Blog Post #17
Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever…
It’s time for another quick blog post before another tiki-tour north for work. It appears these blog posts tend to feature before the nomad continues moving!
What follows are some highlights since the previous blog post where I had recently returned from a 5-week backpacking trip up the East Coast of Aussie.
During the brief lockdown in August I had managed to double my clients following a national flood protection workshop. The first contract I secured was back up in the Bay of Plenty. This would be the 4th time returning to the Bay to provide support to this client. This contract was different to any other and was predominantly based on information systems and data migration. A challenging contract with plenty of learning and growth, and a healthy dose of cross-functional collaboration with other Council departments. Fortunately, to balance the challenging work and data dominated weeks, I had a great and fun team to work with and play pool, ping pong and games of ‘Rummikub’. The team also surprised me with a birthday morning tea, inclusive of baking me a carrot cake and getting me a goody bag with some Council merchandise!
Following 4 weeks up in the Bay it was time to pack up and make my way South to Canterbury for the next contract in Otautahi. I’ve been waiting to secure a contract with Environment Canterbury (ECan) for a couple years now for a combination of reasons. I’ve heard only good things about the Rivers team there, I’ve wanted to experience what living in Christchurch has to offer, and I’m rather fond of a number of rivers in this region (let alone the panoramic views of the Southern Alps!).
Knowing I was going to be based in the city for 4 weeks I invested in a road bike for commuting.
The ECan contract did not disappoint, perhaps being a work highlight for the year. There was a healthy number of young river practitioners coming through the ranks, as well as some seasoned engineers to learn from. Since the May 2021 floods across Canterbury the whole team has been under the pump and have needed to focus on flood recovery. The client engaged me to help with maintaining Business-as-Usual, focusing on asset condition and performance assessments.
With this type of work, one thing I love that stands out, is learning about each river in detail. It’s history, geographical setting and catchment, geomorphology, flood defences. Each river is different and I love how this keeps my work varied and engaging. Over the past 5 years in New Zealand, I have started to develop my own mental library of rivers, to the point where one may come up in conversation and in my mind I can picture it’s location, shape, and various other attributes, right down to my own tracks have walked or biked along it.
Not only was the work enjoyable but the social side of things was top notch too. From joining the ECan touch rugby team, to organising a rock climbing team social with beers & pizza, to joining the team the weekend my contract finished to go rafting down the Hurunui River! An apt ending to a great contract. While it was the end of the contract, it did not mark the end of my time in Christchurch. With the next contract up in Northland pushed back 3 months due to Covid-19 and with plenty of remote work to complete, I decided to extend my rental in Christchurch city by another 2 months.
A large portion of the remote work I needed to do involved collaborating with IPWEA NZ to develop content for a series of online course for flood risk asset management. This involved:
- Producing course briefs to be reviewed and approved;
- Writing scripts for video content and then flying to Wellington for filming;
- Compiling content for each of the courses, including activities, educational media and assessment questions; and
- Updating and finalising courses following a 2-week pilot period.
Of the seven courses that are planned, two are now complete and ready to GO LIVE from 1st February 2022. The IPWEA NZ had planned a great Go Live event at the upcoming national conference in Auckland 1-4th February, but unfortunately this had to be cancelled (again!) due to Covid-19. Alas, this does not take away all the hard work and I look forward to these course going live and being available for and existing and aspiring river practitioners to get stuck in to! More on these courses in the next blog post.
Now onto the next 5 courses…
Before the end of the year came round, I managed to sneak in a quick contract, spending a week in Taranaki. The third time working with this client to help improve flood risk asset management in the rivers team. Part of this quick contract focused on asset inspection and condition assessment training. To supplement the training, I put together an inspection guide for each of the inspection team.
The visual assessment of individual assets using a structured guidance document is a widely used technique for the monitoring of assets, their surroundings, and assessing condition. As only the surface of a structure is visible during visual inspections and any changes to the interior structure and condition are not easily identifiable, the use of photos and descriptions for corresponding condition grades helps to visually provide the link between condition and performance. You can read more about this in a previous blog post: https://assetbowmanagement.com/the-past-cannot-be-changed/
Then came the end of the year. For the past six years, at this time of year, I like to undertake an annual review. It’s quite simple. I set aside around a week to review, analyse and reminisce on the year just gone.
I list the positives, the negatives, and any bad habits formed throughout the year. I then review the annual goals I set at the start of the previous year, see which ones I’ve achieved, progressed, or abandoned. Lastly, I strongly consider what goals I’d like to achieve the following year.
This annual review is based around five categories in my life that form what I call ‘The Hand’. This allows me to rapidly check in at any point to see which areas of my life I am neglecting, which ones I’m spending too much time on, and helps me return to a more balanced state. Going forward I’ve decided to demote the ‘Finance’ category into the ‘Other’ category. In its place I’ll introduce ‘People’.
While only a few goals were achieved, it’s felt like a productive year and I am very content. I feel physically and mentally strong. The fire in me is still fully lit, and I am ready to tackle another year! Whatever 2021 threw at you, it’s time to close that year off and reset for another one. Let’s do this!
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To finish this blog post I wanted to share a mini-win for Asset BowManagement Ltd. Last week marked 2 years since starting the first contract up in the sunny Gisborne. When I first started this contracting gig I told myself if things are still going strong in 2 years I’ll look into getting the company logo embroidered onto some clothing and PPE. Well last week I went into a store in Christchurch, and today I picked up said clothing and PPE. I’m excited and looking forward to wearing this gear, starting next week up in Northland as I start my next contract. Kaitaia here I come..!!
Here’s to the next two years and beyond..!
