2025 year note
2025 has been a difficult year. It was a year that forced me to pause, reflect, and eventually reach a much better understanding of how my own brain works.
Dafydd Vaughan
CTO & Digital technology specialist
I advise governments, public institutions and commercial organisations on digital transformation, building strong digital teams and delivering sustainable technology.
I’m the CTO for Public Digital’s consulting practice and the Independent Member for Digital on Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. I was a co-founder of the UK Government Digital Service and a strategic advisor to Centre for Digital Public Services in Wales.
Blog posts
I occasionally write blog posts on this website - these are my most recent
The bridge to nowhere: Why your ‘Target Architecture' won’t ever deliver
Stop funding fictional target architecture blueprints and start funding empowered, long-lived teams. The traditional, rigid approach is too slow for the age of AI and will never solve your real-world legacy tech problems. It’s time to trade the fiction for empowered teams and clear principles.
Why some DVLA digital services don't work at night
Every few months or so, somebody asks on social media why a particular DVLA digital service is turned off over night. Rather than answering it every time, I’ve decided to write this post, so I can point people at it in future. It’s a great case study to show why making government services digitally native can be quite complicated.