Heidi Soulsby probably said it best when she described it as “an inauspicious start”. That was very fair, and considerably more accurate than some of the other commentary in the press and around social media.
The fact it worked moreorless flawlessly on day 2 has been overlooked (and obviously now overshadowed by bigger news.)
There is a whole story to tell here, including the events leading to the system at all, what went wrong on day 1, what we did to fix it and how well it went on day 2. Including the fact it was never meant to be actually “live” at all; but that will come as we look back over the events of this week. Lots of lessons to be learnt.
For now, though, this week marks the culmination of more than a year’s work across the whole team and the development of a system which has, to be completely clear, facilitated constitutional change in the way the States of Guernsey manages its parliamentary duties.
A landmark event, no doubt, and hopefully one that will be remember for all the right reasons.
We are incredibly proud of the team we have built here.
By Matt Thornton
Matt’s biggest (and most irritating) asset is his attention to detail. Whether it’s spotting bugs in code or spotting grammatical errors in other people’s work, Matt will find it and tell you about it.
Usually with an obnoxious smirk on his face.
After a long spell at University honing his analytical skills, gaining a PhD in remote sensing and computer science, Matt has spent the last 15 or so years applying them in Guernsey.
Don’t interrupt him if he’s in the zone - usual signs are air drumming, fixated stare on random object and/or swearing prolifically - unexpected behaviour may will result.