{"id":18734,"date":"2017-02-01T11:32:37","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T11:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=18734"},"modified":"2018-08-08T15:22:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T14:22:21","slug":"why-principles-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/why-principles-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Why principles matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like<a href=\"https:\/\/gds.blog.gov.uk\/2016\/04\/18\/what-we-mean-by-service-design\/\"> many other government departments<\/a>, Defra\u2019s services, systems and operations have developed over time, often in response to specific policy initiatives. Our services have also sometimes been split across Defra group\u2019s internal structures in ways that can be confusing to our customers.<\/p>\n<p>Poor service design serves no one; it\u2019s costly for the business and frustrating for the user.<\/p>\n<p>At Defra we\u2019re prioritising a digital approach to help us simplify our customer\u2019s interactions with us and take out unnecessary business complexity. While we have an operational strategy \u2013 the Defra group Target Operating Model \u2013 to help us get there, it\u2019s a complex process of change with a multitude of moving pieces.<\/p>\n<p>Managing change in this context is hard work. We do not have the privilege of a blank canvas; we have to transition teams, programmes, and ways of working, while ensuring day-to-day business and operations are maintained to meet our policy needs. Given the inevitable ambiguity and flux, we\u2019ve focused on building a common vocabulary to hold ourselves accountable at a high-level.<\/p>\n<p>The Defra digital delivery principles reflect a working vision of what a digital mindset considers. From a practical standpoint, the principles provide a quick and easy checklist by which to inform and measure decisions at all levels.<\/p>\n<p>These principles are:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Being customer focussed<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Understanding our customers\u2019 needs, and involving the customer all the way through delivery<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Following Government Digital Service agile delivery practice<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Working in an iterative way using tools and techniques to support distributed working.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Working in multi-disciplined teams led by the business<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>With empowered teams of suitably skilled business and IT professionals.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>Delivery cross-Defra<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Thinking and working collaboratively to implement and re-use common solutions where possible.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>Following our architectural vision and principles<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Using low cost cloud based services, common components and approaches.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><strong>Work towards delivery of clear business benefits<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Taking a shared commitment to secure business outcomes that will deliver our strategic review commitments.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We are what we measure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If that age old adage has merit, the Defra digital delivery principles have an important role to play in setting ourselves on the right digital trajectory.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/defradigital.blog.gov.uk\/2017\/01\/25\/why-principles-matter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">This post first appeared on the Defra Digital Blog here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like many other government departments, Defra\u2019s services, systems and operations have developed over time, often in response to specific policy initiatives. Our services have also sometimes been split across Defra group\u2019s internal structures in ways that can be confusing to our customers. Poor service design [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","region-defra","topic-government"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why principles matter | Digital Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/why-principles-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why principles matter | Digital Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like many other government departments, Defra\u2019s services, systems and operations have developed over time, often in response to specific policy initiatives. 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