the worst attacks, and there's continual monitoring in place to detect when things go wrong. The brilliant team at Securing Government Services toil tirelessly to keep everyone in the UK safe. It was a joy and an honour to work with them. Of course, there are some things which didn't go as planned. Regrets? Perhaps I should have agitated harder for there to be an Open Source Program Office. When the Head of Open Source left GDS, there was no one to replace her. I tried getting Government funding for the various OSS projects we use - but there are so many complications around funding non-tangible projects. And, anecdotally, some OSS projects didn't want to receive money from Government. If it had been my full time job, I might have made a dent in it. Alas, it fell by the wayside. I know it sounds stupid, but I found no adequate way to stem the tide of PDFs being uploaded to GOV.UK. [Image: Tree diagram showing 233,220 PDFs on the website.] I'd present to people, they'd agree it was a problem, and then nothing would happen. I discussed whether we could just ban departments from uploading them (no), put big warnings on the site discouraging use (maybe), or tell directors that their departments were breaking the rules (yes) - but it didn't make much of a difference. Everyone agrees that PDFs are inaccessible and don't work properly on mobile. But publishers love a fixed layout. So they stay. It was a similar story with Open Document Format. Over the years, the number of Word Doc and XLSX files diminished. But ODT and ODS uploads never really took off. Partly it was a lack of tooling and partly a lack of native viewers on operating systems. Plain CSV had a resurgence though, which was nice. I think both of my failures were due to my ideology not accounting for either inertia or fear of change. Sure, I was hampered by Microsoft's defaults and Apple's lack of filetype support - but the major problem was that I never found an adequate way to reassure people that change was necessary and safe. And the less said about the PAF the better. I tried, I really did! As I look back, I think the good outweighs the bad. Could I have stormed the Prime Minister's office and screamed at them until they installed Linux on every desktop in Government? No. And even if I had, it wouldn't have made a difference. Civil Servants advise and Ministers decide. That's the maxim. I pushed the agenda of open technology because that's what I was hired to do. It would have been impossible for me to have internally lobbied for letting people handle salmon suspiciously - or whatever. I got involved in a wide range of discussions where I thought my expertise could help (none salmon related) and did my best. Why leave? 7 years is a long time. I went from GDS to NHSX to the Data Standards Authority to CDDO. Each was a new adventure. But each was capped with two unfortunate problems. The first is that there is no promotion available for people who don't want to line manage teams. I was a subject matter expert at Grade 7. If I wanted to move up to G6, I'd have spent a substantial portion of my time working on clerical, pastoral, and managerial duties. I don't enjoy that - and I'm not very good at it. People deserve a line manager who is interested in management. That's not me. Expertise is valued in the CS - but generalists are needed at the higher levels. I get that - but it puts a career limitation on anyone who does want to specialise. The second is related; pay. I know it isn't the done thing in polite society to complain publicly about money - but that's a taboo which needs breaking. When I started at the Civil Service I knew that the pay wasn't high but the benefits were great. But every year I received a below-inflation pay rise. I asked various managers if exceeding all my targets would get me a pay rise - but the answer was no. Not their fault - the system is inflexible. With the cost of living rising, I just couldn't justify working somewhere which couldn't pay me fairly - no matter how much I enjoyed the team or the mission. I want to do interesting work. And I need to be paid fairly for it. And next? Well, my friends, stay tuned. The next season of The Terence Eden Adventures is going to be... interesting! ------------------------------ 2022-11-26 Starting Up Vs Staying On https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/11/starting-up-vs-staying-on/ A few years ago, I had a chance to work with an exciting tech startup. They had just become 5 years old. The day I went for an interview, about a dozen of the founding members announced they were quitting. Including the CEO. Was this a good sign or a bad sign? Over beers, my friends were all adamant that this was the end. The sky was falling and the little-startup-that-could was crashing and burning. I fundamentally disagreed. I thought it was a healthy sign. There are two types of people in the world0 - those who like risk, and those who like stability. There's nothing wrong with either, of course. It's fun and exciting to try something new. But there's no shame in only wanting to work somewhere with a competent payroll team and a predictable schedule. The people you need to help run a startup are probably different from those you need to run a successful business. There are only two paths for a new business1 - success or failure. For some, success is a billion-dollar exit, for others success is a profitable business which employs a dozen people. For some, failure is bankruptcy, for others failure is a profitable business which only employs a dozen people. At the five-year mark, a successful startup should be a fundamentally different place than it was at the start. If after several years you're still hiring - and retaining - people who want the thrill of starting up, then your organisation isn't maturing. That may, or may not, be a problem. Which one will win? The one you feed! ↩︎ Which one will win? The one you feed! ↩︎ ------------------------------ 2022-11-01 I've reached a local maxima in my career https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/11/ive-reached-a-local-maxima-in-my-career/ (Welcome to #NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. I'm publishing a new blog post every day in November.) My employer encourages employees to have "career conversations" with their line manager. And I hate it. I don't resent them for making me participate, and it's probably good for me to engage in a little introspection. But that doesn't mean I can't whine like a petulant toddler. Since my dreams of being the first astronaut to win an Oscar® crumbled to dust, I haven't known what I want out of my professional life. I am a complete career magpie, going "Oooh! Shiny!" and hopping jobs to the next fun thing. For the last five years, I've been at the same grade at work. I haven't been doing the same job - I've transferred teams and departments multiple times. I've also - to my surprise - received a few pay-rises. I'm far too British to discuss my actual salary - but it is good. Not quite as good as if I were working in the private sector - but I get a decent pension, generous holidays, and reasonable job security. I'm now at the point where I face several challenges to moving up to the next grade. My pay - G7 DDaT Technology Specialist Architect Accomplished B - now exceeds the standard pay for the next grade up and, in some cases, the grade after that. Which means either taking a pay cut, or trying to find a department which has the budget to go beyond the standard pay scales. Last year I turned down a job at a higher grade because they were reluctant to even match what I was currently on. The same pay for more responsibility? Yeah, nah. Which brings me on to the next issue… My management ambitions - I have none. I've been a team leader and line manager and I didn't enjoy either experience. And, crucially, I don't think I was particularly good at it. People deserve managers who are interested in people and their development. That's not me - and I have no desire to either fake it, or learn to do it better. All of the jobs I've seen at the next grade up require people management. My workload - I like having a life. I work my hours and finish on time. I occasionally have an out-of-hours call, but that's rare. I've done jobs where I flew all over the world at short notice. It's fun for a while, but not something I'm looking for any more. My job is sometimes stressful, but work are good at making sure I'm looking after myself. And it's tempered by knowing what I'm working on matters. Which leads on to… My impact - maybe I'm naïve, but I believe in the transformative power of the state's technological offering. Would I get that satisfaction from helping make shareholders a little richer? Or fiddling around with a niche product? I only have a limited time on Earth and I've like to work on something that I consider important. I know that I could go work at a hedge-fund and donate my outsized salary to charity - but I want to help practically. My risk tolerance - a little while ago I held discussions with a cool start-up to be their CTO. It didn't work out for a variety of reasons. But one of the big ones was my attitude to risk. Do I want to gamble that the thing I work on will get acquired by Zuck? Even if I lucked out, would it materially change my life? I try to stay off the hedonic treadmill. But I already own all the houses, toys, and private jets that I want. The upside of a massive risk doesn't seem particularly attractive to me right now. In short, I've reached a local maxima. The only journey from here appears to be downwards. Either a cut in salary or in quality of life. If I make it through that valley, the upside is… what exactly? It feels like that old joke about the MBA who tells a casual fisherman to spend his life building an empire just so that he can spend his retirement fishing on the lake. Now What? I have some longer term plans which hopefully kick in around the year 2030. But the gap between now and then seems a mystery. Here's my rough idea of what's going to happen next. By the new year, I should have finished my MSc. That will help me determine if I want to do a Professional Doctorate or similar at some point in the future. I'll have completed a full year in my new job. That will be enough time to know if I want to continue doing it for a bit longer, or whether I'll start casting my eye around. And then… I don't know. I guess my choices are: Stay where I am. Find another Civil Service job - either more interesting or better paid but with a similar work/life balance. Take a risk and go work for myself (doing what?!) or for someone else (who?!) Start a new course of study and, maybe, convince work to fund it. And, you know what? I'm happy with not planning. Sure, I might see the perfect job which I'm not qualified for. In which case, I'll look at how I get qualified. The world isn't short on opportunities. ------------------------------ ␃␄