#Weeknotes 46 (3 Dec) — Handovers

Today was my last day of work and it marks the beginning of my next chapter in life: mummy hood.

38 weeks into my pregnancy now, the baby can come at any moment. 🐣Though I do hope he comes out sooner rather than later! I imagine he wouldn’t want to share his birthday celebration with Father Christmas who tends to be more popular. 🎅

This week has been all about handing over the project I’ve been working on with NHS England and Improvement to the person who’ll be taking over my role. I don’t envy him as there are many layers of complexity to this project that a week-long handover can hardly feel enough.

What did help was the following

• Continuous support—Having daily check-ins to get a feel on how the new member is doing and feeling about the project and their understanding of deliverables that align with the project goals and outcome
• Organised project space—Having all the project-related files, documents accessible in one place so things are easier to find. For us that was Notion. (I loveeee Notion, as you can tell from an early post)
• Defer ownership to build confidence—Letting the new member take more ownership of project tasks and client communications

It can be hard to leave a project mid-way as it can feel like raising a child only to give them to someone else before they reach adulthood. I’m sad I won’t get to see how the project I helped to shape will turn out but knowing it’ll be in good hands does help ease the anxieties.

I haven’t thought too much about what I’ll do on my mat leave before the baby comes (other than a long list of errands and tasks that await). I’m both excited and nervous about what’s to come. Will my world suddenly shrink and be just focused on this tiny human? Will I be a good mum? Will I be able to handle all the demands and responsibilities that come with being a parent? Will I get postpartum depression once the baby is out? I suppose we’ll know soon enough!

Here’s me signing off my #weeknotes for this season. Perhaps I’ll start writing about my pregnancy/mummy experience next 🍼 👶.

Stay tuned… 😊