Giles Turnbull's website

gilest.org

I’m a writer and editor, trying to spend more time writing. There’s lots of my writing archived here. Find out more about me. Grab the RSS feed for updates.

BOOKS

How to grow potatoes

The agile comms handbook

Luvly

OTHER THINGS

Doing open

Doing weeknotes

What it’s like working with an editor

Blog post formats

Doing presentations

CREATIVE PROJECTS

🆕 How to write a letter

Unreel

2026

30 August: Shadow people
06 August: This is a reminder
26 July: How to write a letter
24 July: Some sort of normal
13 July: Dr Margaret Turnbull
18 June: Chock full of good info
06 June: An opinion about lists
05 June: Your friendly local particle accelerator
25 May: Ten years of ok
23 May: Smile at everyone you know
22 May: Working in the open ≠ comms
09 May: For us, by us
08 May: We put on a show
28 April: Allotment engineering
27 April: A museum about museums
11 April: Iterating the potatoes
10 April: Seemingly in cahoots
27 March: AI and the human voice
19 March: Know where your codes are
27 February: Make things OpenSAFELY, it makes things better
15 February: We need to continue to sing this song
30 January: Talking of quizzes
23 January: Not moaning about AI
16 January: The dot becomes a bullet
09 January: Hanging with my DPSPeople
04 January: Mooching in Oxford
02 January: How to write more postcards

2025

15 December: Projects 145-156
04 December: Questions to ask at the start of any comms project
01 December: How about some Haudoo?
07 November: How to use Pooh case
19 October: The horror of YouTube
17 October: Doing Presentations en español
23 September: 30 minutes of /random
22 September: A chat with 19-year-old me
11 September: The strategy is enquiry
27 August: Everything I've written about working in the open
26 August: Free comms handbooks for charities
11 August: Postcard from Iceland
24 July: Doing open
17 July: How to be open while you test and learn
30 May: Print in Antwerp
30 May: What Czechia looks like
30 May: Things you should know about the European Sleeper from Brussels to Prague
30 May: Cake in Prague
19 May: Dial my number, I'm in the Internet Phone Book
09 April: A bit of housekeeping
06 February: Notes from Paris
07 January: Seasonal sounds

2024

12 December: Projects 121-144
23 November: How to grow potatoes
10 November: If you want to ask me security questions, I might want to ask you security questions
04 November: Keep an 'ask' note
24 September: The symbol of Siena
21 September: Italian skies
20 September: Internet inspirations
16 September: Know how you’ll end your presentation
15 September: Notes from The Netherlands, with photos from Rotterdam and Keukenhof
14 September: Again, notes from Tuscany
27 August: Photos from Giant’s Causeway
26 August: Plan for presentation disasters
20 August: Clarity hacks
18 August: Notes from Northern Ireland
25 July: Applauding pixels
02 July: My shoulder will let me type this
25 April: Notes from Tuscany
21 April: Work has picked up
19 April: Notes from Canada
16 April: Frink in Dorchester
23 March: Presentations as HTML
22 March: Lecturing at UCL
11 March: Doing weeknotes
09 March: Happy 25th birthday, gilest.org
07 March: How to communicate with busy stakeholders
18 February: Palm makes easy web pages
06 February: Me talking in BC
23 January: Corporate training needs content design, not cartoons
12 January: See my shoebox
09 January: More on the easier indie web
08 January: Let’s make the indie web easier
05 January: Flooding in Bradford on Avon
04 January: All we can do is type good words in the bad boxes
03 January: Lights in Rome

2023

22 December: Pro EU in Roma
15 December: Ruins in Rome
14 December: Stuff of the year
13 December: Projects 95-120
28 September: Weeknotes rules, and the superpowers they enable
21 September: The agile comms handbook - revised edition
13 September: Hello Southend
12 September: A dissertation about garden festivals
07 September: De-enshittifying digital photos
05 July: How teams remember
23 June: Three reasons why government should hire more writers
02 June: RSI notes
29 May: Lovely Llyn
26 March: Slide inertia
25 March: First drafts are good for clichés
23 March: Three good presentations
02 March: Detached from reality
28 February: A simple portfolio HTML template
28 February: Opinionhavers are the new stakeholders
17 February: Your new stuff is better than your old stuff
13 February: Sometimes you need an editor more than you need a writer

2022

14 December: Projects 66–94
12 December: Some great feeds
25 November: Our poor cat
24 November: How will your words exist in the world?
18 November: The beginning and the end of Twitter
12 November: iA Presenter connects your slides to the web
11 November: The rich moron
9 November: Sarum Lights 2022
6 November: How Mastodon is different
28 October: People are great, generally
13 October: That's 1031 albums listened to
7 October: Some ups and some downs
6 October: Happy birthday, book!
4 October: A Swiss masterclass
30 September: There was a medical emergency
24 September: My plan for Parliament
23 September: We went away
5 September: What it's like working with an editor
29 August: The old bonds
26 August: Playing with Polygon Camera
25 August: A middle-aged man goes paddling
8 August: A new Working in the open training course
14 July: Hello from Studio Galen
6 July: Welcome to Humdon
2 July: Lights on the Elizabeth Line
1 July: UX London 2022
19 May: Daydreaming is better than doomscrolling
18 May: Encounter in Moscow
17 May: Sponsoring the Low Carbon Design Institute
5 May: Speaking at UX London
30 April: If you love the web, you should help Noah Grey
21 April: Improv our time
13 April: Come to Beyond Curious
10 March: Why these Welsh weeknotes are so good
9 March: On the Leanpub podcast
17 February: Talking about agile comms at DigiShift
15 February: The agile comms ebook
13 February: What using RSS feeds feels like
12 February: Write slides that help you say “This is…”
17 January: Splish splosh

2021

28 December: The 'How to make a video' video
23 December: When 'website' means different things to different people
16 December: Projects 45-65
1 December: How we made the book
26 November: Talks links for the talks I did this week
15 November: Light show at Salisbury Cathedral
23 October: The agile comms handbook alphabetically
19 October: The agile comms handbook punctuation
6 October: The agile comms handbook
26 September: Yorkshire rocks
23 September: Ending Monochrome
1 September: Ending Unreel
25 August: 309 albums short
4 August: Taking back control
3 August: Over in Osea
2 August: Farewell Frank
15 July: Asking for paper that people no longer possess
14 July: Many browsers make light work
13 July: Living with covid means living with inconvenience
29 June: The contexts, they switch
1 June: Photos from May
29 May: CD of the day
15 May: Is it bluebells?
5 May: Photos from April
27 March: Let teams talk to other teams
26 March: Some videos about content design
24 March: A bank with a human voice
1 March: Photos from February
5 February: Sometimes, conversation is the best kind of editing
4 February: Writing for the web by drafting with the web
31 January: Photos from January
27 January: All first drafts are bad drafts
27 January: How to be clear
26 January: How to write like you speak
6 January: Where the light is falling

2020

31 December: Still European
18 December: Projects 25-44
7 December: Publish well, don't send
5 December: A birthday walk on Gare Hill
13 November: Week 1 in my new office
22 October: Burrington Combe on a wet Thursday
14 October: 10 years of revolution
10 October: The splinter
6 October: Taking my pink socks for a walk
28 September: Sitting on Charmouth beach
2 September: Tips for writing good weeknotes
18 August: Rules for swearing in client meetings
13 August: 18
13 May: An idea for self-service checkouts
7 May: Many things are ok
20 February: Stickers for the RSS massive
6 February: The Tellisford loop
10 January: Giles on the radio

2019

29 December: Walking in 2019: done
20 December: Long weekend in Sicily
20 December: Projects 19-24
7 November: Remembering the TRS-80
9 October: An Instagram experiment
12 September: A newsletter called “monochrome”
11 September: Turn question slides into statements
31 August: Tides in Tenby
22 August: A quick photo alphabet
18 August: Visiting the New Art Centre
12 August: Listening to 1001 albums
26 July: Mooching around Munich
25 July: Jony Ive video outtakes
4 July: bwrss wrap-up
3 July: Garden update
30 June: Walking in 2019 update
27 June: Walking from Teignmouth to Dawlish
1 June: Black and white and RSS
29 May: Monknash in the mizzle
22 May: A middle-aged man goes running
15 May: Driving through Tywi Forest
18 April: Tulips in the city
17 April: Perpignan, etc
24 March: I went marching
27 February: Improving doingpresentations.com
22 January: Walking in 2019
20 January: Things 0004
15 January: Dead Christmas trees
5 January: Projects 13-18

2018

17 December: 31 albums
9 November: Things 0003
31 October: Photos from October
22 October: Storyboarding on stickies
21 October: Things 0002
19 October: Plan comms, not too much, mostly blogging
5 October: Things 0001
28 September: Photos from September
10 September: 4AD and floppy hair
7 September: Last day in Plymouth
6 September: Not looking at Twitter
30 August: Photos from August
28 July: A modern library
27 July: Photos from July (inc Ireland and Antibes)
28 June: Photos from June
28 June: Photos from my trip to Boston
31 May: NOT_ifications
30 May: Photos from May
30 May: Agile communication tips
30 May: Moments from pop music history
1 May: Photos from April
23 April: Making better corporate video
19 April: Scapple and OutlineEdit
15 April: Repetitive endings
30 March: Photos from March
13 March: Collecting things
7 March: Strategic thinking with blogging and stickers
28 February: Photos from February
20 February: My favourite government posters
29 January: Photos from January
12 January: A shower’s worth of radio

2017

31 December: Misc images, December 2017
30 December: Projects 6-12
30 December: A walk from Tisbury
25 October: Autumn colour at Stourhead
15 October: A stone in my wallet
14 October: Being John Appleseed
3 October: A week in Greece
2 October: Very Vienna
24 September: Thoughts about permission
7 September: Exactly 500 words on falling over
3 September: I ❤️ Pembrokeshire
21 July: A bit of a week
3 July: Projects 1-5
29 June: Kilve and St Audrie’s
15 June: Stickers tell tiny stories,
11 May: Digital is something you are
3 May: Colours in Copenhagen
7 April: Don't say you're a “thought leader”, just show you can think
3 March: Pick a domain that’s easy to say
3 March: About doingpresentations.com
30 January: Blockbox and Antiblockbox
26 January: Mostly up, then mostly down
19 January: Project 0
18 January: Thinking out loud about internal communication

2016

11 November: GDS blog posts this year
9 November: One day of happy things
15 August: Party in Cove
24 July: Upfest in Bristol
31 May: Quick break in Menton
14 March: Presenting is performance, so rehearse like you’re doing a show
8 March: #seeingthings
18 February: Visiting the Doctor Who exhibition
15 January: Start in the middle when you get stuck writing

→ There's more stuff going back to the late 1990s, in the archive.