Article Where can councils start sharing effectively? 1 September, 202420 September, 2024 Following on from previous posts during the Great Local GDS Flurry from a few weeks ago (has everyone else moved on? Well I haven't!), I thought I would follow up on one of my ideas for what I see as the central problems facing local authorities wanting to make the most of digital (by which…
Article Our framework for (digital) strategy 3 July, 202420 September, 2024 We are doing a fair bit of strategy work with councils at the moment, and have hit upon a framework for putting them together which seems to help keep strategies strategic, and thus make them more useful. I’m typing here about the work we're doing on digital strategies specifically – although this stuff may well…
Article Structural solutions for structural problems 19 June, 202420 September, 2024 There have been several articles published in various locations over the years about whether some kind of GDS type agency might help local councils get better at digital (by which I mean technology, online experience, and data). It was when the question was first posed back in 2012 that saw LocalGovDigital emerge as a community…
Article It’s the agile mindset that matters for local government 8 May, 202420 September, 2024 Local authorities need to be more agile – it’s pretty much axiomatic. Particularly in our technology and digital related work, the success that many organisations have had in adopting agile delivery approaches seems to indicate that it’d be a good thing for councils to do more of. The local digital declaration advocates it, for example, by committing…
Article 5 things for local leaders to know and understand about digital and technology 8 November, 202320 September, 2024 This quote from an article by the always insightful Jerry Fishenden really stuck out for me: With apologies to the late scientist and author Arthur C Clarke, to those who don’t understand technology, any sufficiently advanced marketing bullshit from snake oil merchants peddling their cryptocurrency, NFT, blockchain and Web3 potions is indistinguishable from magic. Computer Weekly, 13…
Article Three levels of digital change 13 October, 202320 September, 2024 Even if we adopt Tom Loosemore’s definition of digital – and we probably should – it’s still necessary to interpret it in the context of the service you are looking to digitise. I’ve worked out a really simple framework for thinking about this, by dividing the options into three distinct levels, or approaches to, digital change.…
Article The roles you really must have on your digital team 6 August, 202320 September, 2024 The ideal The GDS service manual is very clear on the roles required to run a proper multidisciplinary team to deliver digital services. It states that you must have a product manager service owner delivery manager user researcher content designer designer developer And this is, of course, quite right. Doing good digital work means taking it seriously,…
Article Why big programmes suck – and what you can do about it 8 March, 202320 September, 2024 A lot of the time digital and technology work doesn’t produce the hoped for results because it’s part of a big programme. Lots of organisations love a big programme. They are useful ways of unlocking money from capital pots, they can make those involved feel pretty good about themselves when talking about big numbers and…
