Sarah Livermore
Here at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) we have a wealth of experience in developing ‘AI-powered’ digital products and services. This involves long-established machine learning techniques such as statistical models used to identify patterns in data.
These models underpin some of our existing work. This can include identifying businesses that could most benefit from DBT’s export advice depending on how well-established they are for instance.
A new era for AI
The technical expertise required to build such models means that AI use has previously been led by data science teams. However, the rapid growth in popularity of online generative AI tools during the past year means that some form of AI is now available to many more people.
As humans, the process of getting our thoughts down ‘on paper’ is neurologically hugely complex. Indeed, it is not possible to build a model that accurately represents how we do this. So instead, current language models are built by training statistical models on trillions of words taken from the world wide web. To represent the richness of language, the resulting models are some of the most complex ever developed, containing billions of parameters. For comparison, models used to process images typically have millions rather than billions of parameters.
The computational power required to train these models is vast. It would take a single computer hundreds of years to train the most popular Large Language Models (LLM). Huge numbers of computers are therefore pooled together so that the training can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Consequently, only those organisations with access to such resources are currently able to develop these models. This means that the most popular models tend to be developed by ‘big tech’ companies, although some smaller start-ups and academic collaborations have also developed models.
Therefore, if someone wanted to use AI to help write a tricky email, or even a blog post, it is not their data science team to whom they would turn. They are more likely to ask for an online service hosted outside of their organisation.
This potentially opens up the possibility of automatically generating emails, reports and even entire books or movie scripts. However, it also poses challenges around the governance of how that work is done and where the associated data goes. For example, how we explain exactly who created the writing and who would be accountable for it.
Ensuring safe and responsible use of AI
To that end, at DBT, we have recently established a process to ensure that we develop and use AI safely. It maintains public trust in our services and how we handle people’s data. This governance framework covers the development of our in-house mathematical modelling, plus any use of third-party tools including generative AI.
Right at the start of developing this process we recognised how important it was to involve external experts. We opted for a voluntary review by the Government Internal Audit Agency to determine the robustness of DBT’s AI adoption strategy. Their recommendations, such as developing a clear approval process for the use of AI, established the foundations for our AI adoption framework.
We then commissioned experts from the Alan Turing Institute’s (ATI) Public Policy Programme to advise us on the ethical use of AI. The ATI have many years of experience advising the public sector on the safe design, development and deployment of AI-powered systems. They tailored their well-established Process Based Governance framework to show how it applied to DBT. The report for DBT is available online so that others in the public sector, and wider, can benefit.
During the framework’s development, we also worked closely with our own experts such as our cyber security and data protection teams. This was important to ensure that the AI governance fits with existing governance processes and does not cause needless duplication.
Establishing our framework
Our AI governance framework has now been in place since the start of the year. Colleagues wanting to develop or use AI must provide assurances such as:
We have built this framework to sit on top of our existing Information Risk Assurance Process (IRAP) which covers data protection and cyber security. This means that we maintain expert assurance in those critical areas, whilst covering new risks related to the use of AI.
Our experts from across these teams are also learning from each other, where issues overlap. For example, our data protection and AI experts come together to assess the risks of AI generating inaccurate information about someone. This is an important consideration in UK data protection law.
We are going to use the framework around 50 times before reviewing it and seeking to iterate. We expect in that time we will have learnt a lot about how it suits DBT. Also the market will have changed to address some of the more common concerns around accuracy, data privacy and copyright infringement.
We recognise that as a government department, we must meet a very high standard for trustworthiness by being fair, accurate and impartial. It is really important that we apply those values to any AI-driven systems we build. We engaged extensively with senior leaders across the department including our Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Advisor. This provided us with confidence in our approach. We will report back to them and share here our findings as work continues.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
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As this blog is published, we are onboarding our 10th service owner, 3 years into building the new profession. Service owners at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) act a bit like business partners. They bridge the gap between the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) function and the rest of the department. Service owners make sure that we are not just a delivery function, but help inform thinking, policies and projects.
Having started my career in policy, I know that user-centred design and more generally digital, data and technology approaches are still primarily part of the DDaT delivery toolkit rather than policy or project development. This is a gulf that must be bridged if we want to deliver the most impactful work for the public. I also know that conversations between DDaT and policy practitioners can be at odds: we do not work at the same pace or follow the same approaches. Any collaboration is difficult at first and has to be intentional. We set out to address this challenge by building our service owner profession at DBT.
I am really proud of the success we have had to date. I know service ownership is making a big difference to our ability to deliver on our mandate as a department, with value for money, at a time when IT projects going wrong continue to make headlines. Over the last 2 years, our service owners have been critical in helping the department focus its activity on the highest value opportunities. They did this by making better use of data and providing a digital self-serve offer to exporters and investors. Service owners represented DDaT in the governance of the Investment Transformation Programme and the Export Support Service Programme, both on the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). The programmes recently closed with a ‘green’ rating from the Infrastructure Projects Authority. This would not have been possible if DDaT’s work had not aligned to the programme’s priorities, its role in benefits realisation clearly articulated.
Service owners spent a lot of time in the programme design phase making sure DDaT’s strategic role was recognised, and it was not seen as ‘just’ a delivery function. At a recent global gathering of colleagues working on investment, we received this feedback which captures nicely how we try to work:
“Thank you to [programme and frontline colleagues] and the DDaT team for their collaborative working across [DBT offices abroad] and [DBT in the UK] to bring Expand Your Business to life .... The success and take up [of the service] is due to their commitment to design and roll out a service focused around client and colleagues’ needs.”
While service ownership has become central to how we work at DBT, getting here has been a roller coaster. We are by no means at the end of our journey. The Central Digital and Data Office for the UK Government defines the role of ‘service owner’ as clearly as others in the digital, data and technology framework, like ‘product manager’ or ‘delivery manager’. This gives the impression it is an established role. But the reality is that it does not exist in many departments, and where it does, it varies hugely in the shape that it takes. We had to figure out the outcomes that we needed from the role at DBT, the capabilities that mattered for this, and the environment that would enable the role to succeed.
At DBT, our service owners act as partners to the business and DDaT. They bring our expertise together with their objectives so that we can be user centred and think about digital, data and technology as outcome enablers rather than just delivering a solution. This involves co-designing strategies, business cases and business plans so everyone is clear how digital, data and technology will contribute to achieving the departmental objectives, including its contribution to economic benefits.
Our service owners equip Director-Generals and Directors with the knowledge they need to take accountability for DDaT services, alongside their teams’ policy or operational work. While DDaT is a separate corporate function in DBT, we know that Director-Generals and Directors can only meet their policy objectives in today’s world by making good use of digital, data and technology. Last but not least, the work of service owners also involves a lot of advocacy. This helps strengthen colleagues’ understanding of digital, data and technology and vice-versa, policy objectives. They do this through a mix of communications, governance, and training to name a few.
“As a service owner it’s really refreshing and positive to be part of DBT where the role is fully supported and understood. Developing and running services in government can be complex and exciting. Service owners are an important part of any team, bringing a range of different skills and experiences together to help shape a service. This often means thinking about the user, policy, strategic and operational needs and working with a range of experts and professions to deliver the best service for everyone. My current role, working in the data area, also includes thinking about new technology and developing the opportunities these innovations bring.” Julian dos Remedios.
So what makes a good service owner? We expect our service owners to have strong consultancy skills. These include problem ownership, using various methods to derive insight, excellent facilitation, influencing and more generally engagement skills to bring professionals together, and deliver something greater than the sum of its parts. We also expect them to have a solid understanding of standards across digital, data and technology, and both agile and traditional project management. They will often be the first representatives of the digital, data and technology function, they need to know red lines and when to bring colleagues in.
This is a broad set of capabilities. Our service owners come from a range of backgrounds. They often major on some capabilities upon taking on the role and develop the breadth of expertise on the job. This is something I hope to keep. Every area of work benefits from a different focus, and as a team, it helps us learn from each other.
It has been great seeing colleagues from a variety of professions express interest and successfully make the move into service ownership. Our most effective service owners all have one thing in common: they are born collaborators. Service ownership is a leadership role, and those with a servant leadership style tend to perform better and be happiest in the role. This is compared to owner or decider leaders who provide a style that may be critical for other roles in the team or in different contexts.
“The service owner role is pivotal in helping delivery teams focus on the work of most value, understand the drivers of what we work on, and ensure developments are shared across the department.” Julia Crompton.
We will be recruiting more roles over the course of the year, so sign up for alerts if you are interested to see these. We are always keen to learn how we can strengthen our service ownership by speaking to others and hearing about their own experiences. Please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
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I remember receiving a call from the recruitment team with the good news that I had been successful in my application for SEO Business Analyst in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). I had just pulled into the car park of a local store 2 days after attending the interview, when the call came through. To say I was over the moon is to put it mildly. After the call, I sat in the car to take it all in and BREATHE!! Within the hour, I had received a provisional offer by email. You see, before I applied for the role, I had stumbled on a blog highlighting DBT as a department that supported women to grow and flourish in tech. I wanted to be here, be a part of this dream civil service department. I had been in the private sector, but I genuinely wanted the benefits the Civil Service, especially DBT, offered.
Getting a provisional offer and starting the job was a different matter. The security clearance process took around 8 weeks to conclude. After an anxious wait, it was another ecstatic moment to finally receive the email informing me I was security cleared. The recruitment team was fantastic and extremely helpful through the entire process.
All clad up, I travelled nice and early from Hertfordshire into London on my first day, Wednesday 17 October 2022. I was impressed and felt slightly intimidated at the ginormous size of Old Admiralty Building which is the London office for DBT. Fortunately, my line manager was on hand to meet me at the reception and help with getting a pass.
As expected, my first few weeks were a little hazy and overwhelming. I juggled Civil Service induction and mandatory training along with the demands of the new project I joined. I remember going through the capability framework assessment which helps Civil Servants identify how they can develop their skills. I also volunteered to run a session along with colleagues from other professions at the DDaT away day. It was a super busy last quarter of the year 2022. Through it all, I received amazing support from my line manager and the thriving Business Analyst community here in the department.
Since then, I have rolled onto other projects where I have continued to harness my skills. I supported a project that in-housed a service delivery team where I focused on systems and software critical to their first day in DBT. The next project looked to enhance the internal CRM to make it more seamless and intuitive to its users. I am currently working on a project looking at continuous improvements on a service that supports investors wishing to expand into the UK.
The Civil Service is an employer that is big on development. Since joining, I have worked towards obtaining the BCS Business Analysis International diploma. I have passed 4 required modules and aim to complete the final oral examination within early 2024. I also feel enabled to gain experience in new areas on various learning platforms provided within the Civil Service. Civil servants are responsible for their development and line managers are always incredibly supportive.
I attended the Business Analysis Europe Conference 2023 in September along with Funmi Endeley, a colleague with whom I started about the same time. We also attended the Women in Tech Hackathon organised by PA Consulting in September. We have collaborated on several occasions where we constantly promote the Business Analysis profession to the rest of the department.
I marked my one-year anniversary on 17 October 2023 and in retrospect, I am so thankful I made that application. The versatility my job offers, though sometimes challenging, is a stimulus for growth and development. The Civil Service offer’s flexibility is incredible, making it possible to juggle a thriving career as well as managing the home front. It has indeed been an incredibly interesting and eventful journey.
‘You got the Job!’ I could not believe it. In fact, I thought the call was for another job I had interviewed for. I did not think I did very well at my interview for the Business Analyst role, and I had already convinced myself that I had been unsuccessful. It wasn’t until I received the pre-employment check documents did I truly I believe I had got the job. That started my journey as a Business Analyst in the Department for Business and Trade and what a journey it’s been. My first day was on Halloween 2022 and I hoped that was not an omen to what my experience would be! I have been proved so wrong.
In my first week, my manager told me to take it easy and complete my mandatory training. I would be put on a project and the Product Manager would be in contact next week. He contacted me on day two! That enthusiasm is something that I have seen in the Business Analysis Team and DDaT as a whole.
As a Business Analyst, my role is to help teams find improvements in their processes, understand business requirements and help the team ensure that business objectives are met.
Within the first couple of weeks, we had an event which involved all the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate. My line manager encouraged me to actively take part in one of the sessions. I was worried about being the new girl in the group, but it was a lovely experience. I got to work with the most amazing colleagues with various knowledge sets. Since then, I have seized the opportunity to take part in various departmental and external events.
Most memorable has been the opportunity to take part in the Woman in Tech Hackathon. It was a wonderful time spent with other IT professionals, identifying areas of improvement for marginalised customers, and building a solution. That was when it hit me…I am a woman in tech, working in the Civil Service!
I also had the opportunity to attend the Business Analysis Conference Europe held in London in September 2023 with Adebisi. We spent 3 days attending different sessions such as Building Brave BAs and The Future of Business Analysis in an era of Artificial Intelligence. It was an amazing event and a marvellous opportunity to learn and network.
I have been involved in the most amazing projects. They have varied from a very technical infrastructure replacement project, to working with the Live Services Content Design Team. We improved their processes for publishing on DBT’s websites, GOV.UK and Great.gov. Now I’m working with the Tariff team who manage the UK tariff systems for the whole of the UK and the Channel Islands. The varied experience has helped me build my experience and confidence as a Business Analyst.
The Business Analysis Team is a great one to work in. Our line manager encourages us to step out of our comfort zones and take up learning opportunities. Teammates are always on hand to assist, share ideas and knowledge. The team lunches are pretty good too!
DBT is great with providing learning opportunities and I am currently on the way to obtaining my Diploma in Business Analysis.
It has been a very positive experience working within the DDaT part of DBT. Although I have had to step out of my comfort zone many times, I can see the growth and progress I have made. I look forward to embracing new opportunities in the next year.
It has been fantastic to be part of Adebisi and Funmi’s Civil Service career journey so far and to see their growth over the past year. They have made the most of both on the job and learning and development opportunities. Both are active members of our supportive BA community. I look forward to seeing what comes next in 2024!
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
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Which part of the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate do you work in?
I work with Data Hub, a self-built customer relationship management system (CRM). As a Senior Interaction Designer, I develop design concepts across complex GOV.UK services based on the evidence of user needs.
What is Movember and why did you decide to take part in it?
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. This is to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. I chose to participate, as I have been affected personally through the loss of family members and friends. I also resonated with the approach of using humour to help humanise a taboo topic people often shy away from.
What did you do and how did it go?
Laura Wood, Ieuan Parker and I all signed up to Movember. For those who cannot grow a moustache, there were fundraising activities like running certain distances over the month. During Movember, we have:
How would you define the culture within DBT and DDaT?
The DBT culture is the set of beliefs and customs that guide us as employees including ethics, values, goals, and attitudes. These affect every part of our work within the department, from interpersonal relationships to the end results that stakeholders see.
I felt a shared synergy in values between Movember as an organisation and DBT, making the challenge a perfect fit.
DBT’s values are based on being:
Movember’s values are:
What are some other examples of DBT’s culture?
Some more examples of DDaT and DBT culture can be found in:
There is also DDaT Fest which is an all-team in-person away day. It demonstrates our culture through letting staff lead on session topics in an unconference style. This encourages participation and collaboration amongst teams and creates a unique bonding experience. DDaT Fest also maximises networking opportunities, giving staff the opportunity to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones.
What outcomes does working in a culture like this give?
Having a shared positive culture makes for a more enjoyable workplace with increased productivity and reduces staff turnover and absenteeism. It leads to improved learning and health, increased tolerance, and opportunities to come together with others. A good culture at work can enhance quality of life and increase overall well-being. It also plays an important factor for people deciding where they want to work in the future.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
The Digital, Data and Technology team (DDaT) run Firebreak Week every 3 months. It sees teams temporarily disband, providing the opportunity for self-directed time to work on short term projects such as improving GOV.UK. It’s also a chance to keep our skills fresh and try our hand at new things which is really important for our continued learning and development. You can read more about it in this blog.
Dark Mode is a display setting for user interfaces, such as smartphones or laptops. It means that a light colour text (white or grey) is presented against a dark or black screen, instead of the default dark text showing up against a light screen (known as ‘light mode’).
I’m Graham Sanders, a Senior Interaction Designer working within the Data Infrastructure team in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). My role is to develop design concepts across complex GOV.UK services based on the evidence of user needs.
The idea for this project came from viewing the DBT website late at night and noticing immediately the impact the glare from the screen had on my eyes. I thought to myself, ‘why isn’t there a setting where I can quickly change the monitor to improve the viewing experience?’
I set up the project on Trello which is a planning and collaboration tool. I was happily surprised at the interest shown in the project, forming together a group of like-minded individuals who also understood the issue. My team included Ieuan Parker, an Interaction Designer, Laura Wood, a User Researcher, and Rachael Irwin and Tom Swart who are Data Analysts.
We spoke to 6 participants:
2 of the users we spoke to had visual impairments. They highlighted the importance of Dark Mode enabling them to do their job.
User research helped to identify several other benefits of Dark Mode which included:
A study published in Nature Research’s Scientific Reports in 2018 suggests that sustained exposure to light-mode may be associated with myopia (Near-sightedness).
We carried out some data analysis investigations and found:
We did some additional research and discovered that:
We created a prototype based on the technique of the websites’ theme being set by the preference chosen on your operating system theme settings. The website theme should be reflected when a user changes their MacOS theme or Windows theme.
This easy implementation allows us to custom select the colours of each element. It gives us the power to reduce any accessibility issues, when compared to Chrome, or any general plugins.
We created a comprehensive presentation to share with the rest of DDaT. It covered workshops, research, user research, data analysis, design and a working prototype.
I designed a bespoke slide deck which matched the ‘dark mode’ subject and began the presentation to DDaT wearing a Darth Vader mask to illustrate the ‘dark side’. This was a deliberate ploy to make the presentation memorable and unique. It was well-received by my peers, receiving 58% of the votes from all the Firebreak projects. I hope that our initial findings can be expanded upon and implemented in some form.
Ieuan Parker, an Interaction Designer on the team, also contacted the Design System team at GDS (Government Digital Service). He asked them if we could do our own research and implementation on our services, as we know from our research, that we have users who struggle to work with the current light theme. The result of this was very positive, and we got the approval to start working on it. As a result of this, the Data Infrastructure team have a plan in the next couple of weeks to start work on implementing Dark Theme on Data Workspace, our corporate database.
I joined DBT in April 2023 and this was my first time working on a Firebreak project. I am passionate about making government services more accessible, so when I heard Graham’s pitch for exploring dark mode, I wanted to be involved.
I had some prior understanding of the benefits of dark mode for users with accessibility requirements. This was reinforced when I conducted user research with DBT colleagues. The user perspective had a great impact on us as a team and has encouraged us to keep shouting about the benefits of dark mode.
Firebreak was also a fantastic opportunity to work with colleagues outside my team. We had a great range of skills (and enthusiasm!), and we collaborated well to explore this opportunity.
Firebreak is a great opportunity to work on projects that interest you and collaborate with people you would not normally get the chance to work with. This firebreak was no different and my favourite so far! We had a great team who was determined to start the dark mode revolution and had great fun doing so. The highlight, of course, was Darth Vader's appearance at our presentation. I hope this project has made people more aware of dark mode and its advantages. Hopefully it can kick start the process of bringing dark mode to gov.uk sites, making the tools more accessible to everyone.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
My name is Laura Wood, I am a User Researcher within the Data Infrastructure team in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). I help my team build a deep understanding of our users so that we can design services that meet their needs. Read this blog to find out more about my team.
UX Scotland is a 3-day conference held at Dynamic Earth in picturesque Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. As a first-time attendee, I was blown away by the engaging speakers, inspiring workshops, and the overall experience. Breaks between sessions offered scenic views of Arthur's Seat and delicious food.
Attending UX Scotland on behalf of DBT, I discovered different strategies and approaches for conducting UX and working in Agile. I shared my learnings with my team and the (DBT) User Research community. This blog is an opportunity to share some of the highlights and key themes from the 2 incredible days I spent at this event.
This was a resounding message that emerged from the sessions. I value belonging to various communities - UX Glasgow, the (DBT) User Research Community (which is mentioned in this blog). I appreciate the support, learning and networking opportunities these communities provide.
Day one of UX Scotland was kicked off by Kara Kane, Head of the Design Profession at Government Digital Service (GDS). She delivered a captivating keynote on the role of communities of practice. Kara believes that communities are the "glue" that help us collaborate, accomplish meaningful work, and create impact. Leadership, visibility, and support are essential in nurturing thriving communities, and their flexibility and adaptability resemble the essence of a well-designed solution.
This theme continued during a Lean Coffee discussion led by Kat Husbands and Neil Scott. Lean Coffee is a structured but agenda-less meeting. To begin, attendees wrote topics of interest on post-it notes. These topics were then grouped, and we were each given dots to vote on the most intriguing ones for discussion. The topic with the most votes and first up for discussion was "how do we make communities of practice engaging?"
Attendees agreed that to create an engaging community, it is crucial to carve out a unique space that diverges from routine meetings. Mixing up session formats, fostering interactivity, and openly sharing agendas were recurring suggestions. Inspired by this experience, I am eager to organise a Lean Coffee discussion within our User Research community.
As a User Researcher, one of the most impactful sessions was Rashmi Kakde’s talk on persuasive visual storytelling. She showcased the power of using visuals, such as comic book strips and storyboards, to make research findings more impactful, memorable, and actionable.
Rashmi highlighted that we often produce wordy reports that nobody reads, due to time constraints and cognitive load. She emphasised the importance of visual storytelling, noting that 65% of us are visual learners and visual presentations are 43% more persuasive. Visuals are also simpler, easier to digest and more engaging.
There are 4 key elements to visual storytelling:
Rashmi provided examples of impactful storyboards she created whilst working for the National Health Service (NHS).
The first image illustrates the user journey of a new service. It is packaged with insights and emotions. This visual, supported by statistics, prompted senior leadership to allocate more time and resources to address pain points.
The second image shows the impact this had on improving the service. By comparing the initial user journey against the current journey and seeing the progress that had been made, Rashmi’s work had a strong impact. This session inspired me to be more creative with my outputs to make them more engaging and impactful. These slides from Rashmi’s presentation are shared with her permission.
Jenny Bjӧrkman’s workshop highlighted the importance of allocating time to professional development. She talked through her career development plan which included developing a personal brand, getting qualified, networking, seeking mentorship, and embracing public speaking.
We developed our own plans throughout the session. I am making time for reflection (hence this blog!) and I have recently started a course with the UX Design Institute. This course will develop my existing user research skills, teach me new skills in design and I will attain a Professional Diploma in UX Design. I am very grateful to Jenny for signposting me to this course.
Effective teamwork was a theme that came out of several sessions. Mark Cruth highlighted the importance of creating a collaborative atmosphere in meetings. He emphasised factors such as creating a safe space, trust, inclusion, and an intentional agenda. The session stressed the significance of psychological safety in fostering a team mentality and how this saves meeting time, generates better ideas, and boosts engagement. I left with tips to make meetings more collaborative. These included using an agenda, incorporating intentional icebreakers, and investing time in learning how to improve meetings.
Ceri Newton-Sargunar's session provided valuable insights into fostering growth and improving design maturity by giving effective feedback. She emphasised the importance of constructive feedback and approaching conversations with curiosity.
Ceri’s top tips for giving feedback are:
The end note for day one left a profound impact on me. Heldiney Pereira talked about designing high-performing and inclusive teams. He spoke about encouraging vulnerability and shared personal experiences to emphasise the strength that diverse perspectives bring to the workplace. Heldiney highlighted the importance of mutual trust, self-reflection, and creating a safe environment to discuss difficult topics. His talk inspired me to be more open and vulnerable in my work. In his words, “everything about you matters”.
At the end of day 2, I attended Tricia Okin’s session about finding a workplace culture that aligns with your work style and goals. She noted that we spend 35% of our time at work, excluding commuting or thinking about work outside of our working hours. This affects the energy that we have left for our lives. Our work has an impact on our mental and physical health, our social lives and family. Tricia asked, ‘so why not have our work fit our lives and approaches instead of vice versa?’
She explained several types of organisational cultures:
There are various sub cultures within these cultures.
By understanding different organisational cultures, we can make informed decisions about the environments that suit us best. This session prompted me to reflect on the workplace culture in which I thrive and feel most energised by. Tricia kindly gave us permission to share a couple of her slides.
Attending UX Scotland was a fantastic experience that had a significant impact on my professional journey. I returned to my work with a renewed sense of purpose and an array of ideas to explore and implement. These learnings will help me to be more creative and effective in solving our user needs. I am grateful for the opportunity to attend this event on behalf of DBT.
If you ever have the chance to attend UX Scotland, don't hesitate! You will find yourself immersed in captivating ideas and surrounded by passionate individuals.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
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If an object is easy to handle and helps you do things, it’s often thought of as well-designed. You barely notice you’re using it.
Similarly, information that’s easy to understand and helps you complete a task is also considered well-designed. You barely notice the information: you just know what to do.
Well-designed information is formed by good content design principles and processes - a digital discipline we’re committed to at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).
Content design isn’t just about copy-writing or editorial techniques applied to information, it’s a way of thinking: design thinking.
And that thinking always starts with the question: ‘what problem is the user is trying to solve?’
DBT’s users are mostly businesses in the UK and abroad. They could be a small family-run business, or a multi-million-pound company. They could also be someone working for DBT in one of the UK’s embassies.
As you might imagine, the problems they are trying to solve are varied. They could include:
By understanding the problems users are trying to solve, DBT’s content designers can make informed decisions about:
Working with the other User-Centred-Design professions (User Research and Design) helps us work out the answer to these questions.
Content designers apply standards to the process of creating content as well as the output itself. As DBT begins to move into content operations, or ContentOps as it’s known, codifying standards will be even more important. Think of this as a design system for content.
Standardisation of classifications, tagging and the structuring of content will help direct how content components can be fit for purpose across multiple contexts. It also helps when integrating content with data before it’s delivered dynamically to users.
Other content standards and conventions that create efficiencies in production and ensure users’ needs are met include:
DBT is a new department which means we have a "clean slate” to improve content design capabilities, processes, and standards, so that users can benefit from the knowledge the department holds.
In addition to creating and maintaining content, our content design team is also committed to training others and advocating for the discipline. In fact, you couldn’t find a more enthusiastic bunch - and we’re in a department with one of the most progressive content presences in government.
If you'd like to be part of our team, sign up to receive our job alerts.
If you're passionate about good design and the difference it can make, we'd love you to join us.
LinkedIn reported that only 19% of UK tech workers are women and women hold only 5% of leadership positions in the tech industry. The Digital, Data and Technology directorate (DDaT) in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) aims to help close the gender gap by attracting and supporting women in the tech sector to develop their careers in DBT. With a majority female leadership team, DDaT is paving the way to diversifying the tech industry and closing the pay gap by supporting and developing women at all stages of their career in the industry.
Imogen Barker, Product Adoption Manager
‘Joining DDaT this time last year I quickly noticed the strong female leadership within the directorate. I remember instantly feeling proud to be part of a department that showcases women in senior roles. Working in the tech profession has been a complete career change for me. Although I did not have previous tech experience, I have never felt disadvantaged. I feel well supported by my team and I am amazed at the wide range of learning and development opportunities offered within DDaT. Recently, I have been fortunate enough to deliver some great product adoption campaigns promoting the use of tech products created by DDaT. I am thankful to work in a department that prioritises self-development alongside career progression.’
The 2023 Women in Tech Employer Awards celebrates individuals and employers going above and beyond to help close the gender gap within the tech sector. DBT has been nominated for 2 consecutive years for the award of Best Public Sector Employer.
DDaT were invited to attend the awards night, which allowed us to celebrate the work and success of many of our DDaT colleagues. We also had the opportunity to network, share ideas with other employers who were nominated and reflect on how we can improve our diversity, inclusion and development in the future.
Liz Catherall, Head of Agile Delivery
'Attending the Women in Tech awards was quite an inspiration. I looked around the room and saw a diverse group of women supporting women; there was vunerability that was embraced as stories were shared and where people were being themselves. It was clear that strong relationships had been forged by those in the room - supporting growth, diversity and inclusion. I was proud to be sitting with the DDaT family.
I've taken away inspiration to think through how we can use our networks, or build better, to understand how to break into untapped markets on recruitment. I am interested in exploring neurodiversity, social diversity, age and returning to work from breaks, not just a focus on gender or ethnicity.
I'm keen to continue earlier in the year conversations with the DDaT capability team and DDaT recruitment on a returners scheme. We have nothing officially in DBT, yet. I'm also keen to speak with DBT HR (Becky, I'm going to reach out soon!), and I'd like to see what we can tap into with Cabinet Office and other government departments.
On growth and development, I'm keen we build a personal offer for individuals. Where we can offer mentoring, coaching and support to help people understand and realise their skills and potential, and then channel that towards the right opportunities. I'd like to set out an 18-month growth offer for our delivery profession that factors in bespoke membership and other development opportunities.
And back to women in tech. I'm going to be speaking to some of the attendees to find out what more we can learn on initiatives that are already tried, tested and successful.'
One of DDaT’s top priorities for the coming months and years is to become an industry leader when it comes to hiring diverse candidates. To do this, DDaT focuses on leading by example by making our recruitment process and development offer inclusive to all. There is a misconception across the board that to join the digital, data and tech profession you already need to be a DDaT career professional. This often puts off diverse candidates. In DDaT DBT we make it clear to prospective colleagues that we welcome new joiners from all careers, walks of life and stages of their career. From those on apprenticeships and the Civil Service Fast Stream to those making a career change – we offer support and development opportunities to make DDaT a welcoming place to build and develop a career in tech.
Georgia Defeo, DDaT Head of Recruitment
‘Since joining DDaT recruitment in March this year, it is crystal clear that our DDaT function is committed to building a diverse team and recognises the importance that recruitment plays. We are proud to be above industry standard when it comes to recruiting females and have been nominated as ‘Best Public Sector Employer’ at the Women in Tech awards for 2 consecutive years. We also ensure our roles are reaching a diverse audience, posting relevant vacancies to the Technojobs Women in Tech jobs board. Earlier this year, we attended the women in tech’s brunch at the Silicon Milkroundabout careers fair. This was a great moment where we realised how many women, at all stages of their careers, were interested in the tech profession!
Despite our successes, DDaT continuing to work on improving diversity remains a priority. The recruitment team are always seeking new initiatives and implementing continuous improvements to make our roles and our recruitment processes more accessible to diverse candidates.’
Jason Kitcat, Director of Digital, Data and Technology
‘We are constantly re-evaluating and learning how best to recruit and promote women in DDaT. Every day we see and experience the value of having teams with diverse thinking, backgrounds and experiences. We use different methods of recruitment, promotion and roles to see what works best. We are well above the (sadly low) industry averages but keep striving to do better.
One theme that keeps coming back is challenging the assumption that someone needs to be a “DDaT expert” to apply for roles. We’ve had so many successful female candidates from different professions and make a success of their career here in DBT. Whether formerly teachers, biochemists or librarians they’ve made a choice for a different type of work and flourished here. I’m currently spending lots of time with my teenage daughter helping her to decide her university course. Showing her the range of paths people take has helped to remind us that whatever you study doesn’t mean you have to do that always.
With fantastic support for learning and development, apprenticeships up to Masters equivalent level and great communities of practice, we’re seeing our female colleagues expand their horizons whichever background they’ve come from.’
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
Hundreds of thousands of students have received their exam results this month, an important life stage which marks the beginning of a career journey. Ensuring that students are equipped with knowledge of ‘what exists out there’ as a career choice is an important part of the journey. It benefits future employees and employers. This Summer, the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) team were delighted to play their part in highlighting what a career in the Department for Business and Trade(DBT), and in particular DDaT, might look like for A level students at Exeter College in the South West.
The team joined other government departments including Ministry of Justice, UK Home Office, Rural Payments Agency and Department for Work and Pensions who presented sessions as part of a Hidden Careers Event. The event took was organised by One South West, a community of civil servants across the South West of England. The day involved talks, activities and Q and As with students and lecturers.
The DDaT team consisted of regionally based colleagues from a variety of professions: Jo Granton (Capability Lead), Stephen Corder (Senior Product Manager in Tariff Management Tool), Matt Jukes (Head of Product) and Kelly Voysey (Product Adoption Manager).
Jo introduced DDaT and the role it plays in providing digital, data, user-centered design and technology to enable DBT’s mission to facilitate UK trade and investment and ensure businesses thrive. She spoke about the range of routes into DDaT and the types of apprenticeships offered.
Stephen and Matt delved into the breadth of roles found in DDaT and explained how it functions to enable DBT. Matt encouraged students to think about their personal interests and strengths if they were to consider a DDaT career. He advised that they focus on what they love and their personal strengths rather than technical qualifications, and told the students that there are many opportunities to flourish in DBT’s DDaT.
The students were then given a ‘day in the life’ of a Product Manager by Stephen. He talked about his route into DBT through the Civil Service Fast Stream and his team's role in supporting DBT to manage the UK Global Tariff. They use software applications which interact with the UK’s border systems. The sessions were rounded off by Kelly who challenged the students to an export quiz. Each team had to use the DDaT managed website Great.gov.uk to find essential information about different export destinations.
Jo Granton is also a member of the One South West Talent team. She works strategically to promote and support a wide range of talent schemes across government. One such scheme is the DBT’s Software Developer Apprenticeship. It has 2 cohorts each year and gives apprentices the chance to join the Makers Academy which includes a bootcamp and hands on experience in our DDaT team, combining learning and real world experience.
Jo commented, “We are delighted with the work our partners at Makers have done. We are already in the process of recruiting another round of apprentices and seek to expand into other useful and appropriate programmes. I am passionate about my work with One South West and I jumped at the chance to work on this project with them and Exeter College. DBT have a Cardiff hub which is great location for South West-based staff”
Andy Palmer, Capability and Workforce Planning Manager, at DDaT also mentions the importance of these outreach events in the wider recruitment picture. He highlights how recruitment for DDaT roles can be challenging, with competition from the private sector being fierce. This means DDaT are always looking for ways to develop homegrown talent. Andy explains “We know that apprenticeships are an excellent source of undiscovered talent, and interest in them has grown substantially. We are hearing from younger people joining the workforce for the first time, and from more experienced people looking to change careers, or seeking to gain accreditation in their professions”.
The event organiser James Holton, Home Office Social Mobility Outreach Lead and Senior Responsible Officer commented on the day. “As head of the One South West Talent strand I reached out to Exeter College some time ago to organise an outreach event. Ed Sweatman, their head of Careers, was keen to deliver a ‘Hidden Careers’ event to talk about parts of the Civil Service that students were perhaps less aware of as career routes. The day was a huge success with DBT and the Rural Payments Agency focusing on digital career opportunities in particular. This is the first time that One South West have delivered such a session. We hope to expand our outreach offer across the region over the next 12 months.”
Summarising the day, Kelly Voysey said, “I was really impressed with the students’ focus during our sessions and with DDaT’s enthusiasm for supporting this event happening in my home city. We worked as a South West team to ensure our sessions were as informative as possible. My own teenagers are about to start their career journey, so I understand how much it means to young people when employers engage and offer advice and support”.
Read more information about apprenticeships in government.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.
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Silicon Milkroundabout (SMR) is a careers event, held in London twice a year, and tailored to digital, data and technology jobseekers. This was a perfect event for the DDaT recruitment team to attend! They have attended twice before and have made a hire from attending each time.
Our aim of attending SMR is to speak to interested candidates and promote DDAT vacancies at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). We operate in such a challenging market that we need to spread the word about the department and our work as widely as possible. The DBT branding generated a lot of interest as many attendees hadn’t heard about the formation of a new government department.
The event was held on both Saturday and Sunday, with focuses on different professions each day. The days were split up into 3 sessions and there were 1,500 skilled professionals in attendance. Past attendees may remember the large space the event was held in previously and how challenging it was to hear candidates and have a conversation with them. This time SMR held the event in a smaller space - this made it a lot easier to engage with people, although it was still fairly loud.
The recruitment team visited on Friday to set up our stand. Saturday and Sunday both began with a Women in Tech ‘brunch’ with pastries. It was noticeable how many more female candidates there were in the first sessions. This gave us a great opportunity to talk about our majority female senior leadership team and our back-to-back shortlisting for the Women in Tech ‘Best Public Sector Employer’ award.
All the sessions were very busy and there was a near constant queue of candidates to talk to. The SMR team made sure we were fed and watered in the breaks.
Liz, Delivery - 'Like User Research, recruitment is a team sport. It’s up to us to understand what people are looking for and show a bit of how we work. The only way we can succeed in getting people in is to show ourselves. I really welcomed the opportunity to speak to many people that I would not ordinarily have had a chance to and to speak to the competition. Great event, well run and worth going along to.'
Amad, Content Design - 'I’m fairly new to the Civil Service and it wasn’t so long ago that I was at events like SMR as a jobseeker! However, attending the event as an exhibitor meant that I was on the other side of the booth for the first time. The way the event was organised meant I could discuss the roles we’re recruiting for in detail and field questions from jobseekers. There was a lot of curiosity about the application process, flexible working arrangements and career progression.
It was great to share my insight and correct some of the misconceptions that were out there. The day was a great way to bond with colleagues that were also volunteering, connect with private sector people and have an experience to share with my LinkedIn network.'
Luisella, Software Developer - 'Before volunteering, I was rather anxious, because I’d never been to a similar event. However, Georgia from the recruitment team was really reassuring. On the day itself I caught up with colleagues and had a quick breakfast, before starting to talk to people interested in DBT. I was the only developer, and I ended up being in high demand. I spoke almost non-stop for the whole time I was there. It was really rewarding being able to explain how we work and what we do and find out what they were looking for. I tried to encourage several of the people I spoke with to apply for DDaT roles. I hope to see some of them as colleagues in the future.
Overall, Silicon Milkroundabout was a really good experience that I am planning to repeat in the future. I even had the chance to speak my native language (Italian) with 3 different people.'
Kelly, Recruitment Advisor - 'I attended for the first time, and was a bit nervous. I had only been in the recruitment team for about 2 months and wasn’t sure what to expect. However, my opinion changed straight away. I was made to feel at ease by the organisers and the event was set up well. The atmosphere was fantastic, and it was so great to speak to candidates face to face rather than through an email or application form.
I was really surprised at how busy it was. I spoke to a range of people who were all looking for different roles and were enthusiastic to hear about DBT. I highly recommend that colleagues attend and get involved in the next Silicon Milkroundabout. It was a really great experience for me and I will definitely be attending the next one.'
By the end of the weekend, we had close to 100 people registering their interest in our roles and spoke to many more. This is more people than we have had sign up than ever before at this event. This is a fantastic testament to the amazing culture at DBT and the hard work our volunteers put in over the weekend to sell this culture.
In the recruitment team we have been keeping an eye on live campaigns, and there have already been applications from people we met at SMR. We hope to make at least one more hire from this round and to attend again in the future. Thank you again to everyone who volunteered and helped make the event so successful.
Ready to join the team? Check out our latest DDaT jobs on Jobvite.