Category: User Centric Design

  • The importance of having a Product Mindset.

    This week is @DWPDigtials Product Mindset week; with some fantastic sessions and Digital Showcases on the work DWP have been doing to deliver Products that add value for users; with sessions covering things like storytelling, Design thinking, Product Management, Prioritisation and how we should be using data to help decision making, etc.   The resounding…

  • Encouraging join up across Departments.

    Yesterday at GovCampNorth, there were multiple pitches all based on one common theme; how we can encourage and support collaboration and sharing across Government Departments. The reason given behind increasing this collaboration was varied; from improving opportunities for re-use and the sharing of best practices; to the opportunity to tackle and solve societal problems that…

  • The Disability Price Tag

    The Disability Price Tag

    How bad service design punishes those with a disability. If you’ve never heard of the ‘Disability Price Tag’; the simplest way to describe it is that it’s the price you pay for costly mistakes due to symptoms of (or a byproduct of) your disability. People with ADHD are so often hit by the disability price…

  • How do we make legacy transformation cool again?

    How do we make legacy transformation cool again?

    Guest blog first published in #TechUk’s Public Sector week here on the 24th of June 2022. Legacy Transformation is one of those phrases; you hear it and just… sigh. It conjures up images of creaking tech stacks and migration plans that are more complex and lasting longer than your last relationship.   Within the Public Sector,…

  • Becoming Product Led

    Becoming Product Led

    Recently I was asked how I would go about moving an organisation to being Product Led; when agile and user centric design are equally new to the company, or when agile has not delivered in the way that was expected. Before diving into the how, I think it’s worth first considering the what and they…

  • Making User Centred Design more inclusive

    Making User Centred Design more inclusive

    How do we support people from minority or disadvantaged backgrounds to get a career in User Centred Design? If you look around for ways to get a careers in Digital/Tech, you would probably trip over half a dozen Apprenticeships, Academies or Earn as you Learn Schemes; not to mention Graduate Schemes; without even trying. However,…

  • Product vs Service vs Programme?

    Product vs Service vs Programme?

    How we define a product vs a service is a debate that comes up regularly; as proved by Randal Whitmore (Deputy Director of New Propositions at the UKHSA) today on Twitter: In fact, it comes up so regularly, I could have sworn I’d blogged about it before; but if I have, it isn’t on here!…

  • Getting work in the Digital Industry

    Getting work in the Digital Industry

    Why working in the public sector might be of interest to you! One of my favourite things about my role, well my career to be honest; is the opportunity to do Educational Outreach type activities. In the last few years especially I’ve been asked a few times to speak to Students (both Sixth form or…

  • Assessing Innovation

    Assessing Innovation

    (co-written with Matt Knight) Some background, for context Just over a month ago I got approached to ask if I could provide some advice on assessments to support phase two of the GovTech Catalyst (GTC) scheme. For those who aren’t aware of the GovTech Catalyst Scheme, there’s a blog here that explains how the scheme…

  • Talking Digital Transformation

    It’s something that has come up a lot in conversations at the moment, what is Digital Transformation? What does Digital Transformation mean to me? I always joke that it’s my TED talk subject, if I had one; as such I thought why not write a blog about it? What is Digital Transformation? According to Wikipedia,…