Almost a year at my new job - how did it go?

Going from a workplace where I’d worked for 24 years to something I pretty much knew nothing about hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. Going from having fixed tasks and an annual cycle ingrained in my spine — to working in projects where every week, and sometimes every day, has meant entirely new things and required new skills. When I look at the selfie I took on my first day in February, I can see the uncertainty in my eyes. But also a tense anticipation for this new chapter in my life. A life that to a large extent would involve working with AI.

Wednesday February 1, 2023, I walked into the office in Kista. RISE. The unit Livslångt Lärande. There I met my Stockholm colleagues and most of us who work in the “school crew”. I had left my previous job 4 days earlier and, in hindsight, I should probably have taken a week or two off. But from day one I realized I had landed in the right place. My colleagues had sorted everything and made me feel “at home” immediately. Computer, phone and all that were already set up. Now it was just time to go. But go do what? Hmmmm….

Statistics

Unfortunately I realize I have far too poor statistics on what I’ve done this year. I lost track of my calendar after about 5 weeks :) and it’s unfortunately not complete. But what I’ve managed to pull out is the following — and these are my thoughts on how I should improve myself.

467 meetings — and their time

A big difference now compared to before is all the meetings. Not surprising when we work in a hybrid organization where only 20% of my unit is based in Stockholm. But there’s also a lot to optimize here. I thought I was good at having Mondays as my meeting day and keeping the rest of the week fairly calm, but the stats show something else. Sure, Mondays are my big meeting day, but the others are evenly spread out. From now on I’ll try to have meeting-free days. I find it hard to switch contexts too much and with the tasks I have, I need more full days where I can produce.

104 deliveries — versus meetings

Since we work in projects it’s hard to achieve an even workload, as you don’t really know what the year will look like. However, I see that when things have been toughest regarding deliveries, I’ve had roughly the same number of meetings. Here I also need to be much more proactive in my calendar and make sure to reduce meetings during those times. A delivery for me is when I’m supposed to deliver something to our partners, customers and the like. That also means a lot of production time needs to be prioritized and then something else must give. I’ve simply been far too eager to say yes.

34 projects

I’m the project manager who doesn’t run any projects myself ;) but I’ve had the chance to participate in a bunch of fun projects during the year. Everything from small projects where I had minor roles to somewhat larger ones. The opportunity to work with a lot of smart and great people has been fantastic and — despite everything going on — has given me a big dose of hope in humanity. Everything from our school partnerships to companies and organizations. So many people want to do so much. Thank you!

40 talks/workshops out of 91 requests

A big part of my work this period has revolved around training, lab work, workshops, masterclasses and talks about generative AI. When I started in February, generative AI was already red-hot and I had previously tinkered a lot with it. Out of 91 requests, there was an opportunity to do 40 of them. Next year there will be significantly fewer, as I will be working more in larger projects. But it’s been really fun and I’m very grateful for the number of people I’ve met through these. Less grateful for 2 colds and 1 COVID, but those are the knocks you take. :) Since I couldn’t participate everywhere, my colleagues and I created a recorded talk that gives an overview of generative AI for schools. It later became a similar version targeted at healthcare and social care.

2 masterclasses and an upcoming training in AI for schools

After our workshops and talks on generative AI for schools, there were always requests on how we could strengthen the schools’ “super users”, that is those who had already come a bit further. So we created a masterclass. We held it in Stockholm and Gothenburg and it was one of the highlights of the year with fantastic participants. Just before the Christmas holidays we also started sketching a training program around generative AI for schools. But more on that in 2024.

10 episodes as a participant in our podcasts

I’ve had the honor of participating in Livslångt, one of our two podcasts. But now I also had the opportunity to be co-pilot in both of them, where I again got to meet everyone from old idols on Livslångt to new ones on Spelfokus.

4 prototypes

Since tinkering is part of my DNA, a few prototypes emerged this year. First up was Diane, an assistant that takes meeting notes and the like. Diane later also became an iOS app. After that came ARAIA, a podcast engine, which automatically creates a podcast based on your interests. The third prototype is EDU-assist, a principal’s or teacher’s assistant, and the last prototype is Ragnar, a local transcription service that runs on your computer. These prototypes are completely open to use and the code is available to download on GitHub. What’s been really fun about these prototypes is that they arose from real problems that my colleagues and I have worked through. Collaboration ftw!

Learning Lab, FutureReady and a lot more…

[caption id=“attachment_56092” align=“alignnone” width=“1400”] A little mini celebration after the first FutureReady[/caption] Of course it’s impossible to include everything that happened during the year, but I’ve also participated in two Learning Lab by RISE and I’m part of the big school leadership training FutureReady by RISE which we have, as well as 2 Vinnova projects that are really starting now. Even though I’ve surely forgotten a lot, we mustn’t forget our Learning Forum that we at Livslångt Lärande organize annually.

So how did it go then?

Being new at a job is tough. Really tough. But at the same time so educational. And fun. Up until the vacation in July there was a bit of a shock state and extreme amounts of impostor syndrome. When you’re constantly surrounded by insanely smart people and you yourself barely know how the coffee machine works, it’s easy to wonder why little old me is there. When will they discover I’m a fake? But… it eases after a while and that time-tracking system doesn’t feel so scary anymore. And when you’re also surrounded by the nicest, most caring, fun and lovely colleagues you can imagine, nothing feels out of reach. The unit Livslångt Lärande in March 2023 I know I have a lot to tackle, like finding a better balance in my work and a bunch of other things. But I also realize that it’s part of being new at a job. I’m also tinkering with a new prototype that will help me analyze my calendar. So the word for 2024 is balance. With that said, it’ll be insanely fun to see what the new year brings! Because if there’s one thing we don’t have here, it’s boredom. :)