What leadership teamwork did I see? As we discuss new ways of working for our product development directorate, I had catch-ups with several of our senior leaders who are figuring out what this means for their own areas. We have many demands on us as a directorate, and are working within constraints, but everyone wants … Continue reading Weeknote: 3 to 7 February 2020
What inspired me this week? The design team away day brilliantly produced by Brie, Becca and Andrew. I couldn’t stay for the whole day, but it was lovely to see the community assemble, and to hear head of design Tero and practice lead Dean outlining their vision for design at NHS Digital and beyond. Starting … Continue reading Weeknote: 27 to 31 January 2020
What inspired me this week? The discovery team on Book, Refer & Manage Appointments is making progress on user research and mapping at an impressive rate, picking up new team members as it goes. Ideally, teams like this should start together. Having new people join 2 or 3 weeks in can be disruptive, so it's … Continue reading Weeknote: 20 to 24 January 2020
How did I uphold the NHS Constitution? "view the services you provide from the standpoint of a patient" - Staff responsibilities in the NHS Constitution for England I topped up my 2 hours every 6 weeks of exposure to primary user research by listening in on some calls with patients about their experiences of getting … Continue reading Weeknote: 13 to 17 January 2020
What inspired me this week? The team getting started on the book, refer, and manage appointments discovery. Will, the delivery lead, is doing a brilliant job setting up the team for success A couple of new starters and promotions in the Digital Services Delivery profession that I lead. I'm looking forward to catching up with … Continue reading Weeknote: 6 to 10 January 2020
1. What inspired me this week? All the likes and retweets for our user-centred design graduate scheme - open for applications until 30 November! Getting along to the weekly design huddle for the first time in a while. Sam's spooky Hallowe'en presentation of a challenging piece of work was excellent. Meeting former GDS Academy colleagues, … Continue reading Weeknote: 28 October to 1 November 2019
A 2-week batch of weeknotes, having taken time last week to finish my NHS Leadership Academy Nye Bevan Programme element 2 submission. Things at work have been changing fast during the weeks that I've been writing this critically reflective essay, but the whole process has helped me to clarify what I need to focus on, … Continue reading Weeknotes: 14 to 25 October 2019
1. What inspired me this week? My former colleague Andy Callow published reflections on his first 6 months as Chief Digital Information Officer at Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. I'm missing Andy's wise reflections at NHS Digital, but it's great to know he's more-than-surviving at KGH. NHS X CEO Matthew Gould joined us at … Continue reading Weeknote: 7 to 11 October 2019
1. What inspired me this week? Seeing Rochelle and Tero settling into their new NHS Digital roles as head of user research and head of design respectively, and - bonus! - the news that Simon is moving over from PHE to NHS X in a head of design role there. Being part of a panel … Continue reading Weeknote: 30 September to 4 October 2019
Another two week batch of notes, having missed last week's due to various pressing deadlines. I hope not to make a habit of this. The downside of fortnightnotes is that 16 September feels like an eternity ago. On the upside, I'm reminded just how many good things have happened since I last hit the "publish" … Continue reading Weeknotes: 16 to 27 September 2019
A bumper double edition of weeknotes, having skipped last week's to work on my NHS Leadership Academy Bevan Programme "element 2" draft. Also, this happened... This new role in our Product Development directorate lets me work across a wider range of NHS Digital products and services, and build a small central design and user-research function … Continue reading Weeknotes: 2 to 13 September 2019
A short week because of the Bank Holiday, which I spent packing up our kitchen ready for a builder to rip it apart first thing on Tuesday morning. Also something on Friday afternoon that I will cover in next week's note. 1. How did I make expectations clear? I started planning a planning process for … Continue reading Weeknote: 27 to 30 August 2019
Back to weeknoting after a break including a 2-week family holiday in Finland and St Petersburg. 1. What leadership teamwork did I see? Going away for two weeks at a critical time in our organisation change process has helped me appreciate the awesome people I work with even more. In particular, Eva and Richard dealt … Continue reading Weeknote: 19 to 23 August 2019
"The rights are there to help ensure that staff: have a good working environment with flexible working opportunities, consistent with the needs of patients and with the way that people live their lives have a fair pay and contract framework can be involved and represented in the workplace have healthy and safe working conditions and … Continue reading Weeknote: 22 to 26 July 2019
1. What inspired me this week? NHS.UK team members demonstrating some of the kit going into our new accessibility lab to the NHS Digital board. Board members tried on visual impairment simulation glasses and gloves for mobility impairment, and we had some great conversations about how to improve the experience of our digital services for … Continue reading Weeknote: 15 to 19 July 2019
Matt Edgar writes here 