Good job that USDS and 18F were dissolved! 🙄

This is an official website of the United States Government. It has a tool called "visa navigator", which is just a clunkily embedded Google form. 🤦‍♂️😩

uk.usembassy.gov/london-visa-...

Relatable. 9 times out of 10 I find that I'm less interested in the strategy itself, and more so in how adherence to it will be monitored and upheld. Orgs rarely talk about that. 🤔

Removing bloatware with a tool like Bulk Crap Uninstaller will help. Uninstall anything not required. Disable anything that MS prompts you/him to enable (Copilot/AI crap). Search settings for "optimise Windows for best performance".

If just for regular browsing/internet use etc, a refurb'd Dell or HP from; microdream.co.uk

For speed: SSD, at least 16GB RAM. Windows comes with a lot of crap these days though...

I was on hiring teams in 2012/13 where we would routinely go from applications closing to making offers within 3 weeks, sometimes 2! Because our team prioritised an efficient process.

These days, as an employee, anything faster than 3 months is basically unheard of.

Had to renew mine before going to Italy in May. Was shocked at the price increase too. Turnaround time for me was 2 weeks on the nose, arriving the evening before my flight. 😬 I left it a bit late!

And of course, all now wrapped up in a nice AI bow.

You have my sympathies, but there's also a small part of me that also wants to join that training. 🤔

I've worked - briefly - on "UX" teams that never once spoke to, listened to or observed a single end user. Where stakeholders were asked to "think like users". Depressing.

This sounds very interesting! My Python skills are basic to middling; always something I've wanted to finesse further.

Would be interested in reading more about this work if you ever feel like writing some stuff down.

I just saw that. 🤦‍♂️

I don't understand how crap like this gets published. Even passing it through ChatGPT would improve this by 90% and take two minutes.

"Every supplier should agree who its first person is to set up the organisation, and do the initial set up, and add and approve other users."

😵‍💫

They still exist in some places! Mainly to annoy me, I think. 🤔

Stop thinking of "websites" and "web pages". Think about systems, things, models, relationships, semantics, structure, content-as-data, machine-readability...

Strong "say what you see" vibes in that brainstorming meeting. Roy Walker would be proud.

Which is why the "stop saving cash and invest instead" option is too simplistic. Too many people in the UK right now aren't able to look 10+ years ahead. They face financial pressures and need money now.

Want more people to invest? Give them financial breathing space and a future to believe in.

There are funds with reduced exposure or weighting to AI/tech companies. Diversification is key. As is an appreciation that investing is a long game. Your timeframe should allow you to ride out and recover from any crash. It's not the wise option if you need that money in the next few years.