Well it's now Friday and I’ve survived my first week, and I think I know what I'm doing now so thought I'd give you all a summary…

I’m working in the Queensland Department for Tourism, Events & Small Business (DTESB). They are playing a Stewardship role for the Commonwealth Games which will take place on the Gold Coast in April 2018.

I’m in the Games Benefits Directorate who are ensuring there are projects and programs (yes program not programme!) in place to delivery sustainable benefits to local communities, the state and Australia as a whole.
Check out
https://gc2018.com/video/gc2018-commonwealth-games-mascot-borobi
http://aheadofthegames.embracing2018.com/
I got so excited watching these, is so surreal to think I'm part of it!

And the Games is much more than just building stadiums to run the events in during 11 days in April 18, it’s a huge 10 year investment programme which will deliver long lasting benefits. There are 4 overarching aspirations for the games – To deliver an Inspiring Games, To provide jobs & economic growth, To develop the Gold Coast into a boutique city & To encourage participation & engagement in local communities. The aspirations are broken down into objectives & specific measurable benefits with in place projects to deliver each.
For more info see http://www.embracing2018.com/page/About/

I’m working on the Games Benefits Legacy Evaluation & Monitoring team – the team who monitor the projects making sure they are on track to deliver their objectives, the benefits and ultimately the 4 aspirations (if you go to the library section of the embracing 2018 website, my team wrote a lot of the documentation there).

I’m also helping the finance team keep track of how much is being spent & by who as not every project is government funded so keeping track of it all is quite hard.

My job title is Legacy Program Manager & so far the role seems to be combining & building on many of my 13 years at DWP & the last 6 months with Civil Service HR : I’m covering Stewardship & prioritisation of budgets & development of the functional plan (like at CSHR), benefits realisation & project governance (like my first role at DWP), briefing Ministers on the importance of spending money but not too much money (like in Strategy) & reporting project status & performance (like the FSF performance toolkit) – and Glasgow City Deal has even come up when I was doing some briefings for the Minister who is touring Glasgow next month to understand the legacy from hosting the games in 2014! (Will I ever be free from the Glasgow City Deal?)

I’ve joined Queensland in the run up to year end and Q1 planning (again!) so everyone is busy trying to work out what their plans are to inform their allocation / what their allocation will be to inform their plans etc . The state Budget was announced last week ( http://budget.qld.gov.au/budget-highlights/ - worth looking at how they present the budget in a really user friendly way inc intentionally making it iphone/ipad friendly, and to see how small some of the numbers are in relation to the LHC nevermind DWP or the UK!). And within the budget was $100m (c£50 pounds, or now £55m given the pound has fallen 10% overnight) for their Back To Work package comprising of wage incentives, FSF Barrier & LVP type spend and employer advisors, as well as additional investment for the Commonwealth Games Legacy programs (though everyone is worried the money has already been spent twice).

The people all seem really friendly, enthusiastic and really excited. The team is expected to double over the next few months as we get nearer games time so I don’t expect to be the new girl for long.

Joining on Monday my IT, building pass & enrolment into mandatory elearning was all was set up when I arrived, desktop podcasts & iphones are common & they use an e-docs system to manage their electronic filing which seems a better way of organising things. I’ve met with Martijn in HR who helped set up the secondment from the Queensland end and should be meeting my mentor next week.

Most people work 8.30ish til 4.30ish - the office is pretty quiet by 5 and empty by 6 (so I'm told, I've been leaving at 5 each eve). Most people go out for lunch too, there are so many choices for food* and little parks to go sit in to eat it. The office is right in the middle of the CBD so surrounded by shops (dangerous) & I'm loving my walk to work along the river and through the gardens

Although the week has been largely reading & meeting people (& today watching the EU votes come in & the exchange rate go down - a worry when I'm still paid in sterling!) I've loved every minute of it & still can't believe I'm here!!!

*Mark - the Nandos count is up to 3!