Paul O'Neill

Gov budgets are tight - "do more with less" they say. But also don't get spread too thinly creating risks of failure.

no matter how many times I have to type "algoridim" into screens I always spell it wrong, then let the autospell fix it and then forget how to spell algorythm again the next time.

I do it with rythmic precision. (spot how many spelling mistakes)

Business France page with centre aligned content box

UI design has really gotten lazy. Content often now is centre aligned on webpages. Saw this first in the abundance of Wordpress templatery when media queries began as a convenient approach to mobile design.

But it's now become the norm. So oddly off, look at the "Our aim" content below

TBM 385: "We Have To Simplify!" “We have to simplify!

open.substack.com/pub/cutlefis...

@johncutle.fish expresses the feelings around the many gov digital teams

"No. Well, yes. But no. AI. I mean... people made things too complex.”

Detach instance, detach instance, detach instance...

Working in Figma always ends up this way.

I really think the best laid plans and good intentions behind figmas componentization just never really works.

Noticing a huge increase in websites and companies employing surveys and user research in the past couple of years. A good sign. Theory: the low interest rate mania of hockey stick user expansion is over were in an era of retention and value for the user

Inside the FT’s AI-Powered Story Finding Leveraging Data Science to Uncover Hidden Patterns and Enhance Investigative Journalism

I like this use case of generative AI tech from this FT's tech team. Joining the dots up on the unstructured data on MP donations and supporters medium.com/ft-product-t...

View from the window today sat the DBT DDaT all hands away day. Refreshing meeting colleagues in the flesh

GPs turn to AI to help with patient workload Should more AI be used to help GPs with consultations and administrative work?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... GPs using AI transcription tool to speed up paperwork. That's use case I like

"highlighted "leadership instability" within Bristol City Council, which has had five different directors of children's services since 2019." Reading details of the thematic review of youth violence in Bristol.

Leadership churn has real life cost in public services

OAuth works the same way. An online shop gets a temporary, limited-use token from Google, which it can use to access specific details like your name and email address. This token is like the valet key—it grants access to certain things without giving away the master password to your entire account."

"Think of it like giving a valet a special key to your car. This "valet key" only lets them park the car and open the doors. It won't let them open the trunk or your glove compartment, or get into your house.

I've casually asked my tech colleagues to explain what oAuth means for an ordinary user. Subject matter experts close to the tech have struggled to break it down, so I asked an AI. I liked the answer, read below

gonna try verify myself with Companies House using the Gov verify - wish me luck! Vaguely remember it working smoothly last time #govdesign

I'm spotting a recurring theme of inexperienced user researchers working in government. Often given impractical expectations from their managers along with severe lack of context.

Also a theme of URs being disinterested and bored but usability testing.

TIL that bank cheque I had sitting in a drawer for months well turns out it can be scanned on my bank app

#govdesign

Creating efficient well designed case management systems drives down delivery costs, as the UK gov Home Office is learning. See this paragraph from an explanation why asylum processing is so slow

Found these beautifully crafted "badges" down the back of my Fitbit app and now I'm thinking how many hours were spent crafting them but for what benefit. Do lots of adults honestly collect gamification badges in health apps?

Feels like a waste of a designers time, nice portfolio piece though.

Forgot to post image

In DWP's office at Caxton House. Dropped down to the cafeteria for quick lunch only to find this book sat on the table. Was heartwarming and re-energising to read the chapter about inclusive content design. That's been a little bit of a battleground lately.

An AI microphone on your wrist that listens to everything you say. This exists already as a product. Holey moley

Returning to the office means I get to work in a turret with views of Westminster abbey and big Ben

A comic from Design thinking comic which has 4 panels they alternate between saying “we have too many specialists! We need more generalists who can get things done quickly!” And “we have too many generalists! We need more specialists who can gat things done properly!”

Hey @designthinking.lol please remove yourself from my brain.

And so ignorance or blatant disregard for the principles of the gov service standard removes the hygiene factors causing dissatisfaction. I'm feeling this a lot lately.

Hygiene factors in delivering UCD. "Hygiene factors do not give positive satisfaction or lead to higher motivation, though dissatisfaction results from their absence. The term "hygiene" is used as extrinsic to the work itself, and include aspects such as company policies, supervisory practices etc"

Manage health services for others - NHS App help and support You can add people to your NHS App to manage health services for others.

Doing a straw poll of friends and family lots don't even know about the NHS app and what you can do on it. Manage your children's health records for example

www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/nhs-...

Been thinking a lot lately about how GDS really need to rewrite the discovery section of the service manual. Also add more supporting content around brownfield site projects and internal services.

Trying to pay fine (PCN) for entering a yellow box. Got this screen click pay, greeted with "The PCN listed are not payable". I'd missed the extremely small checkbox of one PCN to pay in a table design.

I just read "For recruiters - Focus on finding "full stack humans" who can work across multiple domains from high-level strategy to detailed implementation, as they require fewer handoffs and dramatically increase shipping velocity." #unicorns