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Making a change for the better

Last week LocalGov Digital Makers published information about the creation of Makers Project Teams. Unlike top-down initiatives such as Individual Voter Registration (IER), Makers Project Teams is very much a bottom-up collaboration, largely created by local government digital practitioners.

Makers Project Teams will commence with two pilots and they'll form part of the discussion at the Makers Meet-Up on 11th September. There's still a few places available, so if you work for a council and are interested in joining the discussion please get in touch with @LGMakers or leave a comment on my blog.

The pilots will not only create outputs to improve cross-council collaboration, they'll allow those who take part to assess and improve how project teams work. Think of it as an alpha version of a project team creating a beta product.

Given my involvement, naturally I'm a big supporter of this initiative however I do have one word of warning. Makers Project Teams need to have the necessary skills to produce whatever they're seeking to create.

However well joined up projects may be, if what they make isn't as good as it might be, whilst at least it's not lots of teams all independently doing so, ultimately, everyone loses out.

With this in mind, when I read Carl Haggerty's piece about a Change Academy he's been talking about recently, I was delighted.

A Change Academy could equip Makers Project Teams with the knowledge and experience they need to create fit for purpose digital products and services. There's a definite synergy between the two and helping individuals discover and explore through experience would be translated into a better skilled teams when councils collaborate on projects.

Whilst it's very early days and both the Change Academy and Makers Project Team exist as little more than ideas at the moment, I really believe together, they could change how local government does digital.

If you work in any aspect of local government digital service delivery, or just have an interest in improving what councils offer their residents online, then I urge you to get involved. LocalGov Digital isn't a central service, mandating change, nor is it a pay to join society, looking to maintain the status quo.

If you want in, you're in, and it'll be better for having you contributing your ideas and enthusiasm. After all, isn't that what we're here to do, to make stuff better for people by making better stuff?

Get in touch with @LocalGovDigital or just leave a comment on my blog, if you'd like to know more.




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