Weeknotes E44

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 & assisting the formation of NHSX

Some interesting and shareable things that happened this week. Other more mundane things also happened…

Running the team retro

I was on the rota for the team retro. Always try to do/use something new when its my turn so tried out using Fun Retro which seemed pretty easy to use and team didn’t seem to bat an eyelid or have too much difficulty using it.

Pros I can see;

• allowed people to update their thoughts and feelings in advance
• less paper used
• ability to vote so can jump to discussing big ticket items quicker
• reduce time thinking/writing in session so more time for people to talk and discuss issues
• easier to record actions and share them. Could copy and paste them into slack so team members who were absent could so the lo’ down.

Only used a basic free version so only did a very bog-standard What worked well?, What didn’t work well? What actionable items can we do to improve the situation? -style retrospective.

I’ve since learned a colleague is going to re-use this tool with the leadership team of NHSX.

NHSX website

NHSX website launched. All credit to the team that delivered it - they deserve a bucket of praise for doing a great job in such a limited time frame.

I looked back at the advice I gave on my first email about an NHSX website, if we need a website then [a snippet of comments]…

• do 1 thing well. Meet the most important user need
• start small, by that I mean tiny.
• use existing NHS.UK design patterns
• make it accessible
• get a multidisciplinary team that is empowered to deliver what works for users.
• create a backlog of needs, we can iterate and improve over the weeks, months and years of NHSX.

Some of those things happened. Which is good.

Healthy Start show and tell

We have been inviting more and more people to our show and tells. I made my return to speaking and we had some great questions.

I also explained to my colleague afterwards, who is relatively new to the practice, that part of the value of these events is not only to update and get input from those outside the team but to update one another about the work we are doing. No one person is involved with every single task. We are all working away towards a shared goal and it’s a good opportunity for us to converge and share amongst ourselves the work we have done, nevermind everyone else.

Constructive session on names of the service

The Healthy Start team had a great remote session about names of the service. Our content designer pulled together some great insights together and we put our different user group hats on and pulled apart some ideas. I have already talked about the topic of changing the name of Healthy start so it’s just more progress on that front. More questions raised, more actions taken down.

Things to continue to mull over:

• get more evidence on what name works best (ideally with people who have no recognition of the current scheme but are eligible)
• choosing a name that meets naming standards
• investigate opting for many acceptable service names under an umbrella name (e.g. apply for [new name])
• making sure we use the language of beneficiaries but also avoid creating stigma with the name
• what will a future name look like when translated (e.g. don’t want a scandalous/offensive name once translated)

NHSX x Mental Health

NHSX had some announcements. Included was:

“digital experts will be part of cancer and mental health teams”

I believe this is me. Or at least for the mental health part. The “digital expert” part made me chuckle, it’s not a title I can own with any seriousness. I suppose “helpful colleague who knows a bit about stuff i’ve yet to learn” has less zing to it.

Healthy Start uptake map

I channeled my inner Isaac and updated our uptake map. It’s still not great but it’s far more transparent then the scheme has been before and useful to interested parties in Healthy Start so I think it is good. Lots of fiddling and spreadsheets, minutes lost as I forget to clean up the management information data we get about the service. As we have continued to do this, sort of off our own backs, I’ve been compiling ways to improve it. Based on talking with users I’m fairly confident it could be improved if we:

• make the info more granular (but not enough so that individuals could be identified). Thus someone could see hot spots of areas within their local authority/borough that had low uptake. Then they could focus their attention on improving uptake of the scheme in that area.
• add a more obvious way to zoom
• obvs make it more accessible and user friendly. It’s not amazing still.
• add Northern Ireland data
• provide access to data so people can cut and dice it however they wish
• share more widely
• make it easier to update the map

City hall event

I presented at another Healthy Start City Hall event. I managed to show the thing, with a video I made that morning. Showing our most recent prototype, played on repeat behind me.

I get a lot of energy from being immersed with users of our service. I also get a lot of energy from being open and transparent and facing scrutiny from passionate, interested people. This event had all of that.

Just like the last event which I attended I learned plenty of things. Anecdotally heard about:

• lots of people again asking for a central resource for posters, translated materials, etc.
• we should work more closely with job centres
• some local authorities refuse to signpost people (staff/retailers/healthcare profs and beneficiaries) to the current website because they believe it to be “out of date”. They think the information is wrong so look for guides and advice from other sources

What I’ve been reading

1. When children become the ones in control of targeted advertising
2. Our loyalty when food shopping/ordering take outs. Very interesting in the context of a healthy eating scheme, maybe investigate how to support those on the precipice of making healthier choices. Capitalize on their desire for change. While opting for a different tactic for those entrenched in buying the same items.
3. Is Britain ready to go cashless? Not yet.
4. People (men especially) underestimate sexual harassment against women.
5. A video showing Chinese social credit in action. Fascinating.
6. Data needs to legible and we need a way to talk about our collective experience. Some good quotes in there; “Those who cannot perceive the network cannot act effectively within it, and are powerless.”
7. Tesco and Fareshare join forces to help tackle food waste and help community cooks. Better nutrition, less waste.
8. Really beautifully crafted article about a person’s experience of the wellness industry and eating disorders. Love the line; “Being healthy is about making peace with yourself and the world around you.”