What is an accelerator?

In Autumn 2025 we started our accelerator projects: small, multidisciplinary teams working alongside places to design...

Integrating with FixMyStreet: Bringing Open311 Support to Liberty Create

Turning Renewals into a Self-Service Experience

How we automated Assisted Waste Collection renewals to reduce administration, improve customer experience and create ...

GOV.UK Pay at 10: how it started and how it's going 

10 years ago, GDS launched GOV.UK Pay, one of its flagship platforms used by public sector service teams. To mark thi...

Supporting devolution through digital, data and AI

Across government, there is a growing focus on how powers, funding and decision-making can be exercised closer to the...

Thanks to Tom Watson’s post about A TechFreedom startup stack, I came across Baserow, which looks like a very well fe...

Just sent round the first LocalGovDigital community email newsletter, which goes to everyone signed up for our new on...

Services Week 2026 Wrap Up

This year's Services Week saw an incredible 4,000 attendees across 80 sessions, delivered by over 30 different govern...

The Colander

We started the alpha about four weeks ago, but almost all of that time has been devoted to getting set up and prepari...

A lovely time by the sea

Light blogging recently – partly due to starting a new contract, and partly due to the fact that I am just back from ...

Two more collaboration contracts

Working at LocalGov Drupal and Open Digital Planning, I’ve seen first hand how collaboration changes the game. It inc...

The Regatta

Busy one last week. These weeknotes coming to you late as I had fun sailing boats all weekend. We did more things th...

GDS: delivering a better GOV.UK experience for business 

GDS and BIST are supporting UK businesses to operate and grow by collaborating across government to improve online ad...

Coined a new (to me!) phrase today: “performative project management”. Can see myself using it a lot from now on!

I love stories like this. Luton’s Hazel Lunn shares the low down on her career in local government, from working in t...

From the frontline to the future: my 23-year journey through local government and technology

DDaT Luton's Assistant Director of Technology and Infrastructure, Hazel Lunn, has been with us for 23 years, in an ev...

Turning ambition into action in complex systems

Transforming complex public services starts with action, not perfection. Learn how HM Land Registry used rapid testin...

This looks quite interesting: London Productivity Library. A productivity tool from LOTI, for any organisation to dep...

The Ancient Farm

The last couple of weeks looking at helping users do more with their test results have been good, and we’ve made dece...

Transformation needs deliberately designed teams: here's how we're building them differently

How talent shapes transformation.

Another great update on the low code platform rollout at Luton, from Kev Rowe: A key principle of our low code platfo...

Sucharitha Revanuru from the Essex Digital Service team writes From Bananas to Better Outcomes: Taking Product Thinki...

I don’t know why I enjoy aggressively sceptical posts about AI so much, but I do. Here’s a doozy: AI Mania Is Eviscer...

Sprints 6 and 7: platform development update

Alongside preparation for an Organisational Change Assessment (OCA) for DDaT, the Digital Development team has contin...

Matt Cain – The Architecture of Effective Digital Government Centres: Over the last eighteen months a distinct cohort...

Lutonians in tech inspiring the next generation

Our DDaT Director was recently invited to Luton’s first AI hackathon. Organised by three local teenagers, the event p...

What I learned about the double disadvantage 

I've been working on digital accessibility for around 9 years now and, more recently, digital inclusion. So, to come ...

London Prompt & Productivity Library: Copy, paste, tweak

Vindy Hansra, Digital & Data Transformation Lead, at Croydon Council, shares the journey from Croydon's prompt librar...

Staying curious at SXSW 2026

Sadie and Irene from the LOTI team share their personal experiences and highlights attending SXSW 2026 in London. Th...

Why you should never use “click here” for links

Alison from the LOTI team shares four critical reasons why it’s time to retire the phrase for good, along with an inc...

A day in the life as…a Service Designer

Paulina Villalon shares what it is like to work as a Service Designer in the Data Science, Insight and Performance Te...

Keeping the Phones Ringing While Everything Else Changed

One of the less visible challenges of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) was what to do about customer telephony a...

On waiting, digital and where the state chooses to operate - an extended version of the preface to Platformland

Below is a slightly longer version of what became the preface to my book Platformland. I started writing before the b...

The Beetroots

Haven’t written a weeknote in almost a month, but a lot has been going on. A quick summary on what we’ve been up to f...

Show and Tell: Building Cumberland's Tour de France subsite in just a few days

When people visit a website, they usually only see the finished product. What they don't see is the work that happens...

LOTI at 7

Eddie shares highlights of LOTI’s work from July 2025 to June 2026 across our four core pillars: People, Technology, ...

Five fixes for public sector software

Following on from Matt Wood-Hill’s excellent guide to market shaping techniques in government, I thought I’d add a fe...

Is testing and learning a methodology or a core skill?

Today I was chatting with Irina and Trilly about implementing the skills framework for product managers at NHS Englan...

Sprint 5: getting complaints ready for release 

A slightly shorter update from me this time, as I’ve been away for a long weekend at Love Supreme festival. It’s the ...

Exploration sprints: testing whether a different approach is actually viable

Could a two-week sprint transform a public service? Discover how CustomerFirst tests ideas, uncovers barriers and bui...

Introducing James Coleman – Senior Digital Developer

James is the lastest DDaT recruit. He's DDaT Luton's new Senior Digital Developer, immediately focusing on building a...

Evolving the Service Standard for the future of public services

We’re evolving the Service Standard from a one-off test into a living standard for modern, end-to-end public services...

GOV.UK app: One year of easier, faster services in your pocket 

Today, the GOV.UK app turns one. And, like all first birthdays, it’s a bit of a special moment - a time to celebrate ...

The Relay Race

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been drafting and re-drafting our discovery playback deck, straightening up the st...

Weeknotes w/e 26 June 2026

This week, we've welcomed new starters but said goodbye to people who have had a big effect on our DDaT journey. M...

Launching our Digital Champions programme

We want to make sure our services understand the new capabilities and applications in the Microsoft 365 suite, as wel...

Registration Certificate Ordering Project - From Build to Better

Collaborative project with the Registration Service.

Weeknotes w/e 19 June 2026

Updates from DDaT Luton projects including OneDrive user adoption, low code platform, frontline and regulatory servic...

Platformlanding with DEFRA and e-synergy today

Connecting digital inclusion and health through behavioural systems mapping in one hour

Lara from DG:Cities shares her experience of connecting digital inclusion and health through behavioural systems mapp...

Why is GovTechTokyo focusing on Digital Public Goods?

Ikuo Koboku, Manager of the Co-creation in Public Services Division at GovTechTokyo, shares their approach to Digital...

In conversation with Angelina Namiba: Unlocking digital inclusion for women living with HIV

Madeleine from Good Things Foundation shares her discussion about digital inclusion with Angela Namiba, co-founder of...

Empowering local government teams through apprenticeships

Alison from the LOTI Team discusses why apprenticeships are the perfect way to address talent gaps and adapt to the c...

LOTI Data Networks: Unlocking London’s Data

Jay from the LOTI Team shares a window into how London Borough Data Teams are sharing knowledge via LOTI networks. Th...

Baselining, the key to unlocking value in local government using AI

Sarbjit from the LOTI team shares his thoughts on how understanding the cost of delivery it helps strategic planning ...

Sprint 4: a complaint, a compliment and a comment walk into a bar…

Low code sprint 4 update: dad jokes, not just a Luton problem and building our first app.

One month in… NSDC LGD and a solid partnership

Launching our new Newark and Sherwood District Council website By Sian Motley – Project Manager It’s now been a month...

Update from the GDS Responsible AI Advisory Panel   

How is government using AI responsibly? Insights, challenges and next steps from the GDS’s Responsible AI Advisory Pa...

What is Test, Learn and Grow? 

The history of the Test, Learn and Grow programme to date and what we've learned so far.

Why we write

Kara introduces the Test, Learn and Grow blog - why we want to work in the open and how to be involved.

As someone who failed GCSE English (and got a full grant) this is mildly triggering: https://www.theguardian.com/educ...

Published today with @kinship.works NHS Operating Patterns - Ways to do good work together, in a decentralised system

The Broad Bean

The previous weeknote was all about the need for a community of teams to change the experience of the NHS App collect...

From Awareness to Ownership: Our Cyber Journey Since 2023

In 2023, I wrote about how local government can lead the way in cyber security – drawing on Newark and Sherwood Distr...

Show and Tell: AI categorisation and distribution of shared mailbox email

In our latest Intelligent Automation team Show and Tell, Ian walked through something most teams will recognise strai...

The Base Comes First

This week was good. Frankie joined us along with Jamie. We got the chance to hang out in a team day. We got a better ...

LGRcamping

Local gov camp parked its bus at Newark during May to deliver an interactive and insightful day to all that attended....

Supporting the Unreasonable Customer Policy

Helping the Complaints team apply the Unreasonable Customer Conduct (UCP) policy consistently and manage cases clearly.

The Curry House Storm

Last week was the end of my second full working week on the Innovation & Analysis team in Digital Prevention Services...

Elderflower lemonade

Speculating into the future by design

Genta from the LOTI team discusses using speculative design methodology to explore the London Health Mission. The po...

The Bach Wen

Last week was the end of my first full working week on the Innovation & Analysis team in Digital Prevention Services ...

Co-designing better housing services

How we brought content, service design and housing expertise together to create a simpler, more joined-up experience ...

What have drawings of peas got to do with prototyping digital services? www.platformland.xyz/ways-of-d…

The Pembroke Dock

New week, new work. This week I joined the Innovation & Analysis team in Digital Prevention Services at NHS England....

Why it’s important to thinking of public sector super apps from the viewpoint of ‘the system’, not just ‘the citizen’...

Lobster pots, complexity and starting small in the right way Or the case against use-cases https://www.platformland.x...

I can’t tell isn’t was just a late 80s early 90s blip (or age induced nostalgia), but it seemed when I was younger qu...

Elections and the Community Fund

I’ve mentioned the LocalGov Drupal Community Fund a few times now, so here’s more info on how it works and what we’ve...

In 2018 (ish) at Harvard Kennedy School I saw a talk about cyber (my poor filing system means I can’t find the notes)...

Discussing Practical AI for Projects

In March, I had the pleasure of attending one of my favourite conferences – Housing Technology. A notable development...

Popped in to see Larry

Given generative AI is all about predicting next words, when do I get a better spell check!? (I regularly have to Goo...

Good thoughts from @edent.tel on closing open-source repos because Mythos: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/04/does-myth...

Marty Cagan’s ‘new standard’ for Product in the age of AI

Yesterday I joined a talk by Marty Cagan on the ‘new standard’ for product management in the age of AI. Marty’s main ...

Reflecting on VIPER and looking at future phases

In the last few days I’ve seen some encouraging posts about collaboration and sharing across local government, and Wi...

Keep coming back to this video in the context of AI-based public services: [www.youtube.com/watch If mentalizing / ep...

The Palintir mini manifesto at least makes it clear that if you buy their software you are buying it to a transnation...

End of week 1 Digital placement for Carlisle College T Level Students

Over the last two days, the Digital team has hosted nine T Level students from Carlisle College, marking the end of t...

Kickstarting collaboration during LGR

Earlier this month I attended LGR Camp in London, a get together of councils and suppliers who’re going through Local...

Having a gander at Goose

Today I’ve been having a play with Goose, a new AI agent that you can run on your local machine. No subscriptions, h...

This is beginning to feel like an inevitability: Davey says war bonds would help to speed up UK defence spending

Kingsdown, Kent

Stop searching for AI ‘use-cases’. Design AI into services… https://www.platformland.xyz/ways-of-doing/stop-searching...

The Dangers

This will be the last weeknote of this series (series 21!) which started last summer. I’ve finished up at MHCLG and S...

How to have a whip round

For international readers, a whip round is “an informal British phrase for collecting money from a group of people, o...

It’s all about the question

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to help people get started with AI. Not the technical side — there are pl...

A new flatpack collaborative model for the public sector

Following on from my post about software partnerships, I wanted to share a few findings from work finished late last ...

At the British Academy for a day long policy lab Noted on the way in: the dedicated Champaign cork recycling box

Positioning AI https://www.rpp.works/ways-of-doing/positioning-ai/