Trust - 8 to 12 June
Work
Back to a nice full (4-day) week, with a good smattering of design work. Possibly too many different focuses, however.
We also had our post published on updating the skills content designers need in government. Already lots of constructive feedback which I’m hoping we can direct into more community ownership of the design skills family.
Core content updates
Over first two days managed to finish off updating important content on the site, including our
- public roadmap - updated following our most recent content changes and planning for the rest of the year
- accessibility statement - updated following the independent audit last month
Nice to tick off these as they should improve trust in the product as a whole. All part of showing that someone is looking after it, tending the garden.
Next on the list is publishing our own privacy notice and contact information.
Opening up
I worked with fellow content designer to develop how work in progress/project pages might work on the framework websites. We now have a structure for a set of pages types to test with users and colleagues over the rest of the month.
The hypothesis is that making information about how the framework is being developed accessible from the site itself will:
- reduce the stakeholder management ‘overhead’ for the team
- help users better prepare for upcoming changes
- make the work itself better, by helping those less connected to central government get involved
- earn trust, again
Helpfully, the combination of:
- increasing cross-government interest in framework changes
- reduced cross-government access to our internal tooling
… has only strengthened the need for this kind of approach.
Sprinting into mess
This week also saw the start of a ‘co-design sprint’ with the group working on changes to the business relationship manager role. The first 2 sessions were the typically messy part of working out what the actual issues with the existing content were. Next week we’ll be modelling a couple of options that could achieve what we’re aiming for.
I also managed to review two new drafts submitted for other sets of changes. In both cases, things are not as simple as they seemed on first glance. We may need to look at giving us more time to deliver something valuable.
Skills and the service
Our product manager ran a workshop with other internal teams who depend on the framework. We’re trying to clarify which service areas in digital capability we could make the biggest difference to.
Personally I was interested in the opportunities and consequences of re-establishing ‘skills’ as the foundation of the framework (as opposed to ‘roles’). I also talked again about a potential ‘open contribution’ model to make the framework more responsive.
Another theme was the need to structure our teams and communication to better reflect the service experienced by our users. Mostly it was great to take the time to build connections between teams and get more aligned.
Next week
Some high profile opportunities to talk about our work. Hopefully I will feel more prepared when we get to them.
To do
- Help plan our firebreak week at the end of the month
- Organise next Sheffield X-Gov breakfast meetup for public sector folk - think we’re going to try out a new venue
- Start writing my session for Service Design in Government in September - never, ever, too early
- Read the very green Bad Services book from Lou Downe
Reading
No, artificial intelligence is not conscious - Ted Chiang
Re‑imagining a Digital Academy for today’s challenges - Stephen Mounsey
Launching GOV.UK’s new content and publishing guidance - Adam Wainwright