Ben #ActNow πŸ”₯🌳🌊's Avatar

Ben #ActNow πŸ”₯🌳🌊

@benaldo.bsky.social

People+planet-centred Service Designer / Product Manager Service Manual & Service Standard, GDS, DSIT Woke he/him

407 Followers  |  92 Following  |  1,362 Posts  |  Joined: 14.10.2023
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Posts by Ben #ActNow πŸ”₯🌳🌊 (@benaldo.bsky.social)

5 boardgame covers. Duel, survive, Clans of Caledonia, Dune Imperium Uprising, thunder road vendetta.

5 boardgame covers. Duel, survive, Clans of Caledonia, Dune Imperium Uprising, thunder road vendetta.

Want to play moooooore irl #boardgames. Feb had not enough.

01.03.2026 09:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ”­ Next up: sharpen the plan for 26/27. Look at what more we can get and do with performance data. Keep building the case for doing things differently.

#govdesign 6/6

27.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ›οΈ Discussed how to embed user-centred design into the Service Transformation programme’s strategy, structure and operations, with its Lead Product Manager and Lead Content Designer.

#govdesign 5/6

27.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ”Ž Reviewed research and performance data insights from Q3 to identify potential future priorities, with feedback from team on how to improve next time.

#govdesign 4/6

27.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ€“ Putting together a subject matter expert 'sense-check group' for potential Service Manual changes.

🎯 Drafted OKRs for the next couple of quarters, which we’ll discuss at Service Transformation programme’s away day in Manchester on Monday.

#govdesign 3/6

27.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

🩰 Planning for turning our long‑term vision into practical steps we can actually start delivering now and over the next year or so.

#govdesign 2/6

27.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

As a public servant I write regular notes to show what my team and I are doing with GDS's Service Standard & Service Manual. In the last week or two we have...

πŸ› οΈ Completed many fixes, updates, corrections, stylistic improvements across the Service Manual.

#govdesign 1/6

27.02.2026 15:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Compensated for suppressing emotions in favour of business gains.

25.02.2026 20:21 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Looking forward to @jukes.ie's session at the Product Manager community meetup tomorrow - 'We're supposed to work in the open. How's that going?'

25.02.2026 19:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes. Very hard, and possibly unnatural (like much of working life) not to have v emotional reactions. Which I suppose what's known as being professional.

25.02.2026 19:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

When things go wonky at work, I shrivel, feel quiet and small, and yearn for just boardgames, sleep, booze and running a campsite. I'm not sure if that's resilient or not.

25.02.2026 15:24 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I bought Eathborne Rangers last night, second hand for Β£50. Hope it's unbelievably amazing! #boardgames

17.02.2026 10:03 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

All with PhDs. Working around the clock.

16.02.2026 14:55 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It'd take a fleet of humans.

16.02.2026 14:55 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I want an AI to scan my work's calendars & reshuffle them so: priorities come first; blockers cleared; dependencies sequenced; time for prep/thinking/notes; overlaps merged; agendas + attendees improved.

We'd define objectives clearly and write proper descriptions to help the robots.

16.02.2026 08:48 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Lost Ruins Of Arnak, 6.9/10.

Lacks atmosphere, coherence and fun.

A weak imitation of Dune Imperium (which is an 8.3/10).

#boardgames

15.02.2026 16:29 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
LinkedIn This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

And, did you know you can get emailed whenever the GOV.UK Service Standard or Service Manual are updated? Just go to the sections you're interested in at gov.uk/service-manual, and click on 'Get emails when any guidance within this topic is updated'.

13.02.2026 16:48 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ€– Added requirements to the Service Standard for service teams to

- have someone on/available to the team who fully understands how AI works & the impact of using it
- assess impact of AI on user experience, inclusion & the reliability of info & decisions

bsky.app/profile/bena...

4/4 #govdesign

13.02.2026 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ“‹ Surveyed GDS content designers on joining up services with GOV.UK and analysed responses

3/4 #govdesign

13.02.2026 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

🧰 Welcomed 3x contractor Content Designers who have cracked through stylistic improvements, fixes, corrections across 40+ pages, and are now picking up heftier stuff

🚿 Developed content workflow

2/4 #govdesign

13.02.2026 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

As a public servant I write #weeknotes / #monthnotes to show what my team and I are doing with #GDS ’s Service Standard & Service Manual. Recently we've...

πŸ”­ Set the vision for 'Service Manual 2030'

1/4 #govdesign

13.02.2026 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
Cartoon. Person says to other person β€žWe invented a robot that answers questions.β€œ, adding, β€žwe just have to feed it 10 baby giraffes a dayβ€œ. The other person asks β€žBut it answers the questions correctly?β€œ Person responds β€žOh my goodness, no. No no no no no.β€œ

By Aram J. French

Appropriated due to missing alt text

Cartoon. Person says to other person β€žWe invented a robot that answers questions.β€œ, adding, β€žwe just have to feed it 10 baby giraffes a dayβ€œ. The other person asks β€žBut it answers the questions correctly?β€œ Person responds β€žOh my goodness, no. No no no no no.β€œ By Aram J. French Appropriated due to missing alt text

12.02.2026 13:44 β€” πŸ‘ 12660    πŸ” 4122    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 61

AI regurgitating the balance and narratives it sees in the media (traditional and social) - amplifying tone, not always the truth.

12.02.2026 21:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I asked the AI LLM why it hadn't mentioned the Greens were favourites and it said it was overly-focused on the biggest stories, but that it would adjust future responses to be more accurate.

Just now I asked again, who would win - same response.

12.02.2026 21:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Earlier today I asked a search engine 'Who's favourite to win the Gorton & Denton by-election?'.

An AI-generated summary said Reform are likely to have a very strong showing, polling higher than Labour. No mention of other parties.

The Greens are odds-on favourites with every high street bookie.

12.02.2026 21:07 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

please leave just a brief comment in response to mine, in your doc, before you resolve it. To avoid massively offending and irritating me.

12.02.2026 15:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

dear media, Jim Ratcliffe’s far-right language does not mean it’s a green light for a phone-in asking β€˜is he right?’ it’s the moment to call out his use of far-right language

12.02.2026 08:08 β€” πŸ‘ 457    πŸ” 105    πŸ’¬ 29    πŸ“Œ 12
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Victoria Embankment this morning. Why should hard working cyclists taxes go on these wide car lanes when motorists don't bother using them?

12.02.2026 11:17 β€” πŸ‘ 344    πŸ” 76    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 5

Yes. I too shall project and rewrite history.

11.02.2026 16:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

You'll be appalled to hear I don't have any (water) butts.

11.02.2026 15:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0