š Who I am
Hey everyone, my name is Jayvik.
I joined Luton Council start of June and Iāve never blogged professionally, so hopefully youāll find this somewhat interesting! A quick summary about me:
- Born in India
- Moved to the UK in ā95 – never spoke a word of English!
- Lived in six cities spread North to South
- 15 years in the private industry across 7 brands, 6 industries
On a personal note, over the past year Iāve learnt something about myself that started to make sense. Iām neurodivergent – something Iām trying to use as a strength. One topic Iāve learnt is that with my ADHD, I thrive more in sprints rather than long marathons.
šÆ My first 100 days in Local Government
I feel like Iāve started a fresh book, not even a new chapter in my career by joining the Public Sector. My current role is Strategic Digital Services Manager within the Digital Data and Technology Service.
Well, if you like acronyms, my role āladderā is DST-UCD > DSD > DDaT (thatās one consistent question Iāve started to askā¦what does that acronym stand for and mean!)
I knew stepping into this role would challenge and stretch me, but I didnāt expect to feel energised by the opportunities on the horizon.
š Why Local Government?
For those that know me, know that I love interacting and socialising with people. The work we do here touches real lives, every day. Not one day has gone by where I remind myself, this is peopleās hard-earned money at work. Iāve got a small sense so far about how we truly make an impact in people’s lives and that will only grow as we embrace technology to work hard AND smart.
One common theme that has already stuck out is transparency. From sharing our thinking in the open to blogging about our progress, itās refreshing to be part of a culture that values honesty. One example was when I attended LocalGov Drupal Camp and saw the communityās passion for doing good for residents.
š§ Challenges and lessons
Now there are just as much, maybe more, complexities in public sector vs private. Legacy systems, tight budgets, and the sheer scale of what weāre trying to do can be daunting. But Iāve found that asking questions, no matter how small or silly they come off, opens that door to curiosity and innovation.
Iāve taken the learnings of being neurodivergent within different workplaces and tried to start off on the front foot here at Luton Council. One example is just a simple touch, but Iāve added this snippet to my external and internal email signatures + Teams status:
š§ Iām neurodivergent (ADHD) – I appreciate your patience and understanding
In the past, I used to put (Windows and Mac) keyboard shortcuts on how to clear cache š
š¬ Whatās next?
I have a fairly good idea of what the next 100 days will look like as we start the (long-waited) journey to fully revamping our external website – Luton.gov.uk via the LocalGov Drupal platform and community.
Beyond that, itās still going through a phrase of listening and observing. Creating and deepening relationships with our service teams. I try to spend at least one day a month with Customer Services to ensure I keep my ear to the ground and close to the pulse of Luton residents.
If youāve read this far, thank you. Iād love to hear your reflections too. What helped you thrive in your first 100 days? What do you wish youād known?
Letās keep the chat goingā¦
One of the strengths of local government digital is the willingness to share. While every council faces its own challenges, many of us are solving similar problems, often with the same technologies and the same ambition to deliver better services for residents.Ā Find out more about the collaboration between Luton and Cumberland councils.
Hands connecting colourful puzzle pieces together Hopefully the latter as itās been a while since Iāve blogged on whatās been happening in DDaT. Since March, weāve launched new platforms, redesigned services, introduced new ways of working, started building stronger user research capabilities and continued our journey towards a more user-centred design future for Luton. Noneā¦
Continue Reading From the digital desk: are you standing up or sitting down?
Over the last few months, the DDaT team have been working on the refresh of the councilās fleet of printers with Ricoh being the new printer supplier. Ricoh has a strong record of delivering high-quality services to local authorities. The goals have been to improve functionality and performance using the latest technology to ensure cost-effectiveā¦
March summary ā deeper dive edition Photo by Andy Hermawan on Unsplash If you missed it, hereās the moment the new Luton Council website launched: āWe are live!ā After months of planning, content sprints, SME workshops and a lot of āwork backwards from the dateā energy, our new council website is now live ā builtā¦
Continue Reading From the Digital desk: we went live (and what it really took)
Itās been a surreal entry into local government delivering this project, and Iām genuinely excited to start seeing real engagement now the new website is live.
February summary Photo by Imagine Buddy on Unsplash Last month really felt like things were starting to get real for me. Once you have a date to work backwards from, you start filling in the days and weeks with actions, and very quickly you realise you probably should have started on one of those keyā¦
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