May 2025
The Vibe
After what seemed like a long summer or just an incredibly mild autumn, it now really feels like winter. For one, I'm now getting up in the dark to do the morning walk with Frankie, which has the upside of watching dawn break when there are no clouds. The other downside is the cold mornings: gloves and beanie weather. We had a wild storm come through the state in the last week, which passed us by completely. Given how many times we've lost power and had to clean up fallen trees and branches, I was shocked that neither occurred in our neighbourhood.
The best indicator of winter's approach was the English Ale event that Ms A and I attended (see photos). Based on the whiff of a 'traditional' harvest festival, it was a truly odd affair with Morris Dancers sharing the space with Viking warriors, elves, wizards and a whole slew of people dressed as animals - including a dolphin. Part cosplay, pagan and weird, it took place on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon. We gathered at Mylor and browsed the stall, drank good beer and waited for the burning of the wicker man as the day turned into night. It was great fun people-watching with Ms A and trying to make sense of what was happening around us. We didn't dress up - but are planning on making a return next year in some kind of garb.
We finally booked tickets for a trip to Japan later in the year as something to stay motivated for, especially as we head deeper into the colder (and hopefully) wetter months of the year.
The other major event of the last week was that the university's merger structure was dropped. They have been openly spouting the "no forced redundancies" line for months, and that part is true. The double-speak of that is that there will probably be redundancies, but that will be in two years, and there's no word on what will happen to the hundreds of staff on contracts. So yes, I still have a job.
For the moment, what has been supplied is the "Change Plan" – and we now have 15 days to review it and provide feedback. It currently looks like that while I keep my job, I lose the bulk of my team who get dispersed, so I'll get a bunch of new people to manage. Having created and rebuilt the team a few times already, my initial feelings were a mix of loss and frustration. I'm not sure if I have the energy to invest the time and effort required to create a strong team again, and I don't think whoever made this decision actually appreciates the effort required to do so, especially if the most likely scenario is that it won't be permanent. It also puts me in a place where I'm doubting what I am here for.
I came to Adelaide with a few things I wanted to achieve: build a team, develop courses without the inertia of an existing institutional tradition, and do things my way. Which I've now done and have the evidence of with our first graduating student as proof. It was so nice to see and meet Owen, Graduate Number One from our online program - and it makes all the effort feel worthwhile, knowing the very human impact your work can have.
While I keep my job, the change plan also states that I (and several others) are excluded from applying for positions above our current level. So, there is no opportunity for promotion or career advancement – which is a significant letdown. There has been so little recognition from my leaders about my work – the output and the outcomes – it's not necessarily surprising. My job has remained stagnant and without opportunities for advancement or progression, and the career path I thought I was creating has evaporated. I am considering what I want my job to be because what's currently on the table is not it. I have no desire to continue creating courses until the heat death of the universe. I need a new challenge, which I had hoped the change plan would offer, but to be honest, its strength and weakness is in how conservative it all is. There's no real change to be worried about, but there's no change there to inspire, either.
While I walked on the beach today, I contemplated, "What do you want to do?". Not what do I want to be – but what do I want to do? We get so framed by our jobs, and I was trying to think about what I would want to say to the question of what do you do? What's the thing that makes me want to get up and go to work? And when I think about it – I want to Discover. I feel at my best when I am working on something new, something that hasn't been done before, where what is needed is emergent, where there is no path to follow, and it's up to me to find a way. I don't have that now... and part of that is because, at least in my mind, it's done. I've worked it out. I worked out how you create online courses, how you build a high-performing team, how you oversee a project from start to finish, how you map out resource requirements, and how to timetable course delivery through to signing off the last course. The institution has that if they choose to listen or see it. My team has it – they have the lived experience to take it all and do it themselves, to take the lessons learnt and improve on it. So for me, the future job needs to be that - discovery. I need a new challenge.
Events
We had the inlaws in town for Mother's Day and had a great meal together at Herringbone. Ms A and I went to our first English Ale (see photos). Was such a fun time and we're keen to go back. Not much else, but have enjoyed quite a few walks at the beach with Frankie. One great thing about Adelaide is how much beach space we have, and that most of it is dog friendly, especially in the cooler months where it's off the leash all day.
Photos
Watched
I loved Andor and watched both seasons of it to eek out the most I could. I then went back to Rogue One A Star Wars Story for another watch. Enjoyed The Luckiest Man in America too.
Read
I have been using Readwise as my all in one saver of things and annotation tool, which syncs up with my Obsidian notes. This is probably the first month of it all working nicely, and I also now have a "What I Read" (or more accurately, Annotated) list in my weekly notes template.
So some great articles:
Experience Doesn't Stack: The Myth of Collective Knowledge by Joan Westenberg
One expert with twenty years doesn’t just know more facts. They see differently. They carry mental models that weren’t taught but discovered. They’ve built intuition from friction. They’ve made the same mistakes enough times to recognize them three steps before they appear. They don’t look at problems as they are but as what they become.
The Who Cares Era by Dan Sinker
In the Who Cares Era, the most radical thing you can do is care.
In a moment where machines churn out mediocrity, make something yourself. Make it imperfect. Make it rough. Just make it.