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  • Introducing WordPress’ Gutenberg editor to The Big Tech Question

    Introducing WordPress’ Gutenberg editor to The Big Tech Question

    I’ve been writing for The Big Tech Question (BTQ) website for some time now. It’s my first foray into serious journalism but it really lets me sharpen my teeth on higher quality writing – one that I can then use back at my job with Automattic too.

    But the link between the two doesn’t end there. When I joined them they were using WordPress but hosted somewhere, well, not very good. I convinced them to move to WordPress.com and, now, I’ve moved them onto the Gutenberg (GB) editor. In this post I want to give a little more detail on why, how and what then happened!

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  • A Wicked trip to London

    A Wicked trip to London

    It was my wife’s 40th birthday back in June (which I’m sure she won’t appreciate me announcing here) and, as her present, she wanted to see a West End show. We booked tickets to see Wicked in August, which we now just back from.

    When booking, I decided that a made rush down to London, a show and then rush back wouldn’t be the nice, relaxed day out my wife was hoping for, so I made an early decision that we should stay in London for one night.

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  • VIP GM in Montréal, Canada

    VIP GM in Montréal, Canada

    Automattic has split. Kind of. The VIP team are now working as a separate, autonomous entity, albeit still part of Automattic, and as a result we have the inaugural VIP Grand Meetup. It’s back to Canada again, although the East coast this time.

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  • Following the work of others

    Following the work of others

    Let’s talk about improving your own support abilities by tracking the work of others.

    You’ll come across people, in whatever line of support that you work in, with a style that you like – they may be colleagues or they may simple be people you see in forums. Whether it’s their social patter with the customer or whether it’s how they deal with more difficult subjects, rather than think “yeah, that’s good” and move on, why not consider a bit of non-creepy stalking? I’ll give you my own, personal examples.

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  • Packing for business trips: the art of stress-free travel

    Packing for business trips: the art of stress-free travel

    In a couple of days I head for Montreal for the annual company meetup, the 11th trip I’ve taken with work in the last 18 months. Now, I’m not a seasoned, back-packing traveller but having to regularly head out, for anything from a few days to a week, I’m already getting pretty used to the whole experience. 

    And, having exchanged tips with colleagues, and also seen some panic on those not so used to this life yet, I thought I’d share some of my own advice.

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