Back for a second week, but still hesitant to say the open working and blogging block has been broken.
3 things this week
Being able to say no
I read Kat Sexton’s post on LinkedIn about whether a product function is right in local government. There is a lot to dive into in the post, and even more from the comments, but the line that really resonated with me this week was: Are our teams empowered to say no to low-value work?
I think the experience of many content and design teams in local government is the only no they are empowered to say is in answer to that very question. Annie Heath also wrote an incredible LinkedIn post this week sharing how her personal and professional lives were colliding. In it she reflected on so many missed opportunities because of how the needs of a service come above the needs of an organisation, and both of which continually outplay the real needs of the user and proper, deep, system-wide service design.
It’s the situation Annie describes which leaves design and delivery teams so often in a weak position to say no, or even not yet. Services come with solutions already in hand, and a remit that Our Will Must Be Done. Everyone’s need is as urgent as each other, everyone’s cost saving targets as pressing as the next.
Product as a function won’t change this in itself, but embedding product thinking across an organisation might creep us toward it. Culture is both hard and slow to change so where do we start? A solid framework of assessing value, top down commitment to it, alternative offers for those who have to wait in line or need to let go of the solution they’d committed themselves too and lean in to collaboratively taking a new look at the problem.
The first ‘no’ sure will be bold, and will need to be resolute.
What to learn next
This week I posed a question to my team about what they wanted to learn next. I had been thinking about this for myself and was curious what they were all thinking. And I wondered if their interests might give me new possibilities to explore as I’ve been holding back from making a choice on where to take my own learning from here.
I’m considering lots of different things: AI, data and insights, trauma-informed design, accessibility, public sector digital transformation, systems thinking…
Has anyone done some self-led learning recently they’d recommend? As an offer in advance I can recommend Platformland: An anatomy of next generation public services by Richard Pope at the moment. Open to books, courses, videos…whatever you’ve got!
Feelings of the week: vulnerability, overwhelm, defeat
How bad does that sound? Despite the impression the heading may give I’ve had a wonderful week: a birthday with cake baked by my teenagers, a twilight walk in one of my fave places (9 Ladies stone circle), asking and receiving help to get some DIY finally finished. All good.
But there have been moments of challenge at and around work. Continuing to embrace the vulnerability of working openly but also in trying to find ways to improve things not going as well as I’d hoped. Trying to be comfortable with the feelings of defeat that comes with pragmatic compromise. The momentary panic that comes from realising there are too many plates spinning and still more are being loaded on to poles.
My reflection is here actually not about those feelings but resilience. A big step back to health for me is being able to acknowledge these feelings, but not become them. A final bit of vulnerability for the week in writing that, which as Brené Brown says is ‘the birthplace of love, belonging, joy courage, empathy, and creativity.’ Sounds pretty decent return on a little discomfort.
In case you missed it
As well as emerging from a blogging hiatus I also found myself with thoughts to share in a stand alone post. There was lots swirling around transformation, operational systems taking control of experience, and why we as a sector still seem to find it a stretch to deliver digital basics. You can read Is intention the enemy of action here.