Weeknotes – Past Meets Future
Weeknotes – 15 November 2025
This week had a real “past meets future” vibe — a blend of digging deep into UX mapping at work while revisiting old haunts in Manchester and Birmingham. Between the nostalgia, the travel, and a growing obsession with AI tools, it all felt surprisingly energising.
Work #
Most of the week centred around collaboration and getting clearer on the chronological flow of the service.
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Chronological mapping:
I spent a good chunk of the week building out the key events and timelines for one of our key users, including overlaps and dependencies. It’s already helping the wider team spot gaps and opportunities. -
Manchester workshop:
I travelled up for a session with other UCD colleagues — a brilliant day of sharing ways of working, war stories, and ideas for future collaboration. Lots of energy, lots of alignment. The train home was chaos, but it gave me time to prototype a simple weeknote-creating app using Google’s Gemini. -
Follow-ups and flows:
Thursday and Friday were packed with follow-up calls and refining the mapping. I also sketched out some high-level screen flows to support the content designers and attraction team.
Away from Work #
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BMX nostalgia spiral:
My son’s getting into BMX and loves the pump track, so obviously I had to start hunting for a secondhand BMX too. One minute I’m scrolling for a cheap kids’ bike, the next I’m deep in a nostalgia wormhole thinking about the skateparks I grew up around. -
Digbeth trip:
I had to run an errand at the Custard Factory and couldn’t resist wandering around the old agency spots. Digbeth’s evolved a lot, but it still feels familiar. Ideal Skate Shop is still there — which makes me very happy. -
Manchester memories:
Walking around the Northern Quarter brought back all the uni-era memories. Funny how a place you haven’t lived in for years can still feel like part of your wiring. -
AI experiments:
I fell deeper into the Gemini and Google AI Labs rabbit hole this week. The progress over the past few months is unreal — good enough that I’ve cancelled my Cursor AI subscription.
A bit about me: I'm a UCD specialist focused on Service Design, with a passion for accessibility and creating services for all. I navigate the world with a dry sense of humor, finding the funny side in the most mundane tasks.
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