It's been a good couple of weeks!

It's not often that work and hobbies both provide equal interest and satisfaction at the same time - quite often you have to sacrifice one for the other but I have had an enjoyable time of it lately.

I'm just back in the office after a few days paddling down the Wye from Hereford to Ross on Wye with colleague and friend, Steve Pickup. Steve has worked at HMA for over ten years looking after the 3D side of things and has recently got into kayaking. We covered 30 miles, camping on the way, and had wonderful weather for October. The Wye is no doubt the loveliest river to paddle in Wales/England - Wordsworth can't be wrong:

O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods,

How often has my spirit turned to thee!

The highlight of the trip was spotting a Kingfisher in the distance and as we floated to within a few yards of its perch, it darted into the water and came out with a fish. Wonderful! Camping took its toll on both of us but still planning the next trip down to Monmouth.

So I'm back in the office and have an equal feeling of achievement. About three weeks ago, global brand 3M needed a digital company with customer loyalty experience to help them with an urgent project and as a result of our SEO strategy they found us, HMA. We secured the project within two days and delivered it within two weeks. This was not a straight forward requirement - as well as getting to know 3M, their brand, how they work and the subject of the project, we also had to manage other third party data providers. The HMA team demonstrated a real in-depth knowledge of the requirement and fantastic commitment to turn around a comprehensive solution in the time scale available. Our work was very well received and just before I set off on my kayaking trip I received a call from 3M, and because they were so impressed by our performance they have asked us to look at another project! This gives me so much satisfaction, a job well done - I am so proud of the HMA team.