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Celebrating Libraries Week with the Defra library team

Posted by: Kimberley Stansfield and Laura Graydon, Posted on: 30 September 2021 - Categories: Data Transformation, Defra digital, Defra services, Open data

To celebrate Libraries Week, Library Officers Laura Graydon and Kimberley Stansfield share their passion for library work and explain why they work in the Defra Library.

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Inclusion – more than just a word

Posted by: Ahana Ogle, Posted on: 27 September 2021 - Categories: Defra digital, Digital transformation, Smarter working

As people around the UK take part in events to mark National Inclusion Week, Ahana Ogle shares her experiences of being on the Civil Service Autism Exchange Programme.

Read more of Inclusion – more than just a word - 2 comments

Building a team to design Defra services

Posted by: Cathy Dutton, Head of Design, Posted on: 6 September 2021 - Categories: Defra digital, Defra interaction, Defra services, Digital transformation, User centred design

Head of Design Cathy Dutton lifts the lid on the changes she is making in her team to create opportunities for service designers which enable them to visualise the full service as a user would understand it.

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Automating for the people

Posted by: Dave More, Posted on: 2 July 2021 - Categories: Defra digital, Defra interaction, Defra Science and Innovation, Digital transformation, Software tools

Dave More from Defra’s Digital Robotics Automation Centre of Excellence (DRACoE) shares his reflections on a year which has seen his team turn a fledgling robotics capability from concept to reality.

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Celebrating World Blood Donor Day with my 100th blood donation

Posted by: Charlie Beckett, Posted on: 14 June 2021 - Categories: Defra digital

To mark World Blood Donor Day, Digital Technology Standards Manager Charlie Beckett explains his motivations for giving blood on the occasion of what will be his 100th donation.

Read more of Celebrating World Blood Donor Day with my 100th blood donation - 9 comments

A little kindness goes a long way

Posted by: Danielle Vincent, Posted on: 17 February 2021 - Categories: Defra digital

To celebrate National Random Acts of Kindness Day Defra Digital Senior Content Designer Danielle Vincent shares her experiences of giving and receiving kindness during lockdown.

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Sharing the parental burden has been such a joy

Posted by: David Thomas, Posted on: 19 November 2020 - Categories: Defra digital, Smarter working

To celebrate International Men’s Day senior delivery manager David Thomas shares his experiences of one of the most segregated areas in our society - raising children.

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Using an incubation to design an MVP in two days

Posted by: Jessica Bonham, Posted on: 2 July 2018 - Categories: Defra digital, Digital transformation, Smarter working
People in a workshop

Agile teams aim to release early and often, starting with a minimum viable product (MVP) and iteratively building on it. But choosing what to put in an MVP is hard. You don’t want to release something that delivers little or …

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Invest in people if you want to transform

Posted by: Tracy Green and Colin Banno-Thorton, Posted on: 27 February 2018 - Categories: Digital transformation
Some of our "agile enthusiasts" stickers

A few weeks ago, we were invited to speak at an internal event for managers in one part of Defra. The subject of our talk was "What are digital skills, and how do we develop them?" We think that good …

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Agile ways of working in HR

Posted by: Jamie Arnold, Posted on: 30 January 2018 - Categories: Digital transformation
Detail from the team's discovery wall

...it encourages all sorts of unintended behaviours. People genuinely want to learn how to improve their performance, but they need to feel supported and encouraged to do that. A rigid,...

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