Friends, using gen AI to create user personas is a *really* awful idea. 🚩☹️🚩 This suggestion comes from the AI Knowledge Hub prompt library on GOV .uk. Here's the problem: AI is designed to give you back only what you already know. It will generate what it thinks you want to hear.

Are you looking to develop your workshop planning and facilitation skills? Do you have a workshop coming up soon that you're not sure about, or you'd like some help with? Come to my new, short, online workshop facilitation training and clinic! www.tickettailor.com/events/clara...

✨ There is no magic dust, you don't need permission. Just try it. Next week I'm running a course called Advocating for User-centred design in government www.tickettailor.com/events/clara... 3/4

Last week I ran a workshop called Money talks: Estimating the Cost and Value of Service Design with @ignaciaorellana.bsky.social at #campDigital. We've run the workshop 5 times now and it's always really fun and immediately useful for people. Some of biggest take aways from the workshop: 1/4

Two great courses here from the brilliant @claragt.bsky.social

Just a couple of tickets left now for my Writing design systems documentation session at 10am-1pm next Thursday, 29 May. If you're available and want to learn how to create docs people can find, understand and use, I'd love to have you. Tell your friends! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/writing-de...

I'm running a new in-person course! Introduction to User-centred Design (UCD) in Government 1 day, Brighton, 20 June £275/£350 Perfect for: 🌱 People new to user-centred research or design 🐝 Designers new to gov 🪻 Folks who want to work better with UCD people

Join us for Money talks: Estimating the cost and value of service design 1 day (5 hour) course. Early bird tickets are available now for £275.00 This was a popular session at SDinGov 2024, and @ignaciaorellana.bsky.social and I have run for the OU and MoJ www.tickettailor.com/events/ignac...

This is a very good piece of writing.

During my time at MoJ Probation Digital, I: * Supported a team developing a key strategic product for Probation staff, passing our alpha assessment. * Worked with product to define a new user journey and a phased rollout strategy. 1/3

Yesterday was my last day at MoJ Probation Digital. Grateful for the amazing people I met and the work we did improving services for probation staff. Now excited to rejoin @publicdigital.bsky.social for a new project starting next week! Looking forward to what’s ahead :)

Looking forward to this on Wednesday! Its free and includes AI, friendly folks and pizza 🍕 And of course the highlight - @timpaul.co.uk on Exploring AI: Can PDFs be transformed? www.meetup.com/artificial-i...

Come and work with me as a Lead Service Designer, we’ll be working in the same directorate- happy to chat if anyone wants more info.

When working with teams looking at developing proofs-of-concept, I try to avoid describing it as a discovery – tangible, proven results are the goal. An alpha-discovery loop is what it is. visitmy.website/2022/04/09/a...

💡We're thrilled that @ignaciaorellana.bsky.social and @claragt.bsky.social will join us at #CampDigital on 3rd July with a workshop titled 'Money talks: Estimating the cost and value of service design'. Get involved! Grab tickets for your team and learn more: tinyurl.com/mw4bcyb9 #ServiceDesign

Labour's simplemindedness will be its downfall - and ours. You can't build and bulldoze your way out of the housing crisis. Unless you also change the system, you'll still leave millions without decent homes. My column today explains why. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Blueprint for modern digital government: “Create an inventory of services to measure the progress of service modernisation and publish a version of this in the open.” Woop woop! 🎉 You’re welcome to start with this? govuk-digital-services.herokuapp.com

Had a GREAT time at my first ever #ukgc25 so many lovely folks that I hadn’t seen in years, or met in real life, or never met before. Its a truly nice community. Thanks @ukgovcamp.bsky.social organisers! Definitely coming back next year.

I wrote a first draft for a tribute to @vickytnz.bsky.social we're hoping to do at @ukgovcamp.bsky.social 2025. imranhussain.uk/remembering-...

A place to add your 🖼 photos and memories celebrating Vicky Teinaki (@vickytnz.bsky.social). vickyteinaki.muchloved.com

My weeknotes this week are a tribute to @vickytnz.bsky.social: frankieroberto.github.io/nhsnotes/pos...

Accessibility and intersectionality with @priyanca.bsky.social (dedicated to Vicky Teinaki). We discuss #dyscalculia, intersectionality, and the complexities of managing multiple access needs, as well as common service barriers and tips for designers. accessiblenumbers.com/accessibilit...

Looking forward to attending my first #GovCamp tomorrow and will be paying tributes to our ex colleague and gov designer @vickytnz.bsky.social

We are looking for another Interaction Design Lead! Come and do important work with a fantastic community and incredibly talented people! www.jobtrain.co.uk/justicedigit...

🚀 This year's brilliant lineup includes: @richardpope.org, @herahussain.bsky.social, @jukes.ie, @tumshie.bsky.social, @axbom.com, @ignaciaorellana.bsky.social and @claragt.bsky.social Learn more, and book your early bird tickets to join us at: www.nexerdigital.com/campdigital/... #CampDigital

If you wish to send a message to the friends and family of Vicky Teinaki, @vickytnz.bsky.social, about how much she meant to us and the community she was so much a part of, please add them here. I now have access to a compilation by a close friend of hers (not on BlueSky) and will add ours.

I never really know what to say when things like this happen, but to add to what others have shared… I found Vicky to be someone who took any request for help seriously, and responded generously. She played a huge role in the GOV.UK Design System community, a tireless advocate and supporter.

my friend @vickytnz.bsky.social died recently, a huge shock. She was so smart and caring and community-centred. In honour of her, I recommend reading her excellent articles like this one: www.vickyteinaki.com/blog/approac...

So long @vickytnz.bsky.social, you absolute legend. We’ll all miss you terribly

Devastated by the sudden loss and passing of our dear friend Vicky. She was a kind, thoughtful and all round amazing person. So much integrity and sincerity Thinking of you Vicky ❤️ @vickytnz.bsky.social

#CampDigital - start your 2025 with a ticket to a day of digital inspiration! 🎉 Our #UX, #design and #digital conference is back 3rd July, bringing together the community for a day of talks, workshops and connection. Early birds are just £200+VAT, available till 17th Jan at: tinyurl.com/mw4bcyb9

There's been recent focus on hiring designers from big-name tech companies (lnkd.in/eEjxq8EQ). Their skills are impressive, no doubt. But in today’s climate of cost-saving, organisations need designers with the hard-earned experience of a transformation. www.katherinewastell.com/blog/designi...

Hey Siri, I didn't unzip my dress for you to feed my casual conversation unwittingly into the profit engines of surveillance capitalism and the perpetual dragnet of the carceral state

Dyscalculia in adulthood with @peterjcherry.bsky.social. We discuss what #dyscalculia is, the stigma around #MathsAnxiety, gender stereotypes in maths education and the need for greater awareness and acceptance. Timestamps, links and transcript: accessiblenumbers.com/dyscalculia-...

#ServicesWeek to return for its seventh year ✨ Please share and save the date: 17 to 21 March 2025 This event series aims to grow service literacy and is open to all UK public servants. Take part if you can! #ServiceDesign #GovDesign #LocalGov #LocalDigital services.blog.gov.uk/2024/12/19/s...

“test and learn teams thrive under modern, servant leaders – people whose behaviour is open and collaborative, people who trust teams to deliver outcomes while remaining open-minded about the outputs along the way.”

Today I finished a project with one of the best teams I’ve worked with. Inheriting work done a couple of years ago wasn’t easy (eg stakeholders expectations vs reality). But the team smashed it. We collaborated with teams across Probation, ran an alpha and passed our service assessment. 1/2

Yesterday I went to an All Hands for Probation Digital at MoJ, followed by a Christmas social. It’s been a long time since I was surrounded by so many folks who are not only passionate and great at what they do, but also are lovely and fun human beings. Very happy to get to be part of this group.

Money talks: estimating the cost and value of service design. @ClaraGreo and I wrote an article about this for The Service Gazette. Let us know what you think :) medium.com/the-service-...

Great initiative from @rossferg.bsky.social on collecting and sharing public routemaps and backlogs from public sector across the world 🌍. These are good examples of working in the open and I believe organisations should aim for this type of stuff. It makes things better for everyone.

I created a web accessibility and inclusion starter pack. Comment with your favourite accessibility folks, and I'll add them to the list. #a11y

Excellent post by @projectsbyif.bsky.social on designing digital public services to embrace feedback. I'd only add that those who have time and motivation to respond can be very unrepresentative. In public services, the dog that doesn't bark is often suffering the most. medium.com/writing-by-i...

So, it's notable that nearly everyone is on this platform because of Elon Musk, but relatively few UK-based people outside the field of critical tech seem to care about building pro-democracy alternatives and not giving away national infra to a handful of companies.

Starter packs are a great way to find people. But I followed a few tech/AI starter packs, and now have a sizeable gender skew in who I'm following. To counteract, I started collecting this list. Who else should I be following & add? 👇 go.bsky.app/LaGDpqg

Very exciting to see that GOV.UK Forms is finally in public beta 🥳👏 Huge congrats to the team. This is going to be massive for public sector service design. gds.blog.gov.uk/2024/11/04/g...

New blog post from moi: How Design System Day makes our community stronger It’s a #DesignSystemDay write up and a little bit on how it fits with our community strategy. Take a read if you have 4 mins spare: gds.blog.gov.uk/2024/10/31/h... #DSDay24 #community #DesignSystem

Weekend spent exploring the nuances of showcasing 'different expression of the same component' across gov., inspired by a conversation with @timpaul.co.uk @helena and @matt during emerging pattern session. MVP now live 👉🏼 x-govuk-component-and-pattern-gallery.github.io #designsystems #patterns

All the talks from Design System Day 2024 events have just gone live on the GDS YouTube. Check out the playlist here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... #DSDay24

“Seeing public digital work as not just about using digital technology to make public institutions work better, but as one part of a project to make the digital dimension work better for humans.”

Hello folks! I just realised I was added to a design system starter pack so I thought I’d share the work I did on the GOV.UK Design System (2017-2018). As a service designer, my focus was on the service aspects: contribution, assurance, support and community. ignaciaorellana.com/casestudies/...