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...

New resource on the digital LGR playbook – Priorities at each phase of reorganisation: This resource sets out common ...

My work at Luton is done

I’m just finishing up my work with Luton Council. It’s been a great experience, and I feel I’ve learned a load along ...

Tom Loosemore – Prompt injection and the perils of leaving it to AI to handle AI: A petition filed to a Brazilian lab...

Prompt injection and the perils of leaving it to AI to handle AI

I’ve written recently about how citizens’ adoption of AI is putting stress on public services that rely on friction t...

Tinydot looks like a fun little service. A Mac app sits on your computer watching a folder. Anything you put into tha...

Matt Billingsley from Content Design London – What 6 FOI requests reveal about government campaign websites: Departme...

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 ...

Week 27 / 2026

Not to bury the lede (and in true meme manner) I have some ‘personal news’. I’ll be leaving my role at the National D...

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 ...

Technology market shaping: A practical guide

Early in 2025 my programme director asked: if money and resources were no object, how should we modernise the technol...

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...

Am off work next week and planning to take a proper break. Back on 6th July – see you on the other side!

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 ...

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.

Half-time retro – 2026

It is the Summer Solstice apparently so it feels like a good time to reflect on the first half of my 2026. — TL;DR  I...

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...

June(sie) 03

I’ve just returned from four nights in Paris. It was 🔥🔥🔥. 35 degrees at one point yesterday! It was my first non-w...

Luton Council’s printer fleet refresh

Over the last few months, the DDaT team have been working on the refresh of the council’s fleet of printers with Rico...

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.

AI-powered planning: for good and for ill.

I just read an excellent article by James O’Malley looking under the bonnet of the UK Government’s recent work using ...

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

Join us for Services Week 2026 

Services Week 2026 will run from 29 June to 3 July. Learn about this year's theme and how to get involved.

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

Open Digital Planning: Growing a transformation network

This post covers how the Open Digital Planning network developed over the course of 7 years, and reflects on lessons ...

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...

June(sie) 02

If you are still with me after the last couple of sad sack notes you’ll be pleased to know I am in a slightly better ...

What we learned from the Prime Minister’s AI Exemplars programme – and how it is shaping the next phase 

Find out how the first 10 months of the AI Exemplars programme has gone.

How to THRIVE in Luton

If THRIVE means Training, Health, Resilience, Inclusion, Vitality and Empowerment, then there’s a new hub to help! O...

Weeknotes w/e 5 June 2026

Updates from DDaT projects including OneDrive user adoption, frontline services, regulatory services, data governance...

Bringing DDaT teams together: highlights from our June Quarterly Connect

In addition to our DDaT away days, the whole of Luton's DDaT service gets together in person for our Quarterly Connec...

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....

June(sie) 01 

🚨🚨Warning🚨🚨 I’m still feeling a bit sorry for myself. I can’t seem to shake it at the moment. Physically, mentall...

Data maturity: the foundation for AI ready public sector data

Good AI starts with good data. We partnered with The National Archives to explore how data maturity can prepare legal...

Supporting the Unreasonable Customer Policy

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

Building for the future: Making change simple on GOV.UK Pay 

GOV.UK Pay has a new provider for non-Crown card payments and pay by bank. Find out what this means for public sector...

The Curry House Storm

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

May Days [04]

The cognitive dance I am doing day in, day out continues to be pretty exhausting.  Am I fatigued because of the heat ...

Putting customers first:  DVLA and  CustomerFirst  partnering to improve Drivers Medical service

CustomerFirst, a new unit in the Government Digital Service, is working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency ...

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 cost of building fell…but the cost of deciding hasn’t

Dwain Nicely, Continuous Innovation Manager at Barking and Dagenham, shares his thoughts on the cost of deciding in l...

The Bach Wen

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

Small actions, shared value — Seocho Coin

Polly from the LOTI Team sits down with Seocho-gu, South Korea to discuss their innovative Seocho Coin initiative and...

Are your role profiles a problem?

Alison from the LOTI Team shares some tips on how to modernise your role profile and attract a wider pool of talent. ...

Legacy technology Inertia: Why things don’t change

Sarbjit from the LOTI Team examines systematic and non-technical forces contributing to legacy technology inertia and...

AI = Ain’t Inclined

Originally I titled this post ‘AI = Not Interested’ but I realised that is not really my state of mind. I am somewhat...

May Days [03] 

I’ve been back at work for 10 days and today should have been my 100th (working) day in this role. I actually think I...

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…

Co-designing digital planning products at scale

MHCLG’s Digital Planning Programme has championed a new approach to public sector technology development. We put the ...

100 novels (of limited literary value)

My inevitable response to The Guardian’s click-bait list is this list of a randomised 100 novels I have purchased onl...

Succession

With 25 emails left until I reach 500 the end is nigh for the Internet of Public Service Jobs newsletter. Even before...

The Pembroke Dock

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

Answers in seconds, 24/7: GOV.UK Chat launches in the GOV.UK app

Find the information you need, quickly and easily, through the AI-powered chat system for GOV.UK.

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)...

Putting in place the enabling conditions for AI

Eddie Copeland explores what conditions and behaviours councils need to cultivate in order to achieve value from usin...

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...

Playing with open weight LLMs.

Checking back in on the state of open weight LLMs after a couple of months away and the best are much better than in ...

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...

Three activities to sharpen up your team’s influencing skills

One of the challenges of working in a central or a networked organisation is that you often don’t have direct control...

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