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Working on EU Exit projects

Today’s presentations

• good product management in a complex, political and aggressively time-boxed delivery window
• five working principles for EU Exit Day One
• user needs versus policy as a moving target
• EU Exit, user needs, and solving the hard problem

Good product management in a complex, political and aggressively time-boxed delivery window

Martin Lugton

PMing a Brexit product

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Martin Lugton

Senior Product Manager

Government Digital Service�@martinlugton

What problem were we trying to solve?

GDS

Business aren’t prepared for Brexit

GDS

GDS

Business aren’t prepared for Brexit

GDS

GDS

Goal: help business prepare for Brexit��by building a thing in 11 days

GDS

GDS

GDS

My goals

GDS

Understand the value we’re trying to bring, and optimise for this above all else

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HiPPO control

GDS

Ways of working

GDS

Multi-disciplinary

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Co-located

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Daily standups (2-layer)

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Iterative prototyping

GDS

What happened?

GDS

Met the deadline

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Working flow. User tested. Iterated 5 times.

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Prioritised improvement suggestions

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Analytics

GDS

Reflections

GDS

Focus on purpose in a noisy context��Scope control

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Decisions in ambiguity

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Leadership

GDS

Things that went well

GDS

Focus on one thing

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Be aggressive on scope

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Share context carefully

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Have the right people in the room

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Externalise uncertainty quickly

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Have a clear approach for insight generation

GDS

Things that didn’t go so well

GDS

JFDIs from senior stakeholders when you’re not in the room

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Launch delayed for political reasons

GDS

Overall thoughts

GDS

Normal Product Management, turned up to 11��Good scope control and clear purpose is team health

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Opportunity to help with some serious problems

GDS

Any questions?

Thanks!

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Martin

@martinlugton

Five working principles for EU Exit Day One

Will Rowan

Five working principles for EU Exit Day 1

Will Rowan �Product & Platform Lead, great.gov.uk �Department for International Trade

1 Keep using agile techniques for a waterfall delivery�

• Start & learn early
• Always move fast to make a thing
• Be wary of large meetings
• Have a brutal backlog focus on Day 1 outcomes for Users

Photo by Ronan on Unsplash

2 Balance short and long term priorities

Focus on doing things that are important to users

• Pragmatic prioritisation to deliver Day 1 needs

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Keep delivering for the long term�Be able to publish quickly, worldwide

• Build a flexible IA
• Standardise forms and page components
• Localise publishing capability.

Photo by Will O on Unsplash

3 Pressure changes team behaviours

• Build rhythms by repeating work patterns
• Make time to document now, to save time later

4 Manage uncertainty�

• Acknowledge it
• Park it.

Photo by Victoriano Izquierdo on Unsplash

5 Keep a 360 degree view of how people work

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• Actively support WFH/WFO with agreed working principles
• Find time for off-backlog activities
• Go home when you’re done!

Photo by Crystal Kwok on Unsplash

User needs versus policy (as a moving target)

Steve Fox

Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

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Brexit

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Is Brexit a Moving Target for User Needs?

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Policy v Research

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44

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As a UK-registered road haulage operator, I need to have valid and recognisable permits post Brexit, so that I can continue to deliver customer’s goods to, from and between international destinations.

Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

45

What is the single most noticeable feature of Brexit?

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UNCERTAINTY

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So how do you deliver amazing digital services when nobody knows what the requirements and how to meet the user need????

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Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

46

What can you do to?

• Agile in practice not just name – expect change
• Work with and share assumptions – visibility prevents confusion
• User research is Comms so expect strong views and potential blockers
• The standards should be baked in
• Use research to inform and influence policy makers and negotiators

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Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

47

How some Government services are made

Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

Policy making will be minimally designed and built as a framework which allows flexibility and feedback, not as a conclusion.

48

Using Research to help Policy

Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

Policy Decision

Policy Formulation

Research

Policy adaptation

Policy Formulation

49

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As a UK-registered road haulage operator, I need to have valid and recognisable permits post Brexit, so that I can continue to deliver customer’s goods to, from and between international destinations.

Helping you stay safe on Britain’s roads

50

EU Exit, user needs, and solving the hard problem

Laurence Mallows

Agenda

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• Context
• OPSS
• EU services
• What we’re building
• Challenges
• Why Brexit is good
• Why Brexit is bad
• If I had a time turner

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Set up 372 days ago to enhance consumer protection, improve national capacity for product safety and EU Exit preparedness

The Office for Product Safety and Standards

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50 Statutory Instruments to lay

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Several EU systems to replace

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Join up several different organisations and sites while recruiting hundreds of people

The Office for Product Safety and Standards

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ICSMS

The internet-supported information and communication system for the pan-European market surveillance.

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The EU and product safety

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RAPEX

Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products

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The EU and product safety

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What we’re building

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What we’re building

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What we’re building

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What we’re building

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Scope creep

Challenges

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4 months ago:

Started work on a large new service

Challenges

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CPNP

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Last month:

Started work on 2 more new services

Challenges

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NANDO

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Harmonised Standards List

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DEXEU, reporting and context

Challenges

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Challenges

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GDS and DCMS

Challenges

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Hard deadline forces us to prioritise

Why Brexit is a good thing

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Chance to start afresh – no legacy tie in

Why Brexit is a good thing

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Ambiguous policy development allows user research to have more influence

Why Brexit is a good thing

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Time constraints stop you solving the hard problem

Why Brexit is a bad thing

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The big problem for local authorities is double entry. We are not solving this problem.

Why Brexit is a bad thing

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The bigger problem for local authorities is the lack of central government join up.

Why Brexit is a bad thing

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Shout much more loudly about no deal

What I’d do differently if I could

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Bring policy into the delivery team

What I’d do differently if I could

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Collaborate with other departments

What I’d do differently if I could

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Thank you for listening

The end

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steve.messer@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk

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rose.waite@digital.homeoffice.gov.uk

Thanks for having us...