Weeknotes E30
Hi, I’m Colin a product manager working at the Department of Health and Social Care. Each week I’m going to keep a running update of the work I’ve done & things I’ve learned along the way.
My current priority:
Supporting the Healthy Start private beta.
Some interesting and shareable things that happened this week. Other more mundane things also happened…
Survey feedback
User researcher working on Healthy Start is working on a new survey to dig deeper into the lives and practices of our users. We’ve got a few more questions on what they are buying, their digital understanding and clues on what type of tools/equipments they have, etc. Post-Boxing Day work day I sat down and hammered through feedback to the first stab at it. As colleagues will know I don’t shy away from being constructive (yes, I always offer a suggestion on how to actually make a thing better than just critique). I’ve done a few surveys this year and here are handful of generic tips i’ve consumed on best practice and keep applying to my own work:
- keep it short
- understand bias. If it’s an online survey you’ve already biased who will be the respondent.
- give more options than absolute answers (e.g. Always and Never). I tend to add often, sometimes and rarely sandwiched in between. Most answers are nuanced, in life you rarely always or never any action so make sure to reflect this.
- use the language that the respondents use
- keep each question specific and think about what the answer will tell you. It’s easy to just bundle up and throw loads of questions at respondents but if the answers you get won’t tell you anything then why ask.
- give context to the survey and questions. If we are changing the service and need their feedback to improve it then tell respondents. Also, don’t hide intent from respondents. It’s unethical.
- just for added effect… keep it short again. Shorter than you think is reasonable.
- get feedback from outside your team and make changes
Future Leader Scheme
So I applied for a Civil Service scheme a few months back. I didn’t get on it. The inner competitor in me doesn’t like losing but not upset with the decision. Thankfully they did send feedback, which is good and commendable. I continue to learn and improve.
The feedback is quite broad brush but looks like I need to tighten up answers on managing people and teams (one day someone will unleash me as a line manager), they were not too hot for my liberating structures answer in the interview (maybe should of put the event/action in a bit more context for interviewees) and finally why I wanted to be on the scheme and what concrete steps I was taking to make me a super mega powerful civil servant. That last one is actually really tough. I like making things happen, I like working hard, I like doing good things that will sustain and outlast me but I rarely stop and think what do I want to be in 3+ years and a strategy to get there. I just keep going, trying to make myself and my output better. Hmmm requires thought.
My favourite quote was; “Across a range of answers, you demonstrated your commitment to building and maintaining relationships, and a preference for a collaborative approach, which the panel felt came across as a strength of yours.” I shamelessly thank you for your kind words.
Working with suppliers
Some great news over the Xmas period. Been asking for help with our trial and it appears all are keen to work with us. It’s only the start of the journey but rewarding seeing our effort and plans coming to some fruition. Enthusiasm still high and gathering ever more pace and partners.
Blog stats for Digital Health blog
I signed up to have a look at our blogging efforts in 2018. I’ve done about half of my review but can reveal one snippet early… The most prolific bloggers for 2018 were… Dharmesh, Kass and… me. 5 posts a piece. I’m going for all out winner this year.
What I’ve been reading
- A long-read on glasses, lenses, monopolies and our species ability to see. Some crazy stats; “In the 1950s, between 10% and 20% of Chinese people were shortsighted. Now, among teenagers and young adults, the proportion is more like 90%. In Seoul, 95% of 19-year-old men are myopic, many of them severely, and at risk of blindness later in life.”
- Google swallows Deepmind. Some get nervous.
- Food waste is bad for the environment, a food waste caddy might be on the cards. Mission to mitigate is good. Lets see if the proposed intervention works.
- Amazon experimenting with physical retail stores and a new one in NYC has opened. London has its own treasure truck but a physical store can’t be too far off. I predicted an increase in dynamic pricing moving forward and seems like Amazon are already there.
- All about our interoperability and open standards mission. Good time to be in DHSC with smart passionate people.
- Guardian article on the crushing effect of poverty on children. Nearly 500 teachers “said more children were going hungry compared with three years ago, with only 2% saying the situation had got better.”
- Chinese social credit system report - showcasing two tales from two types of citizen. Like the use of video to aid the storytelling
- A distributed systems primer for beginners