A lot of Zylinc’s users work in public administration: Government offices, local authorities, etc.
If any of you are even just remotely involved in delivering digital information and self-service, you should follow the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) blog.
GDS’ work is not just about websites. It’s about making public services simpler and better, and about helping people make better-informed decisions when they investigate and implement service solutions.
Universally relevant
Actually, I’d argue that the GDS blog is relevant for anyone who’s involved in providing service for anyone else. It’s not just for government people, it’s not just about digital services, and it’s not just for people in the UK. It’s universally relevant.
What’s so fascinating about the GDS blog is not only that they share their experiences about creating and providing services. It’s that they aim to make their work completely transparent: It’s information for the masses across the world – including you and me – as well as internal GDS team communication, all in one.
I’ve never really seen that combination before – but it works. It’s a great source of inspiration!
Good starting points
If the GDS blog has some weaknesses, it’s that 1) their podcasts can be pretty dull, and that 2) it can be a little difficult for a new reader to find out where to start.
This is where I come to your rescue … As good starting points I recommend:
- Why you should set up a service community
- Crowdsourcing guidance on what good services look like
- Designing good government services: an introduction
If you read those three, you’ll get a good idea of how they work at GDS. I bet that you’ll also be following links to other articles or posts that are relevant to how you work.
Now could be the moment …
If you have a minute to scroll through some of GDS’ many pages of blog posts, you’re sure to find something that could change the way that you think and provide services in your organization.
Look up from your screen now. Look at the colleagues around you. In a year’s time, you could be thinking back to right now as the moment when you found out about GDS, and the way that you work began to transform …
Morten Müller is Documentation & Localization Manager at Zylinc’s HQ in Denmark.
Images on this page courtesy of Government Digital Service blog. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.