Time to say "thank you"

When writing this blog, I'm always tempted to write about a current project, or a new IT technology, or some aspect of the service we provide. This belies the fact that a lot of our job is about people, whether they are the people who use our systems, the people we work with in other parts of the University, or the people in our own teams. One of the most important aspects of my job is to support my staff as they do the actual development work. As development staff, we tend to immerse ourselves in the current interesting (or frustrating) problem, then the next project. We focus on how we can improve systems, or processes, or ways of working.

That is why this week I organised a small social evening to say a personal "Thank you" to everyone in Development Services for the work they have put in over the past year. This was a time for looking back rather than forward, for considering the whole rather than the part, and for taking stock. More prosaically, it also brought together all three teams - Software Development; Configuration; and Development Technology. Although team members work together on particular projects, we don't do very much as a whole section; I'm minded to do some more events that bring us all together.

The start of semester may seem an odd time to celebrate the past year, but for Development Services this is actually a reasonably quiet part of the year. Our most frantic period is before August, when we have to finish all new systems for the next academic year; then of course we have people's summer holidays, so early October was actually the first suitable time to bring everyone together.

People seemed to enjoy the event. Our parents taught us to say "please" and "thank you"; these phrases are appreciated in the workplace as much as in the home.

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