An online notebook
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An online notebook
This is the content of the ‘article’ element of the email newsletter I sent last week. Publishing here for posterity. 2025 has been a pretty tumultuous year in local government digital, largely due to the impact of the Localism bill…
Giles Turnbull: The strategy is enquiry What I’m suggesting is a new approach for the times when there’s a perceived need for a document called a “strategy”. It shouldn’t be a document full of “we will”; it should be a…
Have sent out my first newsletter on Email Octopus. It’s a nice system to use. # – micropost 23038 From daunting to demystified: The evolution of Service Assessments in DBT. # – micropost 23039
Brent’s Innovation Journey: Building a ‘Base’ for Local Government Innovation by Ryan Hamilton on the LOTI blog: At Brent, we’ve been trying to rethink how we tackle problems in a way that makes ‘innovation’ not just a buzzword, but a…
AI in Adult Social Care – guidance for adult care providers on the use of AI. # – micropost 22995 Giles shares “examples and links about working in the open and agile communication”. # – micropost 22996 Ben Unsworth is…
Digital and mission-driven government: digital, burdens and networks – Richard Pope’s first essay of three looking at how his Platformland thinking “can provide a unifying role in the successful delivery of the government’s missions”. In the digital age the answer…
Chatting with Clare this morning about all things digital and local government reorganisation, I came to the conclusion that it really is all a balancing act. The risks of things going wrong are huge, and the importance of being ‘safe…
Really helpful stuff from Jason Kitcat at the Department for Business and Trade on matrix working. # – micropost 22920 Some interesting notes on the issues around the software market for local government. # – micropost 22934 My general take…
It’s been nearly 6 months since I last posted here, and I have been really quiet on the likes of LinkedIn and Bluesky too. If I am honest doesn’t feel like months, this year has just raced past. What’s been…
Dave Rogers answers the question Just what is ‘Test and Learn’? # – micropost 22849 Lloyd writes up his experience of new, location based social network thing Mozi. Just like it’s 2008 all over again! # – micropost 22865 Anything that…
It looks like – thanks to some heavy debugging and re-developing from Steph – the new way of creating the Daily Notes is working! I’ll write up the thinking about it and how it works shortly. # – micropost 22785…
Digitisation, politicisation and the civil service by Martha Lane Fox: Today’s reality is clear: digital skills are no longer optional extras. Data analysis, digital service design, agile project management, let alone the nuance needed in understanding new AI tools, have…
A lot of people seemed to like the idea of the ‘Institute of Digital Public Services’ (IDPS) – admittedly a few didn’t, but not enough to convince me it isn’t an idea worth pursuing! How on earth to get something…
Whoops, forgot to hit publish on Friday. # Another kerr-azy week of having too much to do and too little time and energy to do it. # A short post I put up on LinkedIn (and published here and on…
Where’s the centre of gravity for conversations about how we can and should be leveraging the digital revolution for the benefit of society through our public services? I think about the flurry of activity when James Plunkett kicked off a…
Am thinking again about the structure of my blogging here. I’d much rather than the individual paragraphs in these daily notes existed as posts in their own right, as well as being collected together for the whole day. That way…
Patient records and the NHS App⬈ – or why this stuff is really, really hard. # Southwark Council⬈ have made some interesting design decisions on their new LocalGovDrupal website. A week note from Catherine Howe⬈ should always be celebrated. #…
Is it really 13 days since I last posted one of these? Terrifying. Still, it means plenty of links to share. # Rich Pope: Government is not an app⬈ # Tom Loosemore: What we mean when we say “Be Bold”⬈…
This post and all its contents is published under a creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Find out more⬈. I’m doing a fair bit of strategy work with councils at the moment, and have hit upon a framework for putting them together…
I’m back! First daily note in a while. Hope you are as pleased with me as I am 😁 The blog has been rehosted, meaning I can save a bit of money shutting down an old hosting account. Have also…