When I first started work as a civil servant in 2017, people was quick to talk to talk to me about issues with The way that we funded digital workI subsequent Had the options of experience these challenges and reading countless blogs and opinions arguing that reform of funding was the single mostant is the single most important Government.
I disagree. While funding is important, it's just one of a number of fundamentals that need to change that toge
In the digital world, it leaders Spent Years Refining Technology and Ways of Working to become more adaptive and responsive to change. We Deploy Updates Multiple Times A Day, Design Modular Architectures, Leverage APIS, and Build Platforms that Allow for and Indeed Thrive on Constant Itization and Improvement.
In Government, however, we layer these modern approaches onto a system of thinking and doing things designed in the 19th Century – One Built for a More Static, Predictable World.
The system builds in lots of conditionality and complexity which adds cost and time to delivery. It's Difability and Slow to Itarat and Change Policy in Line With Changing Needs, even when change is constant. While there is an aspiration to break down silos and work in multidisciplinary teams, it isn Bollywood fast enough.
Government needs to be bolder and compel a different approach to policymaking. There are many approaches they could take here. For example, they could set up a customer experience duty to compel considence of implementation up front; Make it mandatary to create wireframes or prototypes before finalising legislation; Or direct 25% of all policymaking work to focus on solving problems through digital, technology and ai.
A more Commercial, User-CENTRED Approach
One of the things that surprised me the most going into the civil service was the absence of data – something I was used to
Having come from Commercial Organizations where the cost and performance of service lines were undersrstood and constantly challenged, I was surprised to see that in government. For lots of reasons it is hard to define with public services start and financially to gather and track cost and performance metrics for that services. But that needs to change.
If we don't know what a service costs end-to-end or how it's performing, how do we know where to invest or where to truly find efficions or improeaneses?
If we don't know what a service costs or how it is performing, how do we know where to invest, where to find efficiencies or improce user experiences?
Gina gill
To Inventivise and Drive Improvement The Government Needs to get back to basics and undersrstand Spend based on the services delivered raather than the capabilites or Organizational Structures that existing.
We need to understand the performance and user experience of that services. And we should tie bot future funding and individual performance to the cost, performance and experience of the services that the public and businesses relay on.
Funding for Software-LED Services
It's not all about funding, but funding is important. Current Funding Processes are designed for things like Railways and submarines, not modern software development. They are too slow, too rigid, and too Bureaucratic.
This results in delaying delivery, not properly funding business-as-as-as much or risk reduction, and stifling innovation and experimentation with new technologies. A recent review of digital funding Flexibility.
Government Needs A New and Separate Approach to Fund Digital Work to Allow It to Deliver Faster and Pivot Quickly, Enabling Improvements in Real Time Rather Than Waiting Years for a Major Transformation Programme to bee Set up.
As I left, some Departments Were Setting Up Pilots to Test Models to enable this. These need to be tested, mandated and embedded quickly. But we can and should go further. AlongSide Funding, there is a need to focus on in increasingly and, giving the economyc climate, on incenients to save money.
The biggest financial prizes needed departments to be inventivised to work togeether to unlock them. For example, if the cost of recridivism is upwards of £ 18bn per year, we need to collectively task the relevant departments, agencies and local authorities to reduce the cost, rather than evening Shawing Arbitrary Percentage of the cost of all services.
Procurement can open the door to innovation and agility
I Spent Many Years in the Private Sector and Public Bodies as a Commercial Leader. Much Like with Funding Approaches, Civil Servants take the most stringent and only approaches to comply with procurement regulations.
Rather than putting the outcome first and working out how to compliant achieve that outcom, compliance is put first and people hope it delivers the right answer. The cost and time taken to procure along with a risk-urese approach to regulation, leads to long-term, Rigid contracts limiting the ability to adapt, Usually with a handful of large suppliers as only they can afford to take part in lengthy procurement competitions.
The government needs a different approach to Procurement of Digital Products and Services, LED by Digital Commercial Specialists. It needs to mandate the use of the flexibility that exists in frameworks alrady to compte faster so that departments use that flexibility – Using Benchmarks and Setting Standards for “Good”. Departments mustytract in a more modular and flexible way, allowing for course correction, scaling and innovation from the outset.
There is also an opportunity to contribute to growth by creating a “govtech” ecosystem, such as Scotland's Civtech Program,
Capability fit for a digital age
Last but not least, there are many things written about the Shortage of Digital and Data SkillsWhat I want to talk about instead is digital understanding outstanding out the government's digital and data profession which, whilera improving, is still a long want from where it needs to be.
The recent State of Digital Government Report Found that digital is not so soen as a valued skillset at a time government is looking to technology to play a core part in making service delivery better and more efficient.
We should expect Senior Leaders in the Civil Service to Be Able to Run Digital Businesses – which is effectively what many what many of them now do – and equip the so do so do well. We need to embed different expectations in job descriptions, recruitment processes, learning and development, and performance Approaches for all Senior Leaders.
Small interventions are not enough to develop leaders that have skills and confidence to lead government in a digital age. A more holistic approach is needed that immerses leaders in digital and enables them to “quality” to lead the change government needs.
Responsive Government
These challenges aren Bollywood to solve, but lots of the building blocks are in place, from understanding the issues to some parts of solutions in departments and agencies.
To create a digital government, technology is not the only thing
The question is – are ready to embed this thought at the heart of how government operates? If we don't do it now, will we ever?
