Highlights: Transaction work is making progress, including the launch this week of the discovery process for the e-Gates "exemplar" [service transformation to digital] in the Home Office, and the start of writing code for the Carers' Allowance transaction. Agile coaches are joining the Land Registry and Intellectual Property Office to work at Board level on explaining the principles and supporting the management of change. GDS visited the frontline operation of the Office of the Public Guardian - owner of another exemplar service, and the Alpha version of the training course for service managers will start next week.
(Full transcript below)
Interviewer:
Hello, Mike. What have you been up to at GDS this week?
Mike Beaven:
Hi there. Busy old week. One of the big things we’ve done this week is with the Home Office, where we started the discovery the process for the e-Gates exemplar, which is part of Border Force. We’ve also actually started cracking code, or writing code, on the Beta for the Carers’ Allowance transaction. We’ve also managed to hire some Agile coaches into a couple of business agencies, which is the Land Registry and the Intellectual Property Office.
Interviewer:
What will they helping to do?
Mike:
Basically the teams there, at leadership level, aren’t that familiar with Agile and how it works. So we’re getting someone in to operate at a board level. To explain the principles and help them start their change.
Interviewer:
We’ve been out at other departments as well?
Mike:
We had a good day up at the Office of the Public Guardian's Birmingham Office, where they actually process around 250,000 applications for Lasting Powers of Attorney a year. So a very typical frontline operation. Spent time with the people on the ground, who have the delights of loading scanners and punching things with large stamps, to say that your Power of Attorney is actually valid. Good to actually see the frontline operation, and to see how the work that we do can actually transform those businesses.
Interviewer:
We’ve got more of that kind of work coming up next week?
Mike:
We’ve got a real key milestone for us in GDS as part of our big transformation agenda, of getting service managers in place in each of the departments.
So next week sees the Alpha of the service manager training course. We’ll start next week, so we’ve got a little bunch, I think, of about 5 or 6 of the service managers from our key exemplar transactions. They’re coming in for some training. There are some GDS people in there, as well, of course.
In the true GDS fashion, we’ll learn some stuff from that, then we’ll iterate and we’ll do a Beta.
Interviewer:
Finally, we’ve got a few people joining us this week?
Mike:
We’ve had a new chap join the transformation team this week, called David Durant, who’s joined as a business analyst. He is, at the moment, just learning the ropes, then he’ll shortly be out there, working with the rest of them.
Interviewer:
Fabulous. Until next time.
Mike:
Thank you.
1 comment
Comment by Graham Jenkins posted on
Hi - can you point to the Digital by Default service blogs for these examplar services? Thanks