A user story is a way of describing what the user needs. It's a short and simple description told from the perspective of that person.

Hi everyone, Gemma here again. This month’s been all about projects — and it’s been a busy one! I’ve finished my online training (woop!) and I’ve been working on two projects; one that’s in the discovery phase and another that’s just a few weeks away from go-live.

Accelerating your digital transformation through the use of automation has reached a tipping point in central government. What was once considered a technology for the future is now entering the mainstream. 

The GDS' updated Service Standard – initially introduced in 2014 to help government create and run user-led digital services – has now come into force. From 1 July, any new discovery work undertaken by government bodies needs to adhere to the new standards. At some point, services already in progress will transition to the updated standards but GDS says this is unlikely to happen before early 2020.

A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation on a train between two, let’s call them ‘seasoned’ consultants, who were raving to each other about this wonderful new methodology they’d discovered called ‘Agile' and how they were super excited to learn more and put it into practice. Using all the Agile buzzwords, they obviously thought Agile was the answer to all their problems. 

The GDS Government Service Standard — formerly Digital Service Standard — helps government create and run, user-led digital services.  As part of the government’s wider ‘Digital by Default’ drive, the service standard was introduced in 2014 and updated a year later to reduce the number of assessments from 26 to 18. You can find the list here.