The Right Conditions for Digital Success

At #localgovcamp this year up in Leeds, I ran a session to talk through what conditions need to be in place in order to implement a digital strategy successfully.  Thinking this stuff through is important for any change programme, and it was really helpful to share experiences. It's a worry for the sector, to put it mildly, that there aren't many …

Topic for discussion

Mmm, not got enough time for this post, but.. I wanted to suggest a topic for localgovcamp, the event for digital and design practitioners in and around local government.  It's in Leeds on Sept 12th and you can grab a free ticket here.  There are also two fringe events on the Friday by many lovely …

Digital & Design & Everyone

Today was a good day.  The first 9 people began their training on Matssoft, the low code platform we have selected to enable us to rapidly design and build digital services.  It was so fantastic to see not just folk from our new Digital & Design team but also folk from service areas learning how …

Dave Briggs joins Adur & Worthing Councils

We're taking another big step forward today at Adur and Worthing Councils with the announcement that Dave Briggs will join us as Head of Digital and Design.  A leading figure nationally in digital government, Dave will build a new Digital and Design Service to drive forward our digital programme here on the south coast. How …

Making Progress at Adur & Worthing on Digital & Design

I’m absolutely thrilled with how much work we’ve managed to get done here at Adur & Worthing Councils on digital strategy and delivery. This post explains what we’ve been doing, why and what’s coming up next. The Digital & Design Service is being set up in April (exciting leadership announcement coming soon ..) and along …

Platforms and Tribes

It was my first time at a Solace annual conference, and I'll be back again.  It felt like many more people are ready to think about radical public service solutions and deeper civic engagement - there was a sense of real receptivity to what some of the leading authorities are saying and doing. David McNulty, CEO …

UKGovcamp 2014 Session Write-Up: Local Capacity for Innovation & Delivery

A good session was had at UKGovcamp on developing local capacity for innovation.  We had some very experienced folk in the room which allowed us to see ways through all the challenges and barriers! There are a number of features to the discussion worth covering, but as a headline we achieved the central UKGovcamp goal …

Local capacity for innovation & implementation

As we approach UKGovcamp on Saturday, I was wondering about the big "how do we make stuff happen" question.  An NLGN survey of 65 councils  on innovation found that 90% say they lack the skills needed to implement new ideas successfully, but paradoxically they still expect to generate 50% of the necessary savings through innovation …

Going freelance

I've been wanting to write something about what's been happening for me for a while .. here goes. Early last year the opportunity to apply for voluntary redundancy came up at Brighton & Hove City Council where I had been working for 6 years.  The way it works is that you can put an application …

Get designing and sprinting

It's been good to see the recent flurry of talk about a GDS for local government.  I agree with those who have said it's too hard to create a team like the central government one in terms of securing the mandate, buy-in and funding.  And I'm very much with the sentiment from Anthony Zach that …