Update Mar 2019: I’m organising another meet-up soon, sign up to the mailing list here to be notified of when tickets are available: http://eepurl.com/gkO2JL

Over the last year I organised two meet-ups for people designing caseworking systems in government. Previously I’d hosted write-ups of the events on a dedicated site (https://cross-gov-caseworking.herokuapp.com) but as that site is password protected (because reasons) I thought it would be better to move over the write-ups of the events to Medium for better visibility.

Most government departments use various forms of caseworking system for staff to process applications for licences, grant permission to do things…

3 Sep 18–7 Sep 18

Things that happened this week

Went to a DWP meetup

My buddy Chris and the indomitable Simon Wilson invited me and Michael Owen up to a DWP design examples meetup, where DWP designers get together and share examples of similar work.

We went to talk about the work that we (well, mostly Mike) have done on the Home Office Design System. We talked frankly about some of the mistakes we made and the amount of effort required to continually keep people engaged but also about how it’s made design easier and quicker.

Interestingly, DWP recently started advertising for staff for their own design systems…

27 Aug 18 — 31 Aug 18

Short and sweet one this week as I was only in work for 3 days (I’m taking another long weekend off for my nephews wedding which I was very excited about).

Stuff that happened this week

Moar designers

My week started off well by welcoming the quietly spoken, incredibly talented and coiffured Eliot Hill to our Police Digital team. I spent a good chunk of the day going through induction stuff with him and answering questions that I failed to address in the induction materials.

Our central teams’ Graphic Designer Sue Spevack also joined us for the day to see…

13 Aug 18–24 Aug 18

This weeks edition is another bumper one due to cramming things in before heading off on a short break last week. It’s been a really packed few weeks so I’m going through everything day by day so I don’t miss anything.

Mon 13 Aug

In Sheffield on a Monday, which was a most welcome change.

I started the morning by sifting for some contract roles we’ve got live at the moment. I find sifting a bit of a grind, especially when there is a large volume of applicants. Normally I’d force myself to sit and do them for…

6 Aug 18–10 Aug 18

Sorry, late again.

But I had a pretty good week all in all. Really felt like I made some good progress on two projects I’m working on.

Highlights of the week

Beginning to turn research into the fun stuff

23 Jul 18— 3 Aug 18

I’ve struggled to find time for weeknotes recently, so this is a bumper edition of the last two weeks. I’ve spent a lot of time toing and froing from home to London. Going to try and limit my travel over the next few weeks to give me a break.

Typically, I start my weeknotes on a Friday afternoon but recently Friday’s have become a, kind of, clearing day for all of the small jobs that accumulate, so that I can maximise the time I’m spending with people down in London the rest of the…

23 July 18–17 July 18

I’m writing this shortly after guzzling large amounts of freshly baked cinnamon swirls for breakfast, with the delicious sweet pastry smell still lingering in the air. Mmmm.

This of course triggers some guilt and my rational self has earnest plans to go for a run to offset the sugar. But the pleasure of my second cup of tea of the morning is anchoring my elephant and causing me to procrastinate. So, I’m compromising with myself whilst I’m sat here by doing something productive and finishing my weeknotes instead. I’ll run later. Possibly.

Much of my…

02 Jul 18 — 13 Jul 18

Apologies, this is a delayed weeknote as I didn’t get a chance to hit publish last week owing to a bit of a rush before going on a short break. So it’s a bumper edition instead!

It’s been a very full-on fortnight but overall I have felt much more productive than I have in a while.

I think this is partly because I feel slightly more in control of my work since my last weeknote. My new process of planning my week in detail on a Monday in Trello and making sure that…