#governmentDigitalService

2025-11-17

PRODUCTHEAD: Building, wayfinding and landscape architecture

» Too often, ‘building’ becomes the default state for a product team, at the expense of other valuable ways of working

» An product team should not be so rigid that it cannot cope with the occasional mandate from above

#prodmgmt #agile #alpha #empowered #governmentDigitalService #productDiscovery #team

📖 Read more: imanageproducts.com/producthea

Producthead logo
2025-07-09

Sad to see GDS is still on Twitter and not obviously on the Fediverse…

SocialMediaService.find_by(name: ‘Twitter’).destroy!

github.com/alphagov/whitehall/

#gdsteam #governmentdigitalservice

2025-06-26

Services are verbs combined with nouns

Information architecture normally focuses on the objects that need to be represented in a system. Some human-centred practitioners focus instead on the tasks users need to do. These approaches are sometimes framed in opposition. But combining these techniques can make services and systems easier to use as well as more efficient to manage.

duncanstephen.net/services-are

Illustration - a white square with a teal triangle attached to its right edge, with the point of the triangle to the right
2025-02-25

Object-oriented approaches in action

There are several benefits of building a content model in an object-oriented way. This post walks through those benefits, and demonstrates a real-life example of how this approach works on a well-known website.

duncanstephen.net/object-orien

An abstract diagram containing food-related icons connected together, mimicking an ontology diagramAn abstract diagram containing food-related icons connected together, mimicking an ontology diagram
2025-01-12

A plea for the lost practice of information architecture — Vicky Teinaki

I was sad to learn earlier that Vicky Teinaki has died. Vicky had been a designer for a few different government departments and public sector organisations.

I didn’t know her well. But I have read her blog posts for years, and I was delighted to encounter her in meetings about structured information since I joined the civil service a few months ago. I was struck by how she demonstrated both fresh thinking and wisdom.

Just a few days after I started in my information architecture role at the Scottish Government, she published this excellent article about the discipline.

It serves multiple purposes expertly. It is a comprehensive but concise history of information architecture, tracking its major milestones over the past 20 years.

Vicky argued that information architecture had become diminished when it got absorbed into user experience, and then got forgotten entirely when it suddenly became easy to churn out high-fidelity visual prototypes without tackling underlying structural decisions.

The post is also an incredible bibliography of key information architecture resources. I have turned to this blog post numerous times over the past six months, and I know I will continue to do so.

A pile of well-known information architecture books: How to Make Sense of Any Mess, Information Architecture (x 2), Design By Definition, Information Ecology, with a toy dinosaur
2024-09-16

PRODUCTHEAD: What is a product? What is a service?

» Services are best identified as verbs rather than nouns

» You cannot have services without products, nor products without services

» A service is something that helps someone to do something

#prodmgmt #governmentDigitalService #service #serviceDesign

📖 Read more: imanageproducts.com/producthea

Producthead logo
2024-03-02

How is it 2024 and the GOVUK “Replace a lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed driving licence” service hasn’t been updated to the GDS service standard? Simple process but really hard to complete on mobile. #DigitalGovernment #GOVUK #DigitalServices #DigitalServiceStamdard #GDS #DVLA #UKGov #DrivingLicence #GovernmentDigitalService

Screenshot of the DVLA apply for a replacement licence website. Using the old 3 column layout that isn’t mobile friendly.
2023-07-08

The #GDS Service Standard and design has brought trust and ease of use to many #GOVUK websites. The start page for renewing your driving licence starts well then quickly moves here. If it wasn't on a Gov.uk domain with a valid certificate, I'd have no trust in this and not use the service. #DigitalGovernment #GovernmentDigitalService #DVLA

Screenshot of the DVLA website to renew your driving licence.

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