rowan.depomerai

It’s week number 3 of my latest project at work, and time for an update. The first year or so of my job was spent on 2 projects in BBC Research & Innovation, but for my 3rd six-month block I’ve moved to our internal team of technology consultants, cunningly called the Technology Consultancy Team. I’ve been tasked with examining the delivery of multichannel audio (surround sound) for BBC HD, our high definition TV channel. The signal goes through a complex chain between the studio or outside broadcast truck and your front room, and that chain has not been without problems.

I’ve been asked to share my experiences and knowledge, so I’m starting a new category of posts just about my current work. The first post gives an overview of what I’m up to without too much techie detail.

For me the change of project means a change of location too, and it’s a whole new world. Moving from research in a stately home to the heart of the BBC in White City has been quite a change, as has moving from a small team with offices next to each other to working with a great deal of autonomy while communicating with a range of people from different organisations in different locations. Moving from my project-bought Mac at Kingswood, to which I could do almost anything I wanted as long as it was legal, to a locked-down, fully managed laptop on the main BBC network has been interesting. On the one hand, the inability to just download and install any free piece of software I want is frustrating, but on the other hand the fact that I can plug in to any hot desk, fire up Outlook and get at my email, the global BBC address book, calendars for myself and my colleagues and more is a revelation.

You’ll be pleased to know that the tea making facilities in the Broadcast Centre (where I now base myself) are great – regularly stocked hubs with tea bags, coffee and milk mean I can actually make a decent cuppa rather than having to rely on machine crap. The selection of food at the White City complex is immense which is certainly a plus, but the price increase over Kingswood’s old-skool canteen is – pardon the pun – hard to swallow. However it’s the proximity to colleagues that’s a huge benefit. Over the last week or so I’ve been to meet people in Red Bee, BBC Resources, BBC Future Media & Technology (my division) and various bits of Siemens, all without more than a 5 minute walk. BBC Research & Innovation’s facility at Kingswood is amazing, but the feeling of detachment from the rest of the organisation is frustrating and I’m enjoying being free of it. Finally, I’ve also found myself dressing smarter. No-one has told me I have to, but t-shirts and shabby jeans have morphed into shirts and nice sweaters (like today) or what my colleague Sam termed my “Jeremy Clarkson look” of jeans, a shirt and a jacket/blazer. When you’re meeting lots of reasonably important people it makes sense but, despite it being a bit alien to me, I’m enjoying experimenting on the theme of smart-casual.

So that’s it, my new job. Well… same job, new project. However it certainly all feels very new. I’ll keep you posted with how it goes, but for now I’m having a great time…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Personal Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.