Public sector

Central government: large scale digital transformation

Central government, specifically the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, delivered through CDS. Departments had each bought their own content management systems independently, leaving inconsistent technology, duplicated cost and very little joined-up governance. I was the programme manager on a £2.5m programme that brought 41 websites and multiple departments under one strategic approach, owning the plan, the stakeholder management, procurement, governance and the executive reporting.

Who was the client?

This was central government, specifically the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, delivered through CDS. At the time individual departments had each gone off and bought their own content management systems, independently of one another. The Deputy Prime Minister’s department is about as high profile as public sector work gets, and the scrutiny that comes with it is real.

What was the problem?

Dozens of departments each running their own system creates exactly the mess you would expect: inconsistent technology, duplicated cost, a different supplier behind every door, a heavy maintenance overhead and very little joined up governance. The job was to pull that together. Create one strategic approach, cut the duplication, improve governance and simplify how government published online, in a way that could support where digital government was heading next.

What was my role?

I was the programme manager. I owned the programme plan, the stakeholder management across multiple departments, procurement and supplier management, the programme governance, delivery leadership and the executive reporting that kept everyone above me sighted. Government programmes live or die on stakeholder management and governance, and both were mine.

What did I do?

• Set a single strategic direction across departments that had been buying in isolation
• Ran the procurement and managed the suppliers against it
• Put proper programme governance in place
• Consolidated and simplified a sprawling estate of publishing sites
• Managed a wide set of government stakeholders through the change
• Reported progress and risk up to executive level throughout

What was the result?

The programme was delivered. It created a shared direction where there had been none, reduced duplication, simplified how the estate would be managed in future and improved governance across the board. It also laid foundations that later government consolidation built on.

To be clear about what I am not claiming: this was not GOV.UK. The programme formed part of the wider modernisation of government digital services during that period.

What does this show?

• Leading large, complex programmes
• Governance in a government setting
• Stakeholder management across many parties
• Operating in politically sensitive environments
• Supplier and procurement management
• Delivering complex transformation

What other government work is there?

Alongside this programme I have worked with a range of public sector bodies, including the Environment Agency, Transport for London, the Office for National Statistics, Buying Solutions, the Highways Agency and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

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