Weeknote 9: week ending 2nd February 2024

and just like that, January disappeared in the rear view mirror as fast as it had approached.

What I’ve been up to

1. The focus of the week was the monthly digital leadership team meeting, a full day of business and focused sessions on priority issues. First time all the senior team has been together since Christmas due to holidays so great to get our heads together, in person and with the shadow leadership team (who are a great foil for us and hold us to account), to do deep dives on procurement strategy, our current risk reporting and how we lead by example by working in the open.
2. I think I’ve mentioned here before that we are encouraging all our teams to publish regular team notes internally to improve internal communication and awareness. It made me realise that these weeknotes, published on my own website, are very much a personal reflection for my own use primarily. Its equally important we get the regular senior leadership notes right in terms of priorities and successes as they really set the tone for the rest of the digital teams.
3. Starting to form in my head how we draw all the previous work on future operating models, ways of working, procurement, current and future live service support etc into one cohesive programme of work. The business needs certainty, we need to reassure them we can provide the right service to help them deliver. Still learning about this and uncovering lots of good work from the past that hasn’t had the chance to shine.
4. Went to a great event on AI in the public sector hosted by Faculty. Great to hear form others across wider government about how they are finding practical use cases for something that feels at times like another hype cycle.
5. Ive got a busy week next week attending the residential part of the course for new directors run by the leadership college for government. Theres been quite a lot of preparation in advance which has eaten into my time.

What I’m doing next

1. A good chunk of the week will be attending the course mentioned above. Which means…
2. Thursday and Friday will probably be backed up with meetings squeezed into my only two days of the day job this week.
3. We’re furiously working on finalising a substantive version of our digital strategy and roadmap for sharing with the wider organisation to give them clearer visibility of our priorities and ensure we are aligned with their expectations.
4. Lots of activity around scoping our future live services support model that I will need to catch up on when I’m back from the course