Blog

  • Speak Agile To Me:

    Speak Agile To Me:

    I have blogged about some of these elsewhere, but a quick glossary of terms that you might hear when talkingAgile or Digital Transformation.

  • Why it’s ok to recognise that not everyone is the same.

    At our LGBT* AGM a few weeks ago there were some really good conversations about what we could do to keep growing our network and supporting both the LGBT* members of our organisation, and ensuring as an organisation we are recognising what good looks like in terms of care for LGBT* people, and how we…

  • Making a change or making progress.

    At a leadership conference recently there was an interesting debate about whether people perceived making a change or making progress to be more important. Everyone on my table voted for making a change, my vote initially was for making progress, and so we debated what the difference was. For me, change can be positive or…

  • Theme vs. Epic vs. Feature vs. Component vs. Story

    Probably the question I get most (after what is Product Management, and what is the difference between a Product Manager/ Product Owner/ Delivery Manger)… ok so the third most common question I get asked is “what I mean by Epic/ Theme/ Feature, Componant or Story, what is the difference?” And given I get asked it…

  • My user manual:

    A user manual is a document that tells users how to use a particular system. More recently personal user manuals that help others work with you better have begun to spring up. I’ve seen a few great examples of personal user manuals recently, most recently from Dan Barrett, and I really like the idea; Unfortunately…

  • DWP Videos featuring me!

    DWP Videos featuring me!

  • Finding your tribe. My path to the Civil Service:

    That’s been some great stories shared on twitter today, and it really got me thinking about why I joined the Civil Service, and why I’ve stayed in the public sector. Homeless till I was almost 4, I grew up on a council estate, daughter of a single mum, and like many others seemed to do,…

  • Changing perceptions of Women in Leadership

    Originally published at digileaders.com on November 3, 2017. Last month we delivered a breakout session at the Women into Leadership conference in Leeds. The conference is about managing the challenges of modern leadership, recognising and rewarding female leaders, and enhancing leadership opportunities for women so they can build skills to become the leader they aspire…

  • Bringing Product and Design together to build a user centric culture

    Why bringing Product and Design together is such a good idea. Within the Product Management community we often talk about the importance of the Vision and how critical a prioritised backlog is. Making sure we understand our users needs and making sure we deliver quality services that meet those users needs. Recently Service Design as…

  • What does a Product Owner own anyway?

    Recently Ross Ferguson wrote a great blog about why GDS chose Product Manager rather than Product Owner as the role title of its Product people. Ross is right when he says that Product Management is the profession, and more widely understood by the wider industry, so why do we in DWP not use that term…


Digital and Agile Specialist

Zoe on the go