September summary
Hey everyone, I’m back and this time, I’ve set myself a challenge!
As we embark on a transformation to enhance our digital experience for residents, I thought I’d share some insight in the hope that someone finds what I’m writing about useful. Therefore, every month, I’m going to reflect back and share a quick round-up of what’s been going on with our new external website project.
👀 What’s been happening…
- Content audit complete
- two key outputs:
- a report to help decision-making
- I created a decision matrix to playback internally on how we’ll prioritise service redesigns through sprints
- Council Tax defined as priority service for public beta (TBC)
- key findings shared with Annertech
- two key outputs:
- Discovery workshop
- half day planned with Annertech to map out project plan
- topics up for discussion:
- motivations
- creative direction
- measuring success
- Content submission process
- pilot UAT complete with new workflow for internal teams
- powered by M365 Forms, Planner and Power Automate
- go live aimed for w/c 27 October
🚪Behind the scenes…
- Vendor onboarding
- Annertech was chosen as our technology vendor
- using Teamwork.com as our collaborative project management tool
- pre-discovery questionnaire shared with key files such as brand assets
- New Information Architecture (IA)
- mapped out a draft IA for our move to LocalGov Drupal (LGD)
- focused on addressing key issues such as findability
- more revisions to come based on technical capabilities
📌 What’s next…
- hosting and authoring environment setup
- discuss content migration direction (automated vs. manual)
- plan user research mechanics for public beta feedback
- complete content audit review sprints
- establish regular project meetings post discovery workshop
💭 My final thoughts…
September has been full-on and some days I’ve struggled finding that balance of planning for the future vs. getting quick wins in now.
What has helped to find that balance is using my whiteboard more – being able to quickly jot my thoughts down physically and visualise actions works for my ADHD.
It’s allowed me to hyperfocus and get that satisfying feeling of completing something…like ticking something off a list.
In addition, shout out to my Digital Service team in embracing change and gaining some positive feedback on the BAU work coming in 👏🏼
Stay tuned for more…
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💯 Digital legends of the month:
- Who: 19th‑century mathematician who wrote the first published computer algorithm for Babbage’s Analytical Engine
- Fun fact: Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated each October to highlight women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
- Who: created JavaScript at Netscape in 1995
- Fun fact: wrote the first version of JavaScript in just 10 days
- Who: former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YouTube and early Google executive
- Fun fact: rented her garage to Google’s founders in 1998
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