civil service – Mark O'Neill

Bad

It’s unusual to come across a truly bad new digital service these days. People now praise the online passport service for speed and ease of use, the same for Jobseeker’s, voter registration. Most online public services delivered since the establishment of the Government Digital Service are at least functional and many are best of breed.Continue reading “Bad”

Westminster Thinktank Scene – 12″ Dub Mix

This one goes out to all the junior ministers being reshuffled in and wondering just what the hell is going on. Here are a few common tropes you will see come up again and again in Westminster. “WTD – Will This Do?” Most commonly seen as a response to a minister making a commitment whichContinue reading “Westminster Thinktank Scene – 12″ Dub Mix”

As patterns seem to form

The opinion polls indicate that the next UK General Election will bring a new government. The last time we were here was back in 2008/9 when one of the hot topics was “Digital”. Shadow Ministers spoke at events about the critical importance of digital, policy papers were published by think tanks and I, a memberContinue reading “As patterns seem to form”

Policymanship

Readers of the late great Stephen Potter’s works on Lifemanship and Gamesmanship may wonder if the same techniques can be applied in government. The answer is “Of course!” Here are a couple of examples of Policymanship in action. “Cutting grant fraud” Ministers are very keen to launch a big new business grants programme which willContinue reading “Policymanship”

Carousel

I have said many times that working for any large organisation, public or private sector, is like being on a merry-go-round. There is a constant sense of motion but for some reason the same sights keep coming round again and again. And here we are again with Francis Maude being commissioned to look at CivilContinue reading “Carousel”