Recognised as one of the global leaders in weather and climate science, the Met Office is powered by advanced models and a high performance supercomputer. I was very excited to catch up with Charles Ewen, the CIO at the Met Office, to learn more about how the organisation operates on such world leading technology.

Charles is accountable for all aspects of technology within the Met Office and manages a dedicated engineering team of over 350 people. With a fascinating career trajectory delivering big transformation programs in the private sector, Charles made the jump (and pay cut) to work in the public sector. 

Tune in to this conversation as we discuss delegating tasks, making data available on the public cloud, what the Met Office are doing to combat climate change, measuring productivity – and what Charles has learned from reading pulp sci-fi. 

Talking Points

• Taking on a CIO role (10:24)
• Advice to choosing the right job role (13:21)
• Setting aside time for ‘mental downtime’ (18:38)
• Lessons learned from the pandemic (20:12)
• On neurotypes and how they impact leadership style (27:14)
• How does the Met Office predict the weather? (32:12)
• The Met Office’s role in combating climate change and research (54:46)
• The environment and the impact of cumulative small changes (58:08)

Links

• Charles Ewen’s interview on One Zero One Podcast
• Met Office Hadley Centre
• Natural Environment Research Council
• ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick

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