You know the feeling when you get off a call and want to speak with someone else about it immediately? 

We’re well into our schedule of conversations with those who’ve put their hands up to participate in our research on behalf of CDPS, exploring how people, design, develop, and build digital services, and the value there may be in a design system for Wales. 

From every interaction we’re learning something new, gaining a totally different perspective from the conversation that’s gone before. We have 11 weeks to learn from the doers – those tasked with implementing digital change in Wales – and the landscape appears to be vastly different depending on the sector. 

What we’ve learned 

Themes emerging from the first month of this work is that people want to share, but some question where this can happen; retaining good staff to deliver the best products is hard; and, in the places where digital innovation is really valued by those in charge, there are teams doing brilliant things with permission to implement products that deliver on the needs of the user... an experience not shared by everyone, despite their best efforts to deliver differently. 

People’s willingness to participate in this research and contribute to what has become a big conversation with a collective of the country’s most forward-thinking crowd, has blown us away. We’ve been conscious of the need to extend the reach of the research to the furthest corners of Wales; to speak with those in big teams, and those who are the team. There are similarities between them all in the gaps they see, and there’s innovation to overcome the things that for now, “can’t be changed”. 

As we enter the third sprint, our focus is shifting to collecting the quantitative data to accompany the raft of thoughts and experiences you’ve shared with us so far. 

Get involved 

Look out for the invite to participate on Perago’s LinkedIn page and through CDPS’s social media. 

We also ask that you share this work with your colleagues who may not be actively engaged in those online networks but play a critical role in designing digital within the Welsh public sector. 

Our next show and tell is on Tuesday 19 March 2pm to 3pm – sign up.