A quick pointer to an interesting project in central government in the UK.
It’s looking at redefining the technology used by civil servants to get their jobs done.
There are a number of interesting issues around this agenda. The experience people have at home with software – particularly web based applications like Facebook, Amazon and so on – means that the systems they use at work are increasingly clunky and depressing.
As Stefan Czerniawski says in his blog post:
Traditional software is big and complicated, packed with features which most people don’t use most of the time. That has two consequences. The first is that they need training and support to be useful, the second is that it is difficult and expensive to change them. Modern software tends to be lighter, more focused, more flexible and more social. That makes it much easier to match the tool to the job.
It will be good to see what recommendations emerge from this project in the future.