One of the more unexpected joys of writing a book is watching the pre-orders trickle in — each one a small, specific vote of confidence from someone who’s decided they’d like to read what you’ve written before it actually exists. It’s encouragement from the future, which feels oddly fitting for a week spent largely planning things that haven’t happened yet: workshops, proposals, projects that may or may not materialise. Much of the work was invisible, preparatory, and entirely unshowy. But it was there. And sometimes that’s enough.

This week at work

This week brought a flurry of conversations about potential new work, all via people I’ve worked with before who’ve since moved on to new organisations. Which is a pleasing reminder that doing good work, and not being a pain to deal with, remains the most reliable marketing strategy available.

Those conversations have already turned into two live proposals. Each proposal we do is entirely bespoke — no rinse-and-repeat templates here — which means they take a minimum of half a day to pull together, and often stretch over several days once the thinking, shaping, and sense-checking are properly done. I always underestimate how long these take, despite all available evidence.

We’ve got a workshop coming up this week, and spent a good chunk of time planning how to use that time well. Workshops are often treated as the work itself, when really they’re about setting the tone for the many months of work that follow. The challenge — and the point — is creating enough structure to help a diverse group of stakeholders with genuinely divergent views get to alignment and agreement, without flattening those differences or rushing to false consensus. Much of the real work happens before anyone enters the room: designing the flow, deciding where decisions actually need to be made, and being very deliberate about what doesn’t need to be debated on the day.

I also had a great call with the team from an employee experience and intranet app vendor. It’s always refreshing when vendors are open and thoughtful in response to the more awkward questions — recognising that edge cases are simply the price of doing business with the kind of complex organisations we advise. We’re never asking those questions to trip anyone up; we ask them because those messy, inconvenient realities are exactly what make a platform work, or not, in practice.

We also kicked off a promotion plan for the book. It’s been genuinely heartwarming to see how many people have already pre-ordered it — a small but steady drumbeat of encouragement from the future.

Also this week

Otherwise, a relatively quiet one. Gym sessions, and a new Sanctum class location — in a nightclub near my house. My first time setting foot in a nightclub in many years, and the fact it was for an exercise class says a great deal about my gentle but unmistakable slide into decrepitude.

A trip to the UK also meant I finally got to catch up with my brother and his wife, who I hadn’t seen in far too long.

All in all, one of those weeks that felt busy in the head, quieter on the surface, and better for the balance of the two.

Consuming

Pretty light this week, but I have been mainlining Irish Traitors to fill the Traitors-shaped gap in my life. It’s exactly the right level of drama: suspicious looks, mild hysteria, and strategic betrayal, all played out with just enough restraint to stay entertaining rather than exhausting. Add in the Irish lilt, a healthy fondness for swearing, and a cast who sound permanently on the verge of telling someone to cop on, and it’s been the perfect comfort watch.

Connections

I met with the founder of Statement to talk through plans for the next phase. It was great to shoot the breeze in person, and it reminded me why I was excited by the concept and vision in the first place — one of those conversations that leaves you a little clearer, and a little more energised, than when you arrived.

Travel

Incredibly, I made it all the way to February without setting foot in an airport. Normal service has now resumed; I’m writing this weeknote from an airport lounge.

The next six months will see me heading to three different continents, and I promise to be as infuriating about it as ever.

This week in photos