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Pattern and process projects for a local government library

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about a pattern and process library for local government which seems to have gained quite a bit of interest. You can read the piece here.

It finished by asking people to get involved in one or more of three strands
  • Providing patterns and processes for the shared library 
  • Helping to scope, design and build the library 
  • Helping define and create the standards
 and as a next step I thought it might be useful to define these a little more.

Providing patterns and processes for the shared library 

Any repository needs content, but far from this being a one off exercise, this content needs to be curated and refined in a sustainable way.

I've learnt from experience that once the initial flurry of interest is over, the hard work of keeping something up to date begins and that's when many people lose interest. It was this, and BCCDIY that prompted my very first post on this blog in 2010.

It's also something that both Mark Wilson and Mark Thompson also highlighted in their tweets



So the next actions for this workstream are, firstly of all to acquire, sift and sort content, but then also to devise a plan for owning and improving it.

Helping to scope, design and build the library

Alongside the first strand, content needs a way to be found and read. This strand will look at how we categorise and share patterns and processes online. I've learnt from my work on Pipeline that there's a user need to be kept informed about items of interest too. Without this people forget about it and interest in the platform dwindles.

The next actions for this strand will firstly be to create a minimum viable product to store and publish content, then scope out the user needs and iteratively improve the platform.

Helping define and create the standards

The third and most ambitious strand deals with creating or promoting the use of existing standards for patterns and processes. Essentially the ultimate aim is to enable the exporting a process from one platform and importing into another, no matter who the provider of that platform might be.

At best this outcome will take years to achieve, and even if interportability doesn't happen, defining or identifying and using existing common standards will be a huge step in the right direction.

The next actions for this strand will to define where we need standards, seek out existing standards and identify where new standards need to be created.


So now I'm asking, if you haven't already, get involved by completing the form here, and if you can, come to the patterns and process library session on the Friday of LocalGovCamp 2018.

Help LocalGov Digital help councils to create better, cheaper public services by sharing their patterns and processes.

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