Posts tagged "2015"

It’s been a fortnight of big announcements.

Mike has announced he’s leaving. Leisa is going home. Tom, Ben & Russell have decided to move on. We’ve also said goodbye to some others – Andy, Lindsey, Sam and Mark.

There’s been lots of noise about what this means for GDS, for ongoing digital transformation, for the future of IT in government.

If I said this hasn’t all been unnerving and concerning, I’d be lying. I’ve spent a lot of time this week wondering what this means for me. Is it time for me to move on – do something new?

Last week I spent a day in Manchester with my team’s user researcher. She’s visiting people all over the country to help us better understand how people interact with government services.

Taking part in research like this gives you a great opportunity to meet people outside of your normal circle. As a civil servant, I spend most of my time with people who have an interest in and understanding of how government works. As a developer, I spend most of my time with people who are confident using technology. Many of my friends have scientific, engineering or legal backgrounds. All of these give unrealistic expectations of how people cope with the real world situations we inflict upon them.

January is usually a fairly quiet month. It normally takes people a while to get back into things following the Christmas break.

This year however, everything seemed to have hit the ground running. Lots of projects have moved forward quickly and it looks like the first half of this year is going to be rather productive.

This month the first phase of DVLA’s Vehicle Management service has moved to a public beta. Motor dealers can now notify DVLA that they’ve bought a vehicle online without having to return the paper V5C document. This will automatically update DVLA’s records, refund any vehicle tax due to the original keeper and cancel a vehicle tax direct debit if it’s set up.