The Colander

We started the alpha about four weeks ago, but almost all of that time has been devoted to getting set up and preparing ourselves to do research and testing. In an alpha, it can feel like you’re not making progress if you’re not shaping prototypes or putting things in front of users, not running spikes or playing around with data.

But it’s not true. All that setup work and extra exploration is useful. Nay, it’s necessary. When we were doing the alpha recurring payments on GOV.‌UK Pay, I remember there was a liminal period between discovery and alpha then too.

In running, there’s the concept of ‘Zone X’, this moderate-intensity rut between easy pace and threshold pace. It exists to tell you to slow down when you really need to be going easy, or keep it steady before you need to really get faster.

The start of an alpha phase is Zone X, moderate intensity. A bit quicker but not as fast as you’ll be going soon, and still productive.

Zone X has culminated in us achieving decent milestones this week:

  • We got clinical assurance for our plans to test prototypes with users in a few weeks’ time.
  • Ralph made a start on the prototypes we’ll test with users.
  • Matt added lots of detail to our technical spike plans, meaning we could plan the tasks to execute it.
  • Matt and Jamie also framed the spike as an experiment using my template, calling out the method, success metrics and key dependencies.

So yeah, meaningful progress.

Much more happened this week, and there’s other notes in my Obsidian vault, but that’s what it feels worth reflecting on this week.

Oh, one other thing: the culture. An intern spent eight weeks with us on Innovation & Analysis, in some of the messiest, most complicated parts of the NHS’s digital service estate – and came out happy, smiling, willing to come back. That says a lot about the culture our leadership has built. Props to them.

We published another design history too, looking at examples of How the NHS App presents different prevention service test results. Differences usually come down to how humans record the data, how systems transfer it between services, and how that data ultimately reaches the NHS App. It’s not a complete picture, and in some cases Al had to hunt through online forums for examples, but it’s helping us see what’s similar, what isn’t, and why as we explore helping users do more with their test results. (There’s also a spicy comment in there about what teams need to do their work well, go have a look.)

Jamie and I have been playing around with our ‘operating model’ for the alpha some more, but it feels like it settled this week. Blog post or design history incoming, from us two with floppy hair.

Other things

  • This weather can do one.
  • I appreciated the moon for eclipsing the sun and reducing the temperature a bit though.
  • Also appreciated our colander, thank you.
  • Not going camping this weekend, it’s too warm. Going to enjoy a viral spice bag with Owen instead, and sup some snakebites by the river.
  • Looking forward to the political commentary tomorrow, to see whether Burnham survives that emergency alert. This skeet wins the week.

Bookmarks

· Weeknotes

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