Digital and Agile Specialist

Tag: Agile

  • Delivering in a crisis

    One of the key personal aims I had when I joined Difrent, just over six months ago, was to work somewhere that would let me deliver stuff that matters. Because I am passionate about people, and about Delivery; After 15 years, right in the thick of some pioneering public sector work, combining high profile product…

  • How do we determine value?

    And how do we make sure we are delivering it? In a previous blog I discussed the importance of understanding the value you are trying to add, and how you measure cost vs vale. How we measure value and ensure we are delivering a valuable return on investment is one of the ‘big’ questions at…

  • What even is agile anyway?

    So you’re a leader in your organisation and Agile is ‘the thing’ that everyone is talking about. Your organisation has possible trialed one or two Agile projects within the Digital or Tech department, but they haven’t really delivered like you thought they would, and you think you can ‘do more’ with it, but honestly, what…

  • Welcome to the Dark Side.

    Last week I started working for @BeDifrent, a business transformation agency working with both Public and Private sector clients to help them deliver #TechForGood. This is a massive change for me, I spent almost 15 years in the Public Sector, I always said I was a public servant for life, and in my heart I…

  • Building a case based on assumptions

    Why you shouldn’t start with the business case. I’ve been working within Digital transformation for almost ten years now, working on some of the largest projects and programmes within the public sector. From front line services to backend systems, from simple forms to complex benefit processing applications. One thing that has been a feature of every…

  • Delivering Digital Government 2019

    This week Claire Harrison (Head of Architecture from CQC) and I had the opportunity to attend the Delivering Digital Goverment event run by Worth Systems in The Hague. The event was focused on how digital has transformed governments across the world, sharing best practices and lessons learned. With speakers from the founding of GDS, like…

  • Service Standards for the whole service

    How the service standards have evolved over time…. Gov.uk has recently published the new Service Standards for government and public sector agencies to use when developing public facing transactional services. I’ve previously blogged about why the Service Standards are important in helping us develop services that meet user needs, as such I’ve been following their…

  • Scrum Master or Delivery Manager – what’s in a name?

    Are the roles of Scrum Master and Delivery manager the same? Continuing on my recent musings on the different roles within Agile multidisciplinary teams, today’s blog focuses on the role of the Delivery Manager, or the Scrum Master, and whether these roles are really the same thing. This is a conversation that came up a…

  • What is the value in a Head of Product?

    Our numbers are growing, but what is the role, and what value does it add? When I first took up the role of ‘Head of Product Management’ back in October 2016, I was one of the first in Government to have the title, and within a few months there was a very small band of…

  • What is the role of Business Analysts within agile?

    Analysisng the role of the Business Analyst. When we were looking at the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) roles and capabilities back in 2016, one of the roles we really struggled with was the role of the Business Analyst (BA). Not because we didn’t agree that it was a role (because we absolutely did) but…