Aug 2022
A day in the life of James Noakes
Our Senior Technology Consultant James works from our London office, supporting clients in the AEC sector with the IT service management. This means making sure they have the systems they need to be successful, efficient and protected, and that these systems continually work to do that.
Service Management Lead - ITSM
What does a typical day look like? We found out…
6:15am
The alarm goes off and I resist the urge to snooze instead getting up, dressed and out of the door straight away.
I hop on the Central Line to St Paul's which takes around an hour from home.
7:30am
I like to start the day with a workout so head to PureGym at St Paul’s. It’s a perfect location being just five minutes away from the Waterstons office on West Smithfield, as well as the Cundall offices where I spend a lot of my time.
8:30am
After the gym it’s a short walk to the Cundall office in St Paul's. I love this walk and how it changes each season – in my opinion London is beautiful in any weather!
I open the laptop and catch up on project progress and emails while I eat my breakfast (oat and coconut crunch with yogurt and honey) before making a coffee ready for my first meeting of the day.
9:15am
Today I’m hosting the Cundall Operations Review which covers major infrastructure incidents, business-as-usual and onsite project activities between Waterstons and Cundall. We also review proactive checks, patches and updates, helping us to ensure that we are continually complying with Cyber Essentials Plus, and business continuity/disaster planning policies.
12 noon
Lunchtime! I head to Leather Lane Market to pick up some food – there’s an incredible range of street food, pubs, cafés and restaurants so I always like to try something new and different.
It’s a beautiful day so I eat outside before having a one-to-one with a member of the team outdoors in the fresh air.
I believe that work doesn’t have to always be done at a desk or in a boardroom, so love Waterstons’ ‘work from anywhere’ philosophy, especially when it comes to meetings with the team.
1pm
It’s back into the office for a cyber strategy workshop involving post its, white boards and ideas being scribbled everywhere.
Working across departments is hugely vital to the success of everything we do as it means we can plug gaps and build efficiencies for our clients outside of just one individual or team’s expertise.
In this instance, Kieran Fowler our Head of Cyber Consulting was helping me develop a strategy to fit with Cundall’s needs and budget – and we did just that!
4pm
It’s been an intense day so I spend the last half an hour catching up on any wider Waterstons news, plus any movers/recruitment/succession planning needed for my team and service delivery.
6:30pm
Back home and straight back out to a local campsite. I’m an Explorer Scout Leader and tonight we’re taking a group of 14-18 year olds to learn how to cook bread on an open fire – they did very well if I do say so myself!
8:30pm
Smelling slightly smoky but very proud of my youngsters, I’m back home to have my own dinner (not cooked on an open fire) and check in on emails.
I like to take stock of the day and create the following day’s to do list each evening as it helps me focus from first thing and stops me getting caught up in other things, or distracted.
9:30pm
Time to log off and watch some TV before heading to bed.
As I’m mainly based on a client site, I get to be part of two different and amazing businesses, using the knowledge of each to support and grow the other.