iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I just realised they didn't even bother to put a "£" in the second box. 👀

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And, interestingly, if I hadn't responded within 2 weeks the trade-in goes through automagically (at £0). 👀 Not OK.

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So far this has been the explanation:

Screenshot showing an emailed table with quoted value for iPhone 15 Pro as £390, inspected value as £0. Then 'reason for change in value' is left blank.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Trying to do the right thing and trade in my old phone. Currently 👀 at likewize.com, who've reduced my quoted value from £390 to £0 with no stated reason for a relatively recent, *fully working* iPhone. Now on my second emailed request to them to explain said reason. Hmmm.

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Is it possible to standardise what we mean when we say things like: lead, principal, head of, programme, director? Or just stop using those terms? Local job title inflation is hurting my brain. When you say you're one of these things be sure there's a part of my brain validating your statement.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

My favourite MS365 feature is how it's training me not to trust _anything_ I see in email, calendar or chat. I assume there's content in there... I've just gotta find it. it's OK tho, because I can set up an AI agent to help me find most of it and only hallucinate some of it

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I believe the complete VAT relief ends in March 2027. Then it goes to a (still discounted) 5% rate

The School of Good Services @theschoolofgood.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Reposted by Nick Smith

At the Bad Services Corporation we have 15 principles of Bad Service Design We’re rolling out our training today over the next few months, principle by principle Take a seat, grab a pen+paper Principle #1: A bad service is hard to find good.services/writing/a-ba...

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

> Matrix management blows peoples minds 🤯 Is a thing I just wrote. But it shouldn't and there are lots of benefits to it. It's 2026 and I thought this would be fixed by now

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Reposted by Nick Smith

Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Someone had just emailed me on a Friday night to ask if I have any thoughts to share on AI in digital govt and I think my answer is that we should focus on making basic services work for everyone and stop worrying about AI

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Going to rebadge everything I do as “AI” and see if anyone spots the grift

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

We stayed at Tapnell Farm recently and it's the same deal. It seems the ferry companies have deals with local tourism attractions (a win for everyone). The discount ferry slots were less available on the weekend we were there. We had a fab time tho

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

2 yrs ago when I left Virgin Media to switch to full fibre the call handler tried to convince me I already had it. No amount of ‘I can see the coax coming into my house’ would convince them. We agreed to disagree. Back then I wondered how many people would fall for it… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Virgin Media fined £28m for preventing customers from cancelling contracts

Millions of phone calls from customers were "likely mishandled" over nearly a three-year period, the regulator says.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I reckon traditional project risk management disempowers teams. Because it usually: silos risk information away from delivery; assumes leadership will solve problems; emphasises reporting, not mitigation; assumes reporting IS mitigation (my biggest bugbear); takes time away from actual delivery

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I mean it's one of 32 tabs in my browser, so I'm not just staring at it. Fingers crossed I'm at the front by 5pm. Fingers also crossed there are reasonably timed / priced tickets left.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Admittedly I got there an hour late but... I've just spend 5 hours in the online queue for tickets to the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. Only 3,229 people in front of me.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

“Victorian-level body objectification” could easily be a new favourite phrase bsky.app/profile/sach...

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Good ideas have a life of their own. When I joined GDS in 2013 I inherited The Mazz Scale. I've referenced it periodically ever since, including today. It works with Fibonacci numbers, but I've also used t-shirt sizes. Here's the accompanying blog post: www.annashipman.co.uk/jfdi/how-to-...

annashipman.co.uk

Anna Shipman

Strategic technology leader

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I’m still doing this. I’ve continued to make tweaks to what I eat, I’m also tracking my alcohol intake more. I’ve lost 6kg since January 🎉 #marginalGains bsky.app/profile/skyn...

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Example: I was on a Teams call yesterday with a lot of people (so, expensive call) and nobody could present to screen for a good 5 mins. It just froze

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Fit for whose purpose? I reckon the people making the decisions on software are a long way from actual delivery of stuff. Have no idea how the org works. Likely have a team insulating them from the issues. They also brush off the bugs as just general IT issues. No, it’s just MS365

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Meet is too advanced for me. I prefer my videoconferencing laggy, buggy, with nauseating emojis and held together with duct tape

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

My favourite MS365 feature is having to go hunting for the corresponding video of a presenter on a Teams call with over 100 people. I found them nestled helpfully on page 3 of 14.

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Absence of explicit process is not lack of maturity. In many cases it’s more mature to have less process. Measure on what’s actually achieved. What supports the better outcome?

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

I'm not sure how it would go down in front of the management I had in mind. I'll report back here if/when I find the words for that. My hunch is that their lack of specificity if a symptom of other problems that I assume they'd rather I didn't expose / they may disagree with my diagnosis

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

I don't know if I'll continue to call it that (I guess that's why I'm testing it here). But I thought it was fun that's where my brain went

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Today I mentioned 'Schrödinger's update' to mean when management want, in the same update, the two states of: a high level overview; but also all of the detail

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Indeed. That's another favourite feature. Clunky meeting options FTW, in my book. The AR / VR / AI future of remote collaboration is built on these types of next generation design choices

Enterprise software, right there

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There's a "what" missing there. But you get the idea

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This is apparently 'modern collaboration' looks like

Chief Digital Officer for London @ldncdo.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

My favourite MS365 feature is when it sends reminder notifications for meetings that have already happened. Oh, also when the calendar hasn't synced properly and meetings just drop out of my celandar. These things really spice up my day, keeping things fresh

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Reposted by Nick Smith

False narratives about London are being manufactured by state-backed actors, extremist groups and profit-driven content farms. Different motivations, same effect. Last night Mayor of London @london.gov.uk published new GLA research into who's doing it and why www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🧵 1/3

bbc.co.uk

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Just as important, going solar we're better insulated from energy cost increases in our monthly outgoings. I say 'better' because nobody is immune unless they live completely off grid

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Last night I reviewed our numbers adjusting for the 3 monthly change in avg cost per kWh in the UK. Our saving for 2025 was just over £1,200 (+£100 on last guess), still not including what we're selling back to the grid. On that, we'd make our install cost back in 7.6 years bsky.app/profile/skyn...

Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 02/04/2026

Reposted by Nick Smith

NEW ANALYSIS: Record wind and solar generation saved UK from gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026 📈Wind+solar were up 22% year-on-year in March to a record high for the month ⛴️This avoided the need for gas imports worth £1bn at current high prices www.carbonbrief.org/...

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Watched the #ArtemisII launch with my cat, who mostly wants to sleep but looked up when the crowd cheered. Also, wow

TV image close up of Artemis 2 rocket engine with flames and huge exhaust plume.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I’d add to your questions: do people know what information they’re looking at? Even when it’s presented, it’s often not in a way that enables the decisions that need to be made

Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Greenwich Council "No response": www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Hmm. A quick search of the Greenwich website would have shown they collect biodegradable waste: www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/recycling-an... In fact, they've been collecting it since at least 2004 (which is the age of our green top bin).

bbc.co.uk

Food waste collection deadline missed by one in four councils

Local authorities blame the delays on a lack of funding and a shortage of bin lorries.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Consumers, users, people, mammals. Reminding myself of this joy-of-a-piece-of-writing, and what a joy it is to read Russell's writing. It makes so much sense. www.russelldavies.com/typepad/russ...

russelldavies.com

Consumers, users, people, mammals

I'm old enough that I've seen the same debates go round and round a few times. One is the (always well-intentioned) cry - let's stop saying customers/consumers/users, let's remember they're people! Th...

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Reposted by Nick Smith

Si Manby @cthimon.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

We're looking to fill a couple of Senior Content Designer roles across the OPG and Probation digital teams www.jobtrain.co.uk/justicedigit...

jobtrain.co.uk

Senior Content Designer:National

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

* I meant to post this in January but a backlog in data gathering and a spreadsheet overhaul delayed that. I now have a shiny new google sheet so plan to keep collecting data. I might also post export numbers and payments from the energy company, but that’ll take a bit more working out

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Solar install update. Our first year. The year to December ended as forecast. We generated 4.5 megawatt hours over the year which was 91% of the energy we used 🎉 We saved roughly £1,100 on energy we didn’t draw from the grid. We also exported a bunch, so made money too. bsky.app/profile/skyn...

Graph showing the months January to December and forecasted solar generation versus historical household electricity consumption, both in kilowatt hours. Consumption meanders across the middle, generation follows a bell curve. Between April and September solar generation is greater than consumption and we’re net zero over the year.

Graph showing the months January to December and actual solar generation versus actual household electricity consumption in kilowatt hours. Consumption closely matches the prediction on the previous image. Generation is significantly higher than predicted in June and a smidge lower in August. September to December follows a bell curve.

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

It seems it was February 2026 when MS Teams finally started supporting threaded discussions. At least, that’s my experience

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Nick Smith @skynick.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

UPF doesn’t equal bad. But some UPF are high risk (eg Pringles). Many are lower, or no risk. Some are even healthy. There’s science that’s proved there’s an issue, there’s science happening now to refine where the issues exist