Alison

Alison

7:00am

I am by no means a morning person so waking up at 7am is the perfect sweet spot for me. My day doesn’t start until I get in my morning stretches and then I’ll listen to the ABC News as I prepare my breakfast and lunch. Around 8.10am I’ll quickly tidy up, change into my work clothes, and head out the door. My morning commute is about 5 minutes as I live in the city.

Department of Infrastructure

8:30am

I am currently completing a placement in the Regional Initiatives Implementation Office (RIIO) which sits in the corporate/enabling section of the Regional Division. Working in a project management office means we are the central coordination point for program governance, implementation, monitoring and reporting for the division.

My team is pretty flexible, and people usually start work anywhere between 8am—9am. I like to start my workday at 8.30am and the first thing I do when I arrive at my desk is check my emails and flag anything that I need to action. I then add these tasks to my task list (which is rearranged regularly according to the priorities of the team) and sort the rest of the emails into their respective folders in Outlook.

Today, I’m continuing a task I was working on yesterday which is researching emerging risks, as defined in the Department’s Risk Management and Policy Framework, in order to assess what risks could impact program delivery in the Regional Division. My findings will assist with the workshop sessions my supervisor is hosting to help program teams identify emerging risks for their Program Status Reports (PSRs).

Department of Infrastructure

9:30am

Time for our daily team meeting! Our meetings are always scheduled for 9.30am on GovTeams as people in my team are still slowly migrating back into the office. Our meetings are a great way for us to share funny stories, catch up with each other and start the morning with some positivity. It also helps us understand what our priorities are for the day and for our director to keep us in the loop on SES and executive updates. I feel incredibly supported by my team every day.

Department of Infrastructure

10:00am

With the team meeting over, my supervisor and I have two back-to-back workshops with the RJIP and BBRF program teams to discuss how emerging risks and how to incorporate risk forecasting into the PSR key milestone reporting section. We also share feedback from the Regional Initiatives Governance Board on areas of the PSRs they would like more detail in.
RIIO does a lot of stakeholder consultation and management as part of being an “office of best practice” and as someone who hasn’t worked in a project management office before, this rotation certainly provides me with useful skills in project management which will translate well across other work areas.

12:00pm

I enjoy having virtual lunch catchups with Emily and Ani to see how they are doing (I’d never tell them this in person but I’m so grateful to have met them both through the Infrastructure graduate program).

Department of Infrastructure

12:30pm

My supervisor messages me on Skype to check-in and her support is always much appreciated. I quickly discuss with her the “Lessons Learned” meetings I have scheduled in for the afternoon and iron out a few details on how I will run these meetings.
The Lessons Learned Register supports the Division in capturing better practices, avoid knowledge silos by enabling the transfer of knowledge in program and project management and also assists our team in developing standards. As part of this process, I am engaging across the division to understand best practices, what could have been done better and challenges people are facing from a program management perspective. Some topics I ended up covering during these sessions included records management, audit trails, reporting, information management and stakeholder management.

Department of Infrastructure

2:00pm

With all my meetings done for the day, I switch to the next task on my to-do list which is updating the process maps. My goal is to ensure the process maps capture the procurement process more accurately across the “planning and establishment”, “assessment and funding decisions” and “funding agreement” phases of program delivery. While working on these, my supervisor helped me understand that there is a fine line between a “process” and a “procedure” and it was important I didn’t end up replicating the procurement procedure as not all program teams needed to follow the procedural guidelines word by word.

Department of Infrastructure

3:00pm

The final task I have scheduled for the day is reviewing past ANAO audits to ensure the division is learning from the audit recommendations and making informed decisions about adopting them. I check in with my director to seek her advice on what the final deliverable will be. We agree on an interim report outlining what the division has done to address the recommendations and a final action plan for consideration by the Regional Initiatives Board outlining how we intend to address any gaps. The next Governance Board meeting is in less than a month and so I move this task up in my list of priorities.

4:30pm

It’s time to fill in my timesheet and call it a day! I’ll usually go for a jog or a long walk. Today, I’m meeting two of my friends for dinner to celebrate a promotion! After dinner, I unwind by making myself a big pot of tea and watching an episode of Extreme Cheapskates.

Oliver

Oliver

7:30

The alarm goes off. It’s cold. It’s Canberra cold. It’s greyhounds wearing jackets and booties cold. Thankfully, the grad program is full of domestic expats, so there’s no shortage of friends with which to complain. Just don’t complain to Tasmanians. It’s not that cold.

Despite valiant efforts, I’m not a morning person. Coffee, banana, beanie, tooth brush, bus. The quicker this occurs, the better.

8:30

I get to the office at about 8:30, coffee in hand, from my local, or my aeropress – willpower dependent. Find a quiet spot to meditate – existential resilience dependent.

8:45

The office is quite a lovely space and most mornings start with a round of hellos. People really love grads. We may not be experts in the field, but by golly we’re enthusiastic.

9:00

First order of business is taking stock. Emails. Every morning there is a round-up email of all the latest Department-related news stories from across the media platforms. I usually scan for stories related to my branch: the Online Safety Branch. Later in the morning a colleague wraps up the news specifically in the online safety space. There are a couple of stories about world leaders discussing the protection of children online at the recent Paris Summit. My section, the reform and research team, keeps up with initiatives from around the world, so I take note.

I also respond to some emails regarding the Department Social Club, which the grads take responsibility for running. As a sports coordinator, there’s a bit of correspondence about the lunchtime social Public Service Football Association. The mighty Infrastructure Aviators are yet to win a game (but we did come out with a very impressive draw). We didn’t play today, but I take every opportunity to shoe-horn an action shot of the Aviators (see below) where I can.

9:30

Time to meet up as a team. Because of the COVID situation, many of my colleagues are working from home, so we meet via skype. We’re currently working on the consultation of a new legislative instrument, designed to support the reporting and proactivity of platforms and services in their response to online harms. My supervisor outlines tasks for the day and we delegate tasks.

9:45

I check the inbox to see some new submissions to the consultation process. Anyone can make comment and it’s our job to take into consideration the views of industry, social organisations and the public in our advice to the Minister. I’m working to compile the recurring themes and summarise industry recommendations.

10:30

“Who wants coffee?” Well, the caffeine is already bouncing me across the walls but this sounds like a professional development opportunity, right? “Yes, please!” We go to Makeshift café at the ground floor of our building. I catch up with a few of my colleagues. The branch has a lovely culture and the collegiate environment makes the office a really nice place to be in.

10:45

But back to business. I continue to monitor the inbox for new consultation submissions, but my attention turns to an upcoming meeting this afternoon. Our Branch Head is hosting discussions with a major tech platform based out of California. My team prepares the meeting brief. We need to compile some background on the organisation and its representatives. We try and identify the issues they might wish to discuss. We look through the records of previous meetings and consider the current political and legislative context. Together, we put together some talking points and information to support and inform our branch head at the meeting.

12:30

Lunch! In what can only be described as an immense display of willpower, I walk straight past Fekerte’s (excellent) Ethiopian kitchen. Peanut butter sandwich in hand, I’m walking to the grass by Lake Burley Griffin. Often I’ll have lunch with some of the other grads. We’re a very close, collegiate group and it’s always nice to hear stories about other corners of the Department. It’s such a diverse department with so much going on. Arts policy, aviation, regional development, there’s always something to be surprised by.

13:00

Back to the desk. There are a few emails in the inbox. I’ve been assigned a piece of Ministerial Correspondence. When somebody sends a letter, or email to a Minister regarding online safety, it comes through to us for our subject-matter input. I chat with my supervisor about a response. I look through previous correspondence regarding similar questions. I draft a response. This then goes to be cleared by my supervisors and returned to the Minister’s Office. Ms Citizen will then have an answer to their question. What a win for democracy.

14:00

It’s time for our meeting with the major tech platform. Because online safety is such an international space, many of our meetings occur online, often across time zones. It’s my job to take some notes. The meeting goes well! The platform representatives share their concerns about how the new legislative instrument could be interpreted. They identify challenges in implementation and seek clarity on the finer details – on what these new changes really mean for them. My Branch Head offers her response. While all these people are highly skilled and in important positions, they are all very friendly and committed to having a productive, good-faith conversation.

15:00

Time to debrief. I chat with the team about the salient points of the meeting, before translating my rambling, frantic notes into English. I share and file these notes, so we can record and consider the points raised

16:30

Well how about that. The day has flown and it’s almost time to go. One last email check, a calendar check and some preparation for the following day. A normal day is a good mix of steady, predictable work and ad-hoc tasks that come through the inbox. Where possible we make sure we’re on top of what can be predicted.

17:00

Woohoo! Home time! Well, gym time. I lift the heavy things and start to switch off from the day.

18:00

Time to make some dinner, make tomorrow’s peanut butter sandwich and zonk out for a bit. But not too long! A couple of the grads are off to play social beach volleyball which is conveniently located next to the Old Canberra Inn.

22:00

Never a dull-moment. Except for sometimes. Time for bed.

Baxter

Baxter Norman

7:30am

My alarm wakes up and I begin to get ready for work. I get changed, make some breakfast and pack my bag. Fortunately, nothing is too far away in Canberra and traffic is rarely heavy. I can choose to either drive to the office, which takes about ten minutes, or take a bus which usually takes around fifteen minutes. I then walk from the bus stop over to the office which is another five minutes.

8:45am

I arrive into the office, unpack my belongings and greet the rest of my team. I check any emails I received late yesterday. I then head down to the café and pick up a coffee to keep me going for the rest of the morning.

9:00am

When I am back in the office, I catch up with my supervisor about any ongoing tasks that need to be completed today. I usually check through the recent news regarding any water projects that fall within my work area. I get these updates on Streem, the department’s media monitoring service. This is important because any recent developments in the status of water projects can impact our team’s work. While I try to plan my work priorities at the start of the day, I am aware that these can change significantly depending on the demands of the team.

Department of Infrastructure

9:15am

I get started on my most important task today which is to help to draft a new policy proposal for the Water Grid Fund. The National Water Grid Authority provides advice to the Australian Government on water infrastructure projects and policy. These projects are designed to improve the resilience of Australia’s water storage and support the growth of regional economies. In my Branch, I work with the team to identify water infrastructure initiatives that can be progressed to construction phase. I spend the morning working with the team to assess a new water investment project which is being considered for funding. This requires research on the project’s financial cost, environmental and cultural impacts, and the potential benefits of the project for improving water supply. Understanding and balancing these factors is critical to determining which infrastructure option will have the highest net benefit for regional communities.

12:00pm

I have my weekly catch up with the Infrastructure Framework and Delivery team about the key priorities for the Branch this week. This is a great opportunity to learn about any updates on the projects that the broader team is working on.

12:30pm

Now that the team meeting has finished I go downstairs to pick up some lunch from nearby. I head back up to the office and eat with some of the other grads. I love eating lunch by the kitchen in the Nishi building because it has a fantastic view of Lake Burley Griffin. This is also a nice time to catch up with the cohort.

1:00pm

After lunch, I head back to my desk and get back to work on the proposal. Once it is completed, I send it over to my supervisor to quality check my work. It is great to have the support of an experienced supervisor when undertaking tasks as a graduate because they can help you to address any issues in your work before it reaches a higher level.

3:15pm

I join a meeting with the National Water Grid Authority and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment where I am taking minutes for the team. The meeting is to discuss the sensitives surrounding the new water infrastructure proposal that we are working on. One aspect about working in the public service that I really enjoy is the opportunity to work collaboratively with other Departments as well as State and Territory counterparts.

3:45pm

Once the meeting is done, I finish writing up the minutes and share them with my supervisor for clearance. Our team has just received some questions on notice from the most recent Senate Estimates. Questions on notice are used by members on Senate committees to request further information about particular issues related to our portfolio. I work with my supervisor to draft some responses for clearance from my Director.

4:30pm

As I reach the end of my working day, I make some time to work on tasks related my responsibilities within the Department’s Social Club. The graduates of the Department are responsible for the management of the Social Club. We help to run happy hours, trivia nights, fundraisers and the Christmas Party. I am a part of the Christmas Party team that liaises with venues, food vendors and AV equipment suppliers to prepare for the highly-anticipated event at the end of the year.

5:00pm

At the end of the day, I pack up my desk, say goodbye to the team and head home. Once I am home, I get ready for social sports which I play in a league with friends from the Graduate cohort. Social sport is a great way to unwind after a busy day at work.