#Life@weboughtsomestuff.com

I’m a month into the new role heading up digital engineering at weboughtsomestuff.com and I thought I’d take a moment or two to reflect on things.

Firstly I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team at wewatchedsomestuff.com, with whom I spent the previous few years. I think we all learned masses during the creation of wewatchedsomestuff.com's digital platforms delivery capability in Leeds. The operation there is now running at +600 souls, delivering huge amounts of digital change and transformation across wewatchedsomestuff.com's European business using highly effective Agile methods. It was a privilege to be a part of that amazing journey.

But that, of course, begs the question, why move away from such an inspiring company?

First off – there were some practical reasons. Staying away from my home in Bath every week did take its toll, and after a number of years of me being substantially “on the road”, as a family we all felt it time to do simple things like walk the dog of an evening, go to the pub or a restaurant, and generally remember what “normal” family life is all about.

Then we come to the challenge. Once the conversations with weboughtsomestuff.com started it became apparent very rapidly that here is another organisation, another household name, absolutely committed to evolving and transforming itself from one amongst many price comparison businesses in the UK to become the leader in championing consumers in their relationships with core services and insurance suppliers. At the heart of that transformation lies a step-change in how the business wants to develop its digital channels and technology. The opportunity offered combined the best of so many worlds. It was simply impossible to ignore.

So I guess the question is – how do I feel after 4 weeks of shutting up, of listening and of learning. How am I forming those initial impressions of where we are and where we might want to be?

Put simply, I feel both challenged and thrilled being here at the beginning of another transformative phase in a major British company’s digital journey. I can sum up some of the basics like this:

·      We have brilliant people. Every one of the team whom I’ve met and spent time with is absolutely committed to becoming an industry champion and the leading technology organisation in Wales and South West England.

·      The business as a whole is adopting Agile thinking and organisation, which is driving change and development in so many exciting new directions – both technically and commercially - and the Digital Engineering and IT teams are embedded at the very heart of that process.

·      You can feel the One Team, One Vision mission in the atmosphere here in South Wales

·      The engineering teams themselves are already embracing concepts such as Simplicity, Intelligence & Beauty, which we are putting at the heart of our digital evolution.

·      The commitment, even this early, to our renewed thinking about collaboration, about supporting career pathways, about simple things like making time for Hacks and innovation, to embracing and embedding concepts such automation, TDD, CI & CD – well, it’s just inspiring to see.

There’s a million and one things going on here. Pace and enthusiasm and vitality really are kicking in and, once again, I get that same feeling of privilege to be part of something truly and fundamentally transformative. To have two such opportunities in short succession with substantial UK and European corporates is, quite frankly, astonishing.

I think we’re all looking forward to the rest of 2017 and beyond. We have an emerging roadmap. We have the will. This is #Life@weboughtsomestuff.com.