Dan Navfield’s Post

Driving efficiency and effectiveness in the public service has always been a core value. I get to lead several cool pieces of work at the moment. This means leading AI in the public service, digital public infrastructure, digital public investment and working with my colleagues to deliver system improvement strategies. The Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) is tasked with supporting the government to accelerate the digitising of government services and to drive productivity for the benefit of New Zealanders.  And on that note our Service Modernisation Roadmap has now been published - click on the link below to see the detail. 👍👍👍 The Roadmap sets out a range of high-impact initiatives that contribute to improving government digital services from more than 14 agencies. It has a rolling 3-year horizon and will be refreshed annually. The practical, implementable delivery roadmap addresses:  ✅ customer service experience ✅ reusable digital components ✅ data, digital and security foundations, and ✅ the underpinning capabilities the public service needs to do digital better Great stuff to the contributing agencies, the wider GCDO as well as the leadership of Monica Greenan and Ann-Marie Cavanagh - it is a pleasure to serve alongside you 🙏 #DIA #GCDO #digital

As always, Peter Tolland's invitation to attend the Once for Scotland forum was a worthwhile time investment to hear about: - how The Scottish Government and the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government are reshaping their Digital Strategy to focus on deliverables - New Zealand's Service Modernisation Road Map which focuses on customer service experience; reusable digital components; data, digital and security foundations; and doing digital well (a good starter for 10 for NI...) https://lnkd.in/ey3_an4N - the new Digital Capability Advisory Group in Scotland: https://lnkd.in/eqYr7VvP It was noted that public sector data is the golden thread for digital strategies and Scotland is developing a vision for public sector data. 📢 My key takeaway was that NI needs to do more, more quickly to explore, design and deliver our own road map for a digital strategy for regional and local government. #localgovni #digital #roadmap #government #collaboration #data #transformation

📣 REPORT: "Avoiding the policy-delivery gap: Digital government is hard, so what can we do to succeed?" 📣  We all know that the successful implementation of policies can depend on creating digital products and services to deliver them. But there's a problem — the gap between policy and delivery. It's where policies stumble during digital implementation. For the report, we gathered insights and experiences from people planning and delivering government digital projects. The report summarises those key findings and provides insight on:  - why the policy-delivery gap matters - the challenges government organisations need to overcome - how they can bridge that gap Download the full report to find out more https://lnkd.in/eUi5eVEC #DigitalGovernment #PolicyDeliveryGap #DigitalTransformation #PublicPolicy #Report

As Parliament expands its probe to include the Australian Public Sector (APS) IT skills shortage, government agencies are under pressure to enhance their in-house IT capacity. Government must seek innovative ways to avoid lagging in its journey to digital transformation. Revising long-standing IT procurement processes will allow for increased investment in vital digital infrastructure and facilitate improved APS IT capabilities. Digital evolution of the APS will be crucial in building and maintaining trust among communities and public servants alike. Read Granicus’ blogpost here: https://okt.to/ZutrlL #DigitalTransformation #GovernmentServices #Australia #ITskillshortage #APS

🚨 What conditions are required for councils to become modern and resilient? In 2023 we worked closely with 8 pilot councils to identify the most common challenges that consistently block local government digital transformation work. In this detailed report, we outline the work that’s been completed, explore key challenges, and explain our potential solutions. Dive into our blog post to explore these insights further and access the report 👇 https://lnkd.in/e566TNBU #LocalGovernment #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #Transformation #Councils

The Evolution of Government Services: A GovTrek Perspective The evolution of government services has been a journey marked by innovation, adaptation, and transformation. As technology advances and societal needs evolve, governments around the world are reimagining how they deliver services to citizens, businesses, and communities. #governmentservices #governmentagencies https://lnkd.in/g8jrNwT4

Why must digital deliverability be a key test for policy post-election? It matters because today data, technology and digital are the machinery of government. When in the civil service, Clayton Smith, now Managing Director at Zaizi, witnessed good ideas being hindered by a lack of digital deliverability. When there was a failure, it could typically be traced back to five problem areas. Read more to find out what those five areas are: https://lnkd.in/g_yJxynn #DigitalGovernment #PolicyDeliveryGap #DigitalTransformation #PublicPolicy #NewGovernment

The preview image ‘if you add digital to a broken thing you just get a digital broken thing’ is absolutely a key thing. I’ve lately been considering the concept in relation to one or two recent high profile digital implementation failures. Part of the blame for the failures has been leveled at stick in the mud service areas who were doggedly refusing to get with the programme, doggedly insisting on sticking with their outdated business processes meaning the new technology had to be bespoked to accommodate them rather than them adapting their business processes to accommodate the vanilla system. The rotters. It’s easy for the technology people to blame the service area people; but maybe the fundamental error was in trying to force the service area people to just up sticks to work with the new technology’s process in one go according to the tight timetable of the technology implementation? Maybe we should be decoupling business process redesigns from technology projects entirely? Maybe we should be working with service areas to modernise their processes long before we’re expecting them to change the technology they use? #UCD #UserCentredDesign #LocalGovDigital

The trenchant misery of KPIs and the unintended consequences they generate. Prompted by Andrew de Whalley's recent post on KPIs and Public Digital's excellent paper titled The Radical How (https://lnkd.in/eb65sGqm) The tendency in procurement is to try and exert control over the lifetime of the contract at the outset of the contract. The new rules on KPIs are a perfect example of this. KPIs are to be established as part of the specification and poor performance could lead to supplier disbarment. The effect: less bidders and a less dynamic market. As Public Digital point out, we should strive for nimble competition, rather than monolithic contracts. Instead of taking six months to try and let a contract that purports to solve a five year problem, buyers should be able to flexibly acquire (and drop) services and products to support their work. KPIs can be useful, but the best sanction for non-performance is to be able to say "I'm bringing in another supplier" and to be able to do that within 10 days.

Amazing the innovation and improved operations of each of these counties Really appreciated this quote: “Focus on data-driven decision-making by leveraging data analytics and business intelligence tools to inform policy decisions and improve service delivery.” All new programs and operations need data to support the funding required. Amazing that across all the winners the common item was making data more accessible with a focus on how the innovation will improve both internal operations and external engagement/ease of use.