We need to talk, openly and honestly: part 1
Last Wednesday 12th October 2022, CURSHAW held its Procuring and Supplying Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Unconference 2022 in partnership with techUK.
Image showing unconference participants actively discussing the topics of the day
For several of us, this was the first time we had been to an in-person event since lockdown ended, and the majority of attendees had never been to an unconference before. Therefore, this promised to be an interesting learning experience for most participants.
The ground rules: there aren’t any
The day was facilitated by Lloyd Davis, who helpfully talked through the ground rules for the day, which basically meant people could do whatever they wanted and nothing would be ‘wrong’:
Whoever comes are the right people
Whenever it starts is the right time
Whenever it’s over it’s over
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
Law of Mobility (Two Feet)
This was helpful because it helped people to understand the nature of an unconference, where the agenda for the day is set by participants expressing questions or subject areas that they feel are important to work on.
The rise of digital public goods
Mike Bracken, partner at Public Digital and former Executive Director at the UK Government Digital Service, joined us for closing remarks at the end of the unconference.
Image of a tweet by Mike Bracken saying “Thanks for the invitation. Great to see the real reformers show up and share. Onwards! @PublicDigitalHQ” with a photo of him making his closing remarks
Mike shared perspectives from around the world including how the increasing availability and use of digital public goods and infrastructure are creating alternatives to the traditional decision-making models, which is largely bypassing public procurement.
Digital public goods are defined by the ‘DPG Standard’ as “open-source software, open data, open AI models, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, do no harm by design, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
I referred to digital public goods in my recent techUK guest blog post ‘CURSHAW: Mainstreaming internet era commercial approaches to deliver smart and sustainable digital public services’, and the various forms of technology procurement ‘anti-patterns’. For example, when public sector delivery teams buy or build technology without having first understood what digital public goods and infrastructure already exists, which could be reused instead of wasteful duplication, countless times over.
Thank you
CURSHAW would like to express their deepest gratitude to everybody who contributed with open and honest discussions (the essential ingredients of a successful unconference), Lloyd for facilitating, techUK for co-organising and hosting the event, and Mike Bracken.
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