davidmasonhawes.com

Hi folks

So I have finally got around to sorting out a proper blog for my weekly(ish) posts about life working in digital. This is site will be the home for my ‘week notes’, where I’ll aim to share some (hopefully useful) insights into my work in the world of digital.

I’ve not always been all that great at carving out time to reflect, so giving myself a decent tool to capture my thoughts will, I hope, encourage me to be better, whilst at the same time offering some thoughts on making digital work in today’s world.

First, a bit of background…

I’ve worked most of my professional life working across the world of data, information and IT – over that time a few buzz words have been used to encompass my world – IT, informatics – but I think we’re all now settled on “digital” (for now at least). For 24 of those years I was in the NHS, working out of various NHS Wales organisations. Over that time I built up a considerable amount of experience and spent my last 8 years or so working in a senior digital leadership role at Velindre University NHS Trust.

As many of you will be aware, the NHS is one very stressed beast and the ‘front-line’ challenges that are so regularly discussed in the news apply equally to the so-called ‘back office’ functions… though ‘back office’ is not a particularly useful description for digital these days, such is its importance to making any organisation function effectively. My time in the NHS drew to a close in early 2025, after those pressures led to burnout in 2024 – I’ll reflect more on this in one of my future blogs – which eventually led me to making the tough decision to leave the NHS.

I now work in education, for the WJEC – Wales’ only exam board. A big change for me personally, but having been in my new role as the WJEC’s Head of IT Services since May of last year, definitely the right one.

So why this blog?

Well, as mentioned above, personal reflection is not one of my strengths… so this blog is, in part, an attempt to find a way of making that a habit – given it is widely recognised as being something that sets successful leaders apart.

Expect to mostly read about my life and reflections on the world of digital enablement and transformation, but I’ll also use it from time to time to reflect on some other, more personal, aspects of my life. So you can expect some ramblings on the following:

• Digital in the workplace
  • My regular ‘week notes’ will mostly be on this topic – my attempt at ‘working in the open’ and sharing the thrills and spills of using digital for good.
• Work/Life Balance
  • My burnout experience is something i’ve been sharing with anyone interested enough to ask. The whole episode, which saw me take 6 weeks off work (which I was gutted about – I was so rarely off sick), gave me some new insights into what’s important and how to get my work/life balance right.
• Adoption
  • My wife and I are in the final stages of adopting our daughter, who we hope will be officially and legally ‘ours’ in early-2026. She’s joining our family alongside our existing birth son, which brings its own set of challenges and wholesome family moments. From time to time I might use this blog to reflect on how our world is shifting, as we build our new life as a family of four.
• Music / DJing
  • In my spare time I’m a DJ – one of my two main passions in life (the other being snowboarding). I’m a resident DJ for a night in Cardiff (Shake The Horse), so may share the odd anecdote from the world of dance music.

For those who might be interested in my musical background, you can check me out on Instagram. I publish mixes and various edits up on the Mixcloud. Come and give me a ‘follow’ and say ‘hi’.

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I’ll leave it there for now – hopefully if you’re here to read this, you’ve got interest in what I’ll have to say – will try to get my first proper post up in the next few days, my reflections from the first few weeks of 2026.

DMH