#retropost — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #retropost, aggregated by home.social.
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🆕 blog! “Pushing The Button”
This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in 2020, but published four years after the events. It's May 2020 as I write this. I'm typing to capture the moment. Right now, I've no idea what the impact is. This is the exact moment, on Thursday May 7th, I hit the Big Red Button - three of […]
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/pushing-the-button/
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#covid19 #nhsx #retropost #WeekNotes #work -
Pushing The Button
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/pushing-the-button/This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in 2020, but published four years after the events.It's May 2020 as I write this. I'm typing to capture the moment. Right now, I've no idea what the impact is.
This is the exact moment, on Thursday May 7th, I hit the Big Red Button - three of them! - to open source the UK's COVID-19 Beta test app.
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Open-Source-NHSX.mp4It was thrilling and terrifying. We'd spent the last few weeks getting ready to open source the repos and then, at the last minute, it all went wrong. The plan was to launch on Tuesday - but fate conspired against us.
The problems fell into three main areas:
- Threats and personal safety. This was probably the highest profile code release that we'd ever done. There were already people grumbling online that the people writing the code were "traitors". Did we want to expose our people to that sort of personal abuse? What if they were targets of phishing attempts?
Redacting history. Probably the most contentious issue. We all wanted to release everything from the very first commit. Would that reveal anything dangerous? Had someone slipped and accidentally committed an API key they shouldn't?
Communications. The other most contentious issue! The department were in "crisis comms" mode. Everything was delayed. No one had reviewed the blog I'd written, there was no pre-arranged plan in place for this sort of thing. Understandable really - this was a tiny piece of a much larger puzzle. But it was still frustrating to wait for people to be ready for us to publish.
<
p>We took the pragmatic approach. We took a snapshot of the code, thoroughly scrubbed it of all identifying information and secrets, and prepared to release it. Then we waited. And waited.
Every time we thought we had the go-ahead, there was another delay! There was a strict comms schedule. We couldn't launch now; it would interrupt that other announcement!
I was asked to help rewrite bits of the announcements. This led to some memorable questions from the comms squad. How can you explain to the average user...
- what "Source Code" is?
- why the Android code is different from the iPhone code?
- who are "Git Hub"?
And, the kicker? All these questions came in while I was on a conference call with a bunch of government ministers! The joys of multiple monitors!
It was interminable. I sent texts which went unanswered. Emails. Phone calls. Just a few minutes more. Any moment now. We need to wait for...
And then!
"Can we launch ASAP?"
Yes! The email I was waiting for. But I am a paranoid and cautious Fraggle. Was that "Launch now!" or "Can we launch now?"?
So I sent a reply. "Just to confirm - do you want me to publish now?" And waited.
And waited.
I got an email from my boss "Launch now!"
And a second later, from comms: "Please hold off - no go. Will call you shortly."
How I longed to press that button. I could say that I only saw the first email... No. Maybe. No.
An eternity. During which time I casually glanced at Twitter and read all the angry messages from people demanding the release of the code.
The call came. "Publish it - but don't tell anyone." Weird flex, but OK.
I called my very-patient wife into my home office. I wanted the moment captured. She opened her camera. A few clicks, and it was done.
Terence Eden is on Mastodon
@edent
Replying to @peteslater@peteslater @tobias1087 @NHSX The source will be released shortly on GitHub.com/nhsx
As you can imagine, we've been working flat out to get this ready, accessibility assessed, and security checked.
It will be released under a FOSS licence.github.com
NHSX
NHSX has 103 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
❤️ 99💬 0♻️ 4221:18 - Mon 04 May 2020Terence Eden is on Mastodon
@edent
Replying to @edent@peteslater @tobias1087 @NHSX pic.x.com/3wqghy6ctm ❤️ 25💬 5♻️ 017:49 - Thu 07 May 2020I did a little dance. Let all of the tension out of my body. And waited for the hate to roll in.
It didn't. The response was... positive! Yes, there were grumbles, but so many people were fulsome in their praise that it was overwhelming. Congratulatory tweets and emails did the rounds, and I had a nice cold ale.
I took the bank holiday weekend off. Well, I obsessively read all the tweets, answered questions about my blog post, and kept half-an-eye on GitHub. I'm not good at relaxing.
Has it worked? Did we make the NHS more open and transparent? Did open source win the day? Did the beta test work? Were lives saved? Or was it a damp squib?
As I write this, we're still in the eye of the storm. Perhaps, when this post is published, we'll know the answers.
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🆕 blog! “Drinking Champagne with the Secretary of State”
This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in February 2019, but published much later. My life is weird. Again. Looking out over London from the top floor. The Eye is glittering and the Palace of Westminster is glowing. Someone pours me a glass of (very expensive1) champagne, as the Secretary …
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/drinking-champagne-with-the-secretary-of-state/
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#dhsc #meta #nhsx #retropost #work -
Drinking Champagne with the Secretary of State
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/drinking-champagne-with-the-secretary-of-state/This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in February 2019, but published much later.
My life is weird. Again.
Looking out over London from the top floor. The Eye is glittering and the Palace of Westminster is glowing.
Someone pours me a glass of (very expensive1) champagne, as the Secretary of State laughs at my witty bon mot.
Is this my life now? People of distinction and influence listening to what I have to say? It isn't an oak-panelled room, with deep armchairs, where cigar-smoking men carve up the world. It's a modest and plain office where men (and women!) have gathered for a bit of mutual backslapping. But I am here. I'm in the room and being thanked.
And why not! We've all worked hard on launching NHSX and are rewarded with a little audience. The chit-chat is awkward - despite the geniality, we're all aware that the boss is here.
Naturally, I believe someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and ask me what the hell I think I'm doing in a room full of proper grown-ups. But, no, people keep asking me questions and telling me their well-practiced anecdotes.
It is simultaneously amazing and banal. I've been at this work-party several times in my career, with dozens of companies, with a parade of CEOs. This feels different. A tiny glimmer of "I've made it a difference!"
I eat my fill of crisps - I am driving later - and slip out. I want to savour the moment, but know too well the perils of outstaying my welcome. I float all the way home.
Proximity to power is a powerful glamour. I understand why some are drawn to it, and some are seemingly addicted.
But I'll be different, I'm sure, as I bask in the experience.
- The fizz has come from someone's home. No taxpayers' cash was splashed on booze. ↩
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/drinking-champagne-with-the-secretary-of-state/
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🆕 blog! “My 4th day at DHSC”
This is a retropost. It was written contemporaneously in 2019 - but posted in 2024. I had just been seconded to the Department of Health and Social Care to help kick-start NHSX. I kept a diary of my time there - including working through COVID. As it has been 5 years, and I no longer […]
👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/4th-day-at-dhsc/
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#dhsc #retropost #work -
My 4th day at DHSC
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/4th-day-at-dhsc/This is a retropost. It was written contemporaneously in 2019 - but posted in 2024. I had just been seconded to the Department of Health and Social Care to help kick-start NHSX. I kept a diary of my time there - including working through COVID. As it has been 5 years, and I no longer work in Government, I thought I would publish interesting extracts from it.
My 4th day in a new job and I'm sat in a meeting with the Secretary of State.
I've been in rooms with CEOs. With celebrities. With politicians. But this is the first time I've faced someone this senior, discussing sensitive issues. It's a moment.
I'm in the room. I disassociate briefly. All of a sudden, I'm interrupting someone and making a surprisingly intelligent point. The SofS agrees with me and, seemingly, is impressed - carrying my point forward and referencing it towards the end of the meeting.
The poor chap next to me is getting eviscerated. He either doesn't know his brief - or is being deliberately evasive. The atmosphere is congenial - but there's an undercurrent of menace. The guy is floundering, and the SofS is... not exactly merciless, but lets the guy know he isn't falling for the patter.
I'm simultaneously glad I'm not in the firing line - and worried that I'll one day find myself out of my depth.
The meeting ends and I'm formally introduced. He seems pleased to have me on board - I'm just glad I didn't make a complete fool of myself. And mildly impressed that he actually knew what he was talking about when it came to the details of technology.
That evening, my Great Aunt Sonia dies - aged 90. She had been gently cared for by the NHS. And the work I'm doing suddenly feels a lot more viscerally real.