Here's my monthnote from July covering strategic planning, AI tools and a hackathon: medium.com/web-of-weekn...

Monthnote: July 2026

July was a series of 2-day events:

medium.com

I have blogged! The State of the Present: Andy Burnham’s new government or - Why the abolition of DSIT is baffling and bad - Why I'm worried about what it means for civil service reform - Some opportunities for the new government around data, digital, open government medium.com/state-of-the...

The State of the Present: Andy Burnham’s new government

In common with lots of other policy people in recent weeks, I’ve been reading Head North, the (very readable) book by new Prime Minister…

medium.com

Some thoughts on phrase "through the NHS App" and how we dealt with the heat for our quarterly planning event. medium.com/web-of-weekn...

Monthsnote: May/June 2026

A double header this month. There’s been a lot going on at home and at work, and I missed the window to write about May separately. I’ve…

medium.com

The festival of contemporary comics in Peckham is a large amount of creativity under one roof. Drop in if you can tomorrow arc-london.uk

ARC London

A festival of contemporary comics

arc-london.uk

I was also at the Oval last night. It was a brilliant match and performance from the team. Bouncing back from that poor start showed real strength of character. And the fielding was the best I've seen from them.

Chris Addison@mrchrisaddison.bsky.social · 2mo ago

So much to say about that semi-final. Mainly: What a performance. A team that has been brittle in the past showing such resilience and skill. It’s been a remarkable summer for England women. They’ve put the men to shame. 🏏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇿🇦

Soft launch when everyone is distracted recovering from the England game...Product for the People is back on the 3rd September in Bristol. Less unconference-y this time - more corridor conference-y with three brilliant speakers and some lightly facilitated conversations. luma.com/rjsq2i36

Product for the People - Bristol · Luma

'Product for the People' returns to Bristol! An event for people interested in public service and product management (not just product managers in public…

luma.com

Slightly delayed by the pre-election period, here are my monthnotes from March and April. For information architecture and navigation changes, read the one from March: weeknot.es/monthnote-ma...

Monthnote: March 2026

This post was written mid-April 2026 but not published until mid-May because of the pre-election period.

weeknot.es

This is hilarious and I am very bad at it.

madeline odent@oldenoughtosay.com · 4mo ago

help this is so bad but so funny guesstheparty.co.uk

Another good line from this talk: "We can live with imperfection. We shouldn't have to live with dysfunction that can be avoided."

Dave Burton@ideasintheround.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Truth dropped by @himal.bsky.social, as usual. When you enable the system to do this, you're not fixing the broken system, you are the system. And the system will stay broken, and will break you in return. Sobering but helpful. What would different look like?

Do you need a separate design system for your staff vs public facing services? It’s a common question, but at the NHS we think the answer is No. I’ve published a blog post to explain why: digital.nhs.uk/blog/design-...

One design system is better than 2 - NHS England Digital

Frankie and Ananda explain why the NHS design system is not just for public-facing    services, with an overview of recent changes to meet the needs of staff-facing services. There’s also mo...

digital.nhs.uk

a weeknote on our planning cycle, how the ways we're changing our design approach is affecting that, and some questions about the future of prototyping here mikegallagher.org/posts/becomi...

This podcast interview with Bob Wachter on the use of AI in healthcare is great - covers scribing, health record summaries, diagnosis support, expert advice. www.hsj.co.uk/hsj-health-c...

Some thoughts about in-app prompts and decision-making escalation in my latest monthnote: weeknot.es/monthnote-fe...

Monthnote: February 2026

We’re barrelling towards the end of the financial year with some major new releases planned for March — more on these in a future…

weeknot.es

Saw Cardiacs (first time!) in Brixton tonight. I've never seen so many middle-aged weirdos (complimentary) in one place.

We're looking for speakers to join us at SDinGov 2026. If you have something you want to share with our community, this is your chance. If you'd like to speak at this year's event, submit your proposal before 17:00, Monday, 9 March 2026. sdingov.net/call-sessions

Really enjoyed this piece, which sums up some of the issues I've been wrestling with, particularly the expectation of 'tech = savings!!!', and the spam-vs-anti-spam we're likely to see.

Jason Kitcat@jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 6mo ago

More pondering on AI as I wrangle with what it means for public servants... Here's where I've got to so far: There is a useful path to take between hype and doom. It's time to keep experimenting and learning as nobody knows what the future will bring. jasonkitcat.com/2026/03/02/s...

It's P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Pancake Day: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj_a...

Pancake Day - Maid Marian

YouTube video by Swimace

youtube.com

This is the Gov looking for your input on the BBC. It takes a while to complete (15/20 mins) but it’s pretty comprehensive and covers most aspects. Please share. I’m surprised many people haven’t seen it yet. www.gov.uk/government/c...

Britain’s Story: The Next Chapter - BBC Royal Charter Review, Green Paper and public consultation

gov.uk

We're looking to fill a couple of Senior Content Designer roles across the OPG and Probation digital teams www.jobtrain.co.uk/justicedigit...

This T20 World Cup has been brilliant so far and that #SAvAFG match was the best of the lot.

In January I went to UK GovCamp and the Japanese Embassy, and I thought about all of the big things that could go wrong in 2026. medium.com/web-of-weekn...

Monthnote: January 2026

It’s 2026. I’ve had a good start to the new year. A lot is going to happen over the next 12 months — I’ve been thinking about the threats…

medium.com

If you’re travelling from london to GovCamp this seems like the best option. Marylebone route has rail replacement bus. #ukgc26 #ukgovcamp #govcamp Next departures: 08:35 – 10:38 09:02 – 11:15

Prateek Buch@prateekbuch.bsky.social · 8mo ago

PSA for those heading from London to Birmingham for @ukgovcamp.com - all trains from Euston currently cancelled, head to St Pancras and change at Leicester... #govcamp

PSA for those heading from London to Birmingham for @ukgovcamp.com - all trains from Euston currently cancelled, head to St Pancras and change at Leicester... #govcamp

As well as sorting out the last minute details for GovCamp 2026 we're also planning for the long term. We want to set up GovCamp as an official non-profit company. To do that we need a Board of Trustees. We've previously asked for volunteers but, while good people, they're all straight white men.

Easter Eden #EggAMovie

Gargarin@gargarin.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Of mice and albumen #EggAMovie

Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

Donate to Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025, organized by Rhodri Marsden

Unbelievably, it's the 15th year of this thing. What is it? Improbably, the nig… Rhodri Marsden needs your support for Duvet Know It's Christmas, 2025

gofundme.com

I'm at the Smithfield Market meat auction waiting to find out what we'll eat tomorrow.

Spotted this urban brickhenge last night. It's either a celebration of the winter solstice or a memorial to Rob Reiner.

This series is well worth reading if you're involved with public sector product or delivery. Jukesie describes a pragmatic, common-sense approach to agile delivery in a UK government context.

Jukesie@jukes.ie · 9mo ago

My [IMHO] series of posts is complete - for now. digitalbydefault.com/category/imho/ [01] Effective Agile [02] Roles, responsibilities and relationships [03] Agile planning [04] Okay OKRs

I'm reading the OBR's investigation of the publication error last week. The scariest part (for me) is how quickly it all happened - the first news headline was published 6 mins after the report was accessed. I can easily imagine being the website manager in that situation. obr.uk/investigatio...

Investigation into November 2025 EFO publication error - Office for Budget Responsibility

The OBR inadvertently made it possible to access the November 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook (EFO) too early on Budget day. We launched an immediate investigation into what happened which has report...

obr.uk