Government IT project disasters are by no means a thing of the past: The PAC’s latest report reveals that NS&I has spent an estimated £111 million on the programme by March 2024, yet it remains unclear how much has been…

📄 Balancing ambition and caution in LGR

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…

A GDS approach to internal systems? Please?

The Government Digital Service is the UK government’s solution to the issue of ensuring that government services are accessible and usable for citizens online. Quite rightly they have received plaudits for their approach to service design and delivery. This is…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: An Open Letter to Software Suppliers – 13 Ways to Help the Public Sector to the Cloud – @copley_rich Why the obsession with “coding” misses the point – from @jjn1 “Whatsapp…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: The Ed Techie: You can stop worrying about MOOCs now Edtech startups have great products. Their sales? Not so great | PandoDaily Pull out and keep – Your guide to UK…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Exploring how digital technology can support young people to engage socially and economically in their communities : Tim’s Blog – Tim is "launching an open research project to find key…

Clouds v cartels

Interesting article by the erstwhile US government CIO Vivek Kundra, in the New York Times: AS the global economy struggles through a slow and painful recovery, governments around the world are wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary information technology. This…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. We the People | The White House – E-petitions, White House style How to create sustainable open data projects with purpose – Nice article from MySociety's Tom Steinberg. One in…

Government IT costs – the bloggers’ view

Once again, the quality commentary on the latest reports into government IT spending is coming from blogs. Simon Dickson: The real story, such as it is, is the Committee’s apparent recognition that the current process – reliant on a small…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Generating QR codes using PHP and the Goo.gl API – Lovely little guide from Stuart Harrison (@pezholio). Numberhood – Interesting looking local open data app. Online Government Services and the…

Future of local gov IT strategy

Gotta love blogging local government types. Great post here from Warwickshire County Council’s Jim Morton about their developing IT strategy. My favourite bit: 1. Embrace the practice of using ICT as a Utility: It is now possible to consume software,…

The end of the IT department

37 Signals’ David Heinemeier Hansson: When people talk about their IT departments, they always talk about the things they’re not allowed to do, the applications they can’t run, and the long time it takes to get anything done. Rigid and…

No more Windows?

Well, in a decade perhaps. If you’ve ever wondered if it were possible to write fondly about Windows, well, James Gardner (kind of) gives it a go in his recent post on the desktop upgrade about to take place at…

Bookmarks for September 20th through October 1st

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Social intranets: Enterprises grapple with internal change – Great stuff on deploying social tech within big organisations. Open Government Licence – "You are encouraged to use and re-use the Information…

How to make Government IT deliver savings

Interesting ebook report from The Network for Post-Bureaucratic Age: Better for Less Update: Mick provides his views on the report: Rather than auditing ICT, what we need in reality is a proposal, by some authors with an understanding of what…

Bookmarks for August 11th through August 18th

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. OnePeople › Open source matters to open government. Really. – "Both DiMaio and Caudill make the mistake of believing that open source is about making cheap bits. Instead, it’s a…