DEFRA UCD Operations Sprint 10 & 11
28 June — 25 July 2021
An accessible version of this update is available via Google Docs.
This was sprint 10 & 11 for User Centred Design Operations in Defra.
Below are the updates from each practice, and when you get to the end, there’s something to make you smile.
Design — Tom Frankland
Over these two sprints, aside from a few days of training, I’ve mainly been looking at the tools we’ve been using and thinking about how we embed sustainability into our practice as designers.
What went well
- This sprint I attended two days of service design training and planet-centred design training provided by Snook. I’ve been helping Snook understand our needs for this training so it was really satisfying when it finally arrived and to hear all the positive feedback from the team at the end.
- Following the planet-centred design training I’ve been thinking about how we can continue to embed sustainability into our day-to-day work, and part of this has involved reaching out to others within Defra and across government who are interested in this topic. It’s great to make connections and link up with people who are all super passionate about this topic.
- I’ve also been helping to plan the next cross-gov design meetup which will be hosted by Defra. Really excited to be involved with this and to help showcase all the great work our designers are doing.
What didn’t go well
- I’m still struggling to navigate the internal processes for acquiring Mural within our own department (DDTS), which seem a bit different to those someone would follow if they were asking us to help them acquire something. However there’s been some good collaboration on this to try and move it forward and I’m feeling positive we might start to see some change soon.
Content — John Brewer
These sprints have been occupied with becoming part of the DEFRA family. All have been generous with their time and patient answering of my new boy at school questions.
What went well
- Started my DEFRA journey. I have met lots of new colleagues who all share the same core values of knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm.
What didn’t go well
- I don't know what I don’t know!
Research — Samantha Brown
For sprint 10 my focus has been to onboard our two new staff — Natalie and John :) I have also allowed myself some time to learn, which is so precious.
What went well
- For the first part of sprint 10 I attended service design training delivered by Snook. I loved the ethics part and how technology is never neutral. The impact of a low bridge on segregating a community will stay with me forever.
- The second part of the sprint was Welsh Gov UX week. So many amazing speakers, I loved listening to Rochelle Gold from the NHS, she said:
Seldom ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶ listened to users
- At the Welsh Gov week our very own Natalie and John delivered a thought provoking session on ethics. The feedback from attendees was incredible.
- During the sprint I also worked with colleagues to create a card sort for our SharePoint structure, supported a review of the ops work so far on co design and started a ‘to be’ structure for ops.
What didn’t go well
- We need more staff in ops I feel like I am behind with everything, the to do list never ends.
Summer intern — Natalie Zmelonek-Mulligan
In a nutshell, I am researching how researchers do research. Specifically, whether it would be useful for Defra’s researchers to onboard an existing gov.uk panel, which manages a central pool of participants. Whilst the panel could be very beneficial in the long run, there are also many concerns that have to be weighted up before a decision is made…
What went well
- I recruited participants for 1–1 interviews, with all interviewees coming with different experiences and hence different insights into conducting research and using a panel.
- Loved working with the team on this sprint- they reassure me there is never a stupid question! I learned a lot from them, whether it’s navigating OneDrive from John or whether it’s learning about the structure of the civil service from Tom!
- Joined a talk hosted by Priya Shah, who inspired me to follow my instincts
- I finally understand user-needs vs personas!
What didn’t go well
- Wish I had more hours in the day because would love to see the end of this project before I finish my internship!
- In the end, didn’t manage to observe other researchers conduct interviews before I did mine, because of time-constraints.
Something to make you smile
