Comments on: Unpacking the world of digital in government

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:05:53 +0000

Steph – this is so helpful in seeing the bigger picture of digital across government but also in itemising the various elements. Just writing my work plan for next year so good timing!
When the website costs report comes out, it’s important that commentators understand all the behind the scenes work that goes into a web presence, not just the front-end design and content.

By: nettienoodles

nettienoodles — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:22:43 +0000

I am preparing for an interview (UK gov webbie post) and there’s a lot of ground to cover. I thought I’d read your recent posts and I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to see your (not exhaustive, i know) list of disciplines in which we have to be at least proficient in if not expert. I feel a lot better about myself now! Thanks for encapsulating the many realms we venture into and engage with, plus the expertise we absorb and share a long the way.

By: Alex Coley

Alex Coley — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:33:39 +0000

Steph, this is awesome thanks so much. Something which will prove most useful at my place of employment. I’ll be gesticulating and nodding at that super-Venn diagram for some time to come.

Maybe there is hope yet for some meaningful segmentation in digital government!

By: Jeremy Gould

Jeremy Gould — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:22:24 +0000

Goodness me, are you dreaming in 3d as well?! A lot of detail here to think about and some great thoughts from others on the challenges it all brings. I tend to agree with the prevailing view that this anticipates big organisational / cultural change in the future – and that we aren’t close to being at the point yet where this might become a reality.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:31:23 +0000

When I saw the coloured circles I thought this was going to be too complicated. Then I read the job descriptions/activity buckets and realised how useful this is.

Stuff I do falls into at least 6 of the 8 buckets. I love doing it all, but sometimes I feel like I’m spread too thin to have enough impact in each bucket.

This post lets me start thinking about how some of my activities could be done by other people in the organisation. I’m planning how to train them to become experts now…

Thanks!

By: Bookmarks for February 24th through February 28th

Bookmarks for February 24th through February 28th — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:04:30 +0000

[...] Unpacking the world of digital in government at Helpful Technology – A great post from Steph, with some brilliant discussion in the comments. [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:06:07 +0000

Great article which has really helped clarify some of my emerging thinking. I agree with Stefan that there is a whole digital delivery strand alongside this.

Alex’s and Neil’s comments made me wonder if there is a digital transformation strand as well but I think that is better placed as a core challenge in each of these areas as well as an overarching strategic goal.

I am about to embark on some organizational design thinking and will ponder on the challenges set by your article

By: Neil

Neil — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:53:37 +0000

As per our Twitter conversation, I love this post and can see myself linking and referring back to it many times.

You asked whether you missed anything my team does in our current set-up. Not much, I don’t think, but maybe:
- Internal user support (technical helpdesk for the org’s CMS users)
- External user support (handling enquirres from website users)
- Influencing future direction and standards – such as responding to consultations from the COI digital policy team

@Alex – I’m not so sure that a customer-centric approach would result in any fewer disciplines or a less complex relationship between them. The diagram might end up looking the same. I’d say that in order to meet users’ needs better, we need to be honest with ourselves about how sophisticated and multi-disciplined the work is and think about where these roles are best placed. Which needn’t mean more civil servants; it might even mean fewer in the long run.

By: alex

alex — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:06:40 +0000

Steph,

Following the old adage

” Complexity is beloved of civil servants, for therein and thereby they shall multiply ”

The article seems to take what there is now, and make it more difficult still.

If you were in Malawi, the approach might be different. One might start by asking, what do people want from their government ? As the BBC has found, this is profoundly different at the end of a boom, to the beginning and middle bonanza.

Likewise with all of the activity here. What is it adding to the citizen ?

The internet has been successfully adopted by Amazon, twitter, easyjet and others because of their focus. If government found the time to focus, it might take a process such as -

” Make a claim for housing benefit ”

and ask users and citizens and SMEs to re-design and simplify it on the web.

However, this is not going to happen quickly. It might also take a brave government official to recognise that it is individuals who can change, and that their relationship with the state needs to be altered so that the ability to control their lives is back with the individual.

Vendor Relationship Management, authentication and identity will help to drive this in the next few years.

So this is a plea to keep it simple, please. Let’s all try doing something with outcomes rather than more talk and words.

By: Steph

Steph — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:21:08 +0000

@Stefan Thanks for the comment – I think I am indeed approaching this with too Comms-y a world view, and there is probably a missing circle for Digital Service Delivery as you say.

I suspect if we worked out what we both mean by some of our labels, there might not be as many as ten new ones… although online customer relationship management has just popped into my head as something which often falls into the digital realm, but isn’t really accounted for here or in your list as I understand it.

I think the diagram might benefit from hinting around the edges at the ecosystem it fits into, e.g. offline communications, policy development, IT operations, service delivery and so on. You’re right to point out that modern service delivery isn’t isolated from communications and marketing. It’s not workable of course to try and expand the digital realm to encompass the whole customer interface with the organisation – but I think in future, having a deep insight into the customer journey through our services *and the pain points at which digital can support it or make it more efficient* is going to be critically important.

I really don’t know who within organisations is doing that at the moment, and as your post from a few weeks ago about a colleague’s efforts to get a minor change made to a transactional interface highlighted, it’s not easy to do. Naively, I have the impression it’s something more easily and more frequently done in the private sector, but I suspect I’m wrong.