Saying no to Salford

Published on 14 May 2009 in Work, BBC, BBC Future Media and Technology, BBC Out of London, Manchester, Salford, work

It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride ever since the announcement that the team I work in – the TV Platforms department – would be moving to Salford in 2011.

As I mentioned when the news was announced, I didn’t feel the move was right for me – especially not waiting until 2011.

What got missed out of the blog was that some of my team will be moving to Manchester’s New Broadcasting House in the autumn of this year.

As a concept this appealed to me much more – getting it over and done with, even if it meant a lot of potential stress and hassle, at least it would be done quickly.

Catherine and myself did contemplate making that move, but in the end, the sums didn’t stack up. We picked our key criteria for the move, and at least one great big one wasn’t going to happen.

So a few months ago, we made up our mind.

It’s only been today that I could actually officially make that decision known to the BBC. I’d already mentioned it to my boss and any colleagues that asked me could get the information too.

But today’s the day that HR sent me the link on the intranet where I could make it official.

The deadline wasn’t until the end of June; there didn’t seem much point in waiting.

I’m trying to work out how it feels. There’s an element of relief in there. That the decision is formal. (Actually under the process, I could change my mind by the end of the year!)

There’s also still that message of uncertainty about what happens next.

I have no major desire to change what I do – I like it. For me redeployment is just about finding the right role to keep on doing what I do best. The technologies will inevitably change however my skillset is generic enough to cope with that without any major problems. The technology differences will provide the challenges and the chance to grow.

I’d like to get a bit closer to the content rather than hardcore technical product management, and hopefully even get myself back into social media again.

The world of red button’s given me a lot of skills, knowledge and experience. But nothing ever lasts forever. From now on, it’s not a case of if I’ll move on to another job. And completely about when.