What inspired me this week? 97 people joining our Product Development show and tell on Teams. I think that’s a record! There were great presentations about the coronavirus content toolkit, and a change to the NHS App to improve the user experience when there are temporary glitches in connecting to GP systems. Catching up with … Continue reading Weeknote: 20 to 24 July 2020 →

A four-day working week after a long weekend on the lovely Northumbrian coast. What inspired me this week? Happiness is watching a flock of user-centred design professionals from multiple delivery teams swarming over a Miro board in a community workshop. I concluded early in my time at NHS Digital that having teams talk to each … Continue reading Weeknote: 13 to 17 July 2020 →

I got a haircut!Only retrospectively did I realise how much that, along with the scratchy Sharpies, was affecting my mood at my home office.How am I developing leaders and leadership?We welcomed Emma Parnell as a lead designer to work alongside Dean across our citizen-facing services.I also had a catch-up with Eva, the practice lead for … Continue reading Weeknote: 6 to 10 July 2020 →

Back to weeknotes after a break while I wrote up my 3-year reflections. Monday Spent the morning and early afternoon in a brilliant remote unconference for Nye Bevan Programme graduates, organised by Mike Chitty, Hesham Abdalla, and Peter Watson. After the busyness of the past few months, it was a lovely change of gear to … Continue reading Weeknote: 29 June to 3 July 2020 →

What leadership teamwork did I see? Over the past couple of weeks I've got more involved in the creation of a large and complex new NHS-branded service. I'm encouraged by its leaders' focus on getting the user experience right, and on the importance of earning and keeping people's trust. It has also given me a … Continue reading Weeknote: 18 to 24 May 2020 →

Both literally and metaphorically, I live at the top of a hill. Leeds city centre lies in a dip where smoke and traffic fumes linger, so the middle classes have long chosen this leafy suburb, 100 metres higher, as a place to be socially distant. Here I am holed up in a house that’s big … Continue reading Weeknote: 13 to 19 April 2020 – notes from the top of a hill →

Slowing the pace a little after a couple of full-on weeks where several of our teams delivered new services, and I shuttled virtually between them to help make sure we would deliver a joined-up user experience. On Monday evening, while I was on a call about another new service in the pipeline, someone in my … Continue reading Weeknote: 6 to 10 April 2020 →

What inspired me this week? In last week’s note, I mentioned the weekend working with colleagues on a new service to help the NHS prepare and respond to coronavirus. Coronavirus status checker, or "Tell the NHS about your experience of coronavirus," went live last Sunday evening for people who had completed 111 Online. This week, … Continue reading Weeknote: 30 March to 4 April 2020 →

What inspired me this week? New co-workers - my wife and our sons aged 13, 17, and 20 - getting on with their work while I do mine. Halfway through the week, I moved my improvised office from the dining table, which was rather too much in the middle of everything, to a sunny window … Continue reading Weeknote: 23 to 29 March 2020 →

For a couple of Christmases I was part of the NHS.UK senior leadership team. When they were making the holiday cover rota, I used to joke, "you know where I am if there's a service design emergency". Well I won't be making that joke again. We have a Slack channel where designers share weekly updates … Continue reading Weeknote: 9 to 13 March 2020 – “We have the best team” edition →

What inspired me this week? Conversations with candidates at our graduate traineeships assessment centre in London. The candidates are always impressive. A preview of Rochelle, Shirley and Emma's talk at Service Design in Government. By all accounts they did brilliantly. A joint show and tell by two of our teams. The NHS App team showed … Continue reading Weeknote: 2 to 6 March 2020 →

What connections did I make? Met more people who care deeply about digital, data and technology (DDAT) skills in health and care at the second of the DDAT in health unconferences, this time in Leeds. As in London the week before, the event was excellently run by the organising team. Had a call with a … Continue reading Weeknote: 24 to 28 February 2020 →

What inspired me? A design huddle in our new accessibility lab. Seeing colleagues present their work to visitors from the computer science faculty at Durham University. Listening to presentations on Screening, the NHS App and NHS.UK, I was proud of the user-centred work these teams are doing, and how they might work together as a … Continue reading Weeknotes: 10 to 21 February 2020 →