A rainy day in Manchester listening to New Order (and Tom Loosemore) at Mind the Product Engage
I went to ‘Mind the Product Engage’ in Manchester on Friday (the 8th February). There were lots of great sessions, and it was refreshing to feel the Manchester vibe (and the great Northern sound track in the intervals — New Order being my favourite). Big plaudits to @adamwarb and @graemegoulden for organising — you should be right proud.
My colleagues in Leeds will tell me I was the wrong side of the Pennines, but they’ll get over that. It wasn’t the only reason I went, but one of the main reasons for me going was to hear Tom Loosemore speak.
I’m too old and too cynical to be a fanboy but I’ve watched from afar the journey the Government Digital Service (GDS) has taken, and I’ve worked with many people who have had the ‘touch of GDS’ about them. And more recently my work builds on, and evolves, the work of GDS — in some way acting as a companion to GDS but for health (yes, that health service in England, quite a biggie).
Anyway, back to Tom. We’re all working in the open nowadays so I’m not worried about copyright (if I was I probably wouldn’t have posted pics in Twitter), but I wanted to capture in one place some key things I took from Tom’s talk, for my own reference in future but also (if helpful) for others.
Tom’s talk was ultimately about ‘changing the weather’ (I like a good metaphor) and for those of us on a transformational journey it provided lots of things to think about, but also in my case to reinforce what I am already feeling and thinking.
The following captures in one place tweets I posted on Friday (I know it should have been Mastodon...) with some elaboration. These are drawn from lessons of the very recent past, but they feel highly relevant to today, to anyone working in digital transformation.
Tweet 1 — “@tomskitomski urging us to ‘change the weather’: change the conditions of the organisation you’re in so you can build great things in a great way. Open, iterative, transparent. #mtpengage”
This has to be our biggest challenge at the moment. Culture, culture, culture.
Tweet 2 — “And go where the hamsters are friendly… So far I’m finding many friendly hamsters in the wider NHS.”
And to reinforce, I’ve yet to find an angry hamster.
Tweet 3 — “Identify your square of despair; in Gov it was the business case process, procurement, security and desktop kit. Similar to NHS now (methinks).”
The only thing I’d add to this, working in health, is the importance of assuring clinical risk, and reinforcing the need to be inter-operable with services being delivered across a very diverse ecosystem.
Tweet 4 — “If you’re not fearing you might be fired, you’re probably not being bold enough”. Super pleased I can channel @tomskitomski in NHS Digital”
Still makes me chuckle, but…
… some of the feedback I received in Twitter about this surprised me. People saying it was irresponsible and being fired is a serious thing. Well of course it is, but I’ve always thought you need to know the rules, in order to know where and how to bend (or break) them. By their very nature rules are made in the past. They may still be true for now, but they may not. In these digital times, and with the desire (and need) to empower people, the rules of the past may not be fit for the future. If those of us involved in trying to shape the future aren’t also involved in changing the rules of the past I wonder are we trying hard enough?
Tweet 5 — “And this is Ann saying thank you to @kitterati & team for building the Lasting Power of Attorney service (something I’ve used, it is great). Never forget the users and how life supporting and changing public services can be.”
And what a great way to end, never forget the users. Such a powerful video clip — after the main filming, Ann (I hope I got your name right) asked the person behind the camera if she could say thank you — and she meant to the team who had built the Lasting Power of Attorney service (https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney). I’m not afraid to say at this point it brought a tear to my eye. I’ve used the LPA service in my own life and it really is a fantastic service for people who need Gov to be at it its most accessible.
Never forget the importance of delivering life supporting and life-changing services to the public.
Thanks Tom, and thanks MTP.
Ps — if you’re not familiar with Tom or the work of GDS, I recommend watching the Parliamentary TV session from November 2018 at https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/abfe49d3-f24c-4b93-b8e4-840ff9f03794?in=10:33:56.
Ps — sorry Tom, we haven’t met yet, but hope you don’t mind me spreading your story and using it to help me in my/our journey (and for those that don’t know, Tom can be found at https://public.digital/)
Ps — there was another slide I was too slow to take a picture of. It was the one that said “publish your design principles, build a service manual and a design system” (my paraphrasing). Glad to say we’re well on the way to doing that…
