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Dean Vipond

@deanvipond.bsky.social

Design leadership and human-centred stuff in general. Previously lead designer at NHS Digital and lots of other things. He/Him.

1139 Posts619 Follower194 Folgt
Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them)@bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 2w ago

*whispers* you know we can do this cultural debate about art thing all the time, right? Websites and news organizations used to have culture critics on staff whose entire job was writing about books, movies, and TV. People read them and then discussed them. We have the technology to do this again.

Simon McGarr@tupped.bsky.social · 2w ago

Imagine an entire cheery article on self expression ending in this paragraph on children. “Girlguiding’s new look is being launched shortly before a change in the charity’s membership policy from 6 September, which will force transgender girls to leave.”

Simon Cox@simonfrcox.bsky.social · 2w ago

Schools should learn from Guides. Being forced to wear clothes you don’t choose is bad for children’s confidence www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Sophie Dennis@sophiedennis.bsky.social · 2w ago

Can confirm. This happens a lot. Also pay multiple consultancies £100k to say it’s not viable because the Powerful Person Who Thinks It Is doesn’t believe the first lot and keeps hoping someone will give them a different answer

fesshole 🧻@fesshole.bsky.social · 2w ago

I work for a public sector body. Someone important has had an idea and wants us to do it. Everyone agrees the idea is not viable. But because we can't say no, we're paying a consultancy £100k to come up with the evidence to say its not viable. This happens a lot.

Jeni Tennison@jenitennison.com · 2w ago

Exhibit A: British Gas explains how it's the customers' fault that they're cutting 1,300 call centre staff - people just prefer chat bots! Exhibit B: Trustpilot summary of reviews of British Gas customer service: frustration of being forced into online channels and unable to speak to a person.

But Chris O’Shea, the company’s chief executive, insisted that the changes were being made because customers preferred to take their queries to digital channels rather than people. “AI isn’t driving these particular job reductions; that’s mainly due to changing customer behaviour,” he said. “What we’re seeing just now is over 90% of our customers actually use digital channels in the first instance, and we’ve seen a 20% reduction in customer calls, so this simply reflects the changing customer behaviour. “We’ve got to reflect the changes in customer behaviour. We expect to grow more jobs around our digital interface, and maybe having fewer people on the phones.”Customers consistently note ambiguous experiences with customer service, with many praising the helpfulness, professionalism, and clear communication from agents and engineers, who explained everything and resolved issues quickly. Reviewers appreciated the ease of booking appointments, prompt confirmations, and the availability of out-of-hours support. However, a significant number of consumers expressed frustration with the inability to speak to a person, being redirected to online channels, and a lack of follow-through on promised callbacks. Many also reported issues with conflicting information, unaddressed complaints, and a perceived lack of care or understanding from customer service representatives, leading to prolonged unresolved problems and financial concerns.
Caroline Jarrett@cjforms.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is a great, thoughtful, long read from @bm.wel.by about the location of “digital” in UK government. (I’m still of the view that minsters think that they “did digital” in the 2010s and that if they now consider it at all then it’s as historic)

Benjamin Welby@bm.wel.by · 3w ago

By popular* demand I have added my many words to all the other bits and pieces reflecting on the end of DSIT. *@semanthicc.bsky.social and one other said they were waiting to hear my take.

Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 3w ago

We had a prompt injection attack yesterday that I think was via using Google Auth to log into Claude (so, um, DON'T DO THAT). An API had been installed that was issuing commands to our inboxes and authoring emails - we managed to shut it down relatively quickly but watching it unfold was 👀

Jeni Tennison@jenitennison.com · 3w ago

I have to assume that GDS will be moving back to Cabinet Office (because the alternative move to DDCMS makes zero sense). I guess we'll know when we see the relevant junior ministerial appointments – who will have Digital Government in their remit and in which department?

John Oxley@joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 4w ago

I don't have this fully fleshed out, but I have a theory that the way politics massively selects for enthusiasm and not critiquing leads to a lot of Westminster being easy marks.

Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · 4w ago

🚨Exclusive🚨 Two ministers filmed a video for a child-protection software firm that lost £17m in three years, made just *£112* in the UK in 2024 and gets 90%+ of its income from overseas subsidiaries that haven't cooperated with auditors for three years. 1/ theuglygame.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/p...

Rosie (she/her)@airfriedrosie.bsky.social · 4w ago

Remember Streeting's review into whether young people are being overdiagnosed with ADHD, autism, and mental health issues? Well, the interim report is out, and there's a reason the media are silent on it (spoiler: it proves what a lot of us have been saying all along)

In others, notably ADHD and autism, rising diagnoses and referrals appear to exceed changes in underlying epidemiological prevalence and are likely to reflect a combination of: improved recognition changing help-seeking behaviour institutional incentives pressures within existing service pathways Across both ADHD and autism, best currently available population-based estimates remain relatively stable, while administrative diagnoses, self-identification and recorded service demand have increased substantially. In autism, the evidence also points to particularly rapid growth in identified need within educational systems, including increasing identification among girls and among young people without learning disability.These patterns suggest that rising demand is not simply the result of increasing prevalence, but of several processes operating simultaneously, including: real increases in distress in some groups improved recognition of previously unmet need changing expectations about support systems that frequently rely on formal diagnosis as the primary route to assistance Across the system, support is too often accessed through pathways that are slow, fragmented and heavily dependent on diagnostic categorisation. While diagnosis remains essential for some forms of clinical decision-making, the evidence suggests that current arrangements do not always provide the most effective or efficient way of identifying and responding to need. In particular, where access to support depends heavily on formal diagnosis, demand for diagnostic assessment can increase more rapidly than systems are able to respond, generating long waiting times, duplication of assessment and pressure on specialist services. The next phase of the review will therefore focus on clarifying the relationship between distress, diagnosis and need, and on examining how systems might respond more effectively to these patterns. A central objective will be to identify opportunities for developing more coherent, evidence-informed care pathways that enable support to be provided earlier and more proportionately, while ensuring that specialist services are available in a timely and appropriate manner for those whose needs are most complex.
Caroline Jarrett@cjforms.bsky.social · 4w ago

Instead of sending an AI expert to add even more technology, why not send a forms expert to #FixTheForms and find out how much of that paperwork burden is in fact useful and necessary? No doubt you’ll soon be telling us about adding (unnecessary) AI to help whoever reads the 30-plus pages later.

Caroline Jarrett@cjforms.bsky.social · 4w ago

In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, instead of actually fixing the form, someone is throwing AI into a highly confidential interview to deal with 30-plus pages of paperwork Pro tip: fix forms, don’t add complex technology to them instead

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon.bsky.social · 4w ago

I’m quite unconvinced on this. Either a 30-35 page form is actually collecting necessary information - in which case I’d rather it wasn’t filled in using transcription software - or it isn’t, which in case cut down the form.

Heather Burns@heatherburnstech.bsky.social · last mo.

The far right: screaming about government tyranny and surveillance out of one side of their mouths, whilst investing in it for fun and profit out of the other. This is the company behind the child nudity detection snake oil, the newly converted Jesus freaks who previously courted Prince Andrew.

Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · last mo.

Grateful to @alexparsons.bsky.social for discovering that only one MP declares a shareholding in SafeToNet: Restore leader Rupert Lowe, who has held more £70,000 worth of shares since mid-2024. (His name is not on the shareholder list, so he must own them through one of his companies.)

Shares in SAFETONET Ltd More details Shares in SAFETONET Ltd Shareholding Threshold: (ii) Other shareholdings, valued at more than £70,000 Organisation Name: SAFETONET Ltd Organisation Description: Online child safety software developer Registration Date: 2024-07-31 Published Date: 2024-07
laura@freezydorito.lol · last mo.

do you think the guy who came up with replacing he first 'no' button with 'maybe later' now sits in the bathtub during rainy days haunted by what hes done kinda like oppenheimer with his bomb