A day in the life of...

It's pretty much impossible for me to describe a typical day in my working life simply because it's so varied. Usually, I will be in the office for a couple of days a week, sometimes I'll work from home if I have a proposal or business requirements document to write and usually I'll be travelling for a couple of days.

One thing is the same every day, though, and that is a catch up with Steve Parker, our technical director first thing. If I'm away from the office, this is usually a phone call at a quarter past eight. It makes for a lovely start to the day, actually, as we normally begin by chatting about what we did the previous evening and then we move on to what the day ahead holds.
I simply couldn't do my job without the support (and patience!) of my colleagues. Steve's management of the day to day running of the projects is a key factor in my confidence when I tell clients that we will deliver when we say we will. Steve keeps a weather eye on progress and dates.

And elsewhere in the team, I know I can rely on Louise to ensure that we're all tweeting when it's our turn and also to make sure the website stays up to date. These are really important to our company, and exactly the sort of things that would get neglected as I focus on the meetings, emails and phone calls that make up so much of my day, wherever I am.

If I'm travelling, it's not unusual for me to be in the car or on the train for several hours, just for a one or two-hour meeting with clients. Thus, an awful lot of what I do is by 'phone and, now that I have the iPad and Office in the cloud, by email. So, a lot of what I'm doing is responsive. But that travelling time also gives me the opportunity to think about what we're doing as a company and where we're heading. The changing nature of our client base and our move into the cloud were both key factors in my thoughts about security which ultimately led to us achieving our ISO 27001 certification.

But, once again, having established that strategy, I simply wouldn't have the time to make it happen by myself. Martin has taken on the role of information security officer and it's a huge comfort to me to know he is the one doing that. His phenomenal attention to detail and conscientious nature mean that I can be confident that we'll get our certification and that it will be done properly.

And finally, I must mention Danny, Paul, Ronald, Zak and Richard, our development team, who never cause me a moment's concern and who, along with Steve and Louise, keep on delivering high quality applications to our clients. All our clients deal directly with the development team, which is a testament to the fact that they are all friendly, charming people, which is not always a given with people who are the very best at coding!

So, in summary, then, my days are mixture of client meetings, responding to the phone and emails, and thinking about Meantime and our future. Sometimes from the office, sometimes from the road but always supported by the best team that I've worked with in twenty-seven years in IT. The common factor in all my days is a lack of stress and an enjoyment in what I do and that is all thanks to my very wonderful colleagues.

The Team