Links of note 13/1/20

As mentioned in this post, I have started to find some time to read a bit more, and to bookmark useful stuff. Here’s what I have found in recent days (if I am honest, less than I would have expected – although maybe the time of year is to blame for that).

The coming storm – Paul Clarke

I’ve seen enough of this now to know the cycle. You all know the cycle. Government business is being done badly. Everyone’s fed up. Influential voices outside the incumbent delivery team grow and grow. Eventually they get a go at it. Rinse. And repeat.

Chrome OS has stalled out – Android Police

Nearly ten years ago, Google shipped an unassuming, totally unbranded laptop to a large group of journalists and tech enthusiasts as part of a 60,000 unit pilot program. That laptop was the CR-48, and it was designed to showcase a project Google had been working on internally for well over a year. It was called Chrome OS.

How to explain to CEOs why fixing the plumbing matters – Eddie Copeland

Where we’re working to fix the plumbing, we should be doing so specifically to enhance capabilities that improve boroughs’ ability to tackle real-world problems. We can only determine if we’re doing that well by proactively working with colleagues to deliver some real-world outcomes.

Ethical technology? – Catherine Howe

So much of our lives are subject to the unconscious biases and technological evangelism’s of the people who create the virtual worlds and services we spend so much of our time in and our current fascination with ethics is a desire to create a controlling framework around the tools and systems which are now controlling our lives.

You can find everything I have ever bookmarked ever on Pinboard. I also tweet out these bookmarks as I create them.

LINK: “What’s happening with the service standard?”

We first talked about updating the service standard around a year ago. Since then, we’ve talked to hundreds of people in central and local government.

It’s still a work in progress, but we think we’re getting close to a final draft which supports the government’s ambition to deliver joined up, end to end services that meet user needs. So we thought it would be useful to provide some details about the direction it’s going in.

Original: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2018/09/12/whats-happening-with-the-service-standard/

LINK: “How to make conscious decisions about digital transformation”

…a set of questions to help get to the why, as well as the what, of digital transformation.

Original: https://blog.wearefuturegov.com/how-to-make-conscious-decisions-about-digital-transformation-a2f5837e3f1c

New podcast interview on councils and digital transformation

I was interviewed by Vicky Sargent again for her Interesting Times podcast. We talk about digital transformation in local governments, focusing on Adur & Worthing Councils and Hackney Council.

You can listen to the podcast, and subscribe to future episodes, here.

LINK: “Building the GOV.UK of the future”

We need to prepare for a world where people might not access GOV.UK through their computer or smartphone, but could be using Alexa, Google Assistant or some technology that hasn’t even been created yet. We need to make GOV.UK understandable by humans and machines.

Original: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2018/06/27/building-the-gov-uk-of-the-future/

LINK: “What makes someone a good digital leader?”

Doing things better is hard because it presupposes you know what you are doing and why you are doing it. You have to understand and be clear on your goals and your vision, and the outcomes you want your projects, programmes and organisation to meet. And you have to have the trust and explicit support of everyone around you.

Original: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2018/06/21/what-makes-someone-a-good-digital-leader/

LINK: “Bridging the Digital Skills Gap in the Digital Workplace”

Right now, there is growing interest in the role that learning can play in organisational change, but we are starting from a place where learning is seen as separate to the practice of work, and also something different from more operationally focused knowledge sharing.

Original: https://postshift.com/bridging-the-digital-skills-gap-in-the-digital-workplace/

LINK: “The wellsprings of UK digital reform part 2 – separating porcine lip enhancement from transformation”

Transformation is a world away from simply polishing the way things are currently done (the “lipstick on pigs” approach – the tired web- and form-based service design ethos of the past few decades, stuck Groundhog Day-like inside the broken silos and reference frames of existing organisational services). Improving our public services relies on the ability to step back and rethink and redesign current public policy by focusing relentlessly and selflessly on improved outcomes, with a profoundly beneficial and positive impact on people and their experience of delivering or receiving public services.

Original: https://ntouk.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/the-wellsprings-of-uk-digital-reform-part-2-separating-porcine-lip-enhancement-from-transformation/

LINK: “An open data standard for planning applications?”

We’re working to find out what a digital planning application service would look like if it were “so good, people prefer to use it”. However, one of the early things we learnt was that high quality data is the key enabler of providing a better digital service.

Original: https://blogs.hackney.gov.uk/hackit/An-open-data-standard-for-planning-applications

LINK: “What have we learned from the Service Design Conference (SD in Gov)”

I’ve not heard anyone disagree that this is a good thing. There were many people at the event who were passionate about user centred services and about designing end to end services. Why is user research not given the priority it needs and why do we still continue to pay little attention to it when undertaking transformation activity and service redesign?

Original: https://medium.com/north-east-lincolnshire-digital/what-have-we-learned-from-the-service-design-conference-sd-in-gov-64e4438a2223