Adrián Ortega 🗺️🧭

Haunting you all week 😂

It is the name of my band!

Glad you're finally aware of your first language. It was about time!

Monthnotes: February 2026 February has been intense.

February monthnotes are up.

Transitional month. More adjustment than momentum.
- Service pattern ontology + shared language
- Service manual, from product to function
- Service Design Cymru in person
- Accidental vacuums
- To climb fast, slow down
- Forms. So many forms

Have a read! bit.ly/4lnkYHD

In permanence crisis An argument for state capacity and civil service reform

The Civil Service has a new Cabinet Secretary at a time where the bureaucracy faces a stark choice between reform and Reform. It needs a new story for state capacity, a Northcote-Trevelyan review for the C21st, and new institutions to break inertia.

andrewgreenway.substack.com/p/in-permane...

A lot of our work and thinking builds on @benholliday.com's work and thinking - thank you, Ben!

Great to see our work referenced in the wild!

The service pattern library: digitalpublicservices.gov.wales/service-patt...

We should be publishing Request, Register and Tell next month!

The FM told @willhaycardiff.bsky.social she's frustrated with the pace of digital transformation. We are too.

The problem is systemic - we have an environment where it is easier to talk about change than to actually do it.

Read our response, and how to fix it.

Bit worried by this quote from @prifweinidog.gov.wales on the For Wales See Wales podcast “… it may be that having the state to do the technology bit is not the most sensible option.”

Really excited to share a thing I've been working on: a new book from @publicdigital.bsky.social on shaping technology for transformation.

Tech is a fundamental part of every organisation - but they're often hamstrung by layers of digital geology, alongside huge pressure to chase the latest hype.

Accessibility For Everyone by Laura Kalbag Read the book online for free.

My book, Accessibility For Everyone, is now free and online as a website.

accessibilityforeveryone.site

The book was first published by A Book Apart in 2017 but it holds up! It covers web accessibility for designers, developers, content folks, and really everyone who works in tech.

End of year review 2025 Apparently this end-of-year review format was created by Molly Steenson in 2005. I came across it via content designer Luis Montanha´s End…

I published an end-of-year review for 2025.

Then I forgot to share it.

It’s personal, a bit rambling, and mostly about turning 40, Japan, work, rest, and reclaiming my attention.

Here it is if you fancy a read: bit.ly/49G2JbY

Sounds like you had a great 2025!

I'm afraid you're still in 2025, sori!

One of the things I learned this year: much of transformation and change work is actually about managing anxiety. Yours and other people’s.

It needs emotional intelligence. But without emotional regulation there is no emotional intelligence.

That’s where I struggled in the past.

Bowl full of green grapes

Barod, Heledd!

You're officially in 2026 then - happy new year!

Can we start adopting this worldwide please?

That's no way to start the new year. Live dangerously - eat your grapes whole!

Thanks for reading them and always being so supportive, Corinna! Glad you enjoy them 🙂 (Happy new year btw - you're almost there!)

Maybe next year - tonight may be the tipping point. Have you got your grapes ready?

Apparently the latest thing is the 'pre-grapes'. People are starting the new year celebrations on the 30th - with more grape eating! #grapeception

My campaigning is working!

I wouldn't trust you with a chair and a keyboard though

Can't wait to give you boxes to hold now

Monthnotes: December 2025 December was short work‑wise, but intense. I wrapped up around mid‑month and headed to Spain to spend the holidays with family.

December monthnotes! A short but intense month to close the year:

- service manual + Future Generations Act
- service pattern library going live
- fundamental user needs and invisible work
- boundaries, attention, and small culture shifts

Take a look! medium.com/@adrian-orte...

You'll probably feature in next one too as I forgot to mention your advice (and the blog post) on letting people stuck beans up their noses

Monthnote: November 2025 November felt long and short at the same time — a month where a lot moved, some visibly and some quietly in the background.

November felt long and short.
Monthnotes on appraisals, role shifts, events, Service Manual progress, and a definition of digital.
→ bit.ly/MonthnotesNo...

Small acts of maintenance Maintenance is work, but it’s also care.

Sunday thoughts on small acts of maintenance.

medium.com/@niacampbell...