How to be digital in government – calls to action

Be agile and iterate often

✅ Do daily standups – in person, using online meeting tools or with regular Slack/internal messaging posts
✅ Work in the open
✅ Share information you might not have in the past – like what you’ve learned from a failure
✅ Invite another team to your one of your team meetings
✅ Hold show and tells
✅ Store your data and working files where everyone on the team can get to them
✅ Align with industry digital standards
✅ Use a kanban board to map out your project’s progress (for example, you could use Trello or sticky notes)
✅Break work into small segments (sprints) and continually release updated versions of your product
✅ Organize a retrospective (in person or remote) for a recent project and iterate (FunRetro is one tool you can use)

Design with and for users

✅ Interview your users and have them test your product or service throughout its development
✅ Use plain language – not jargon
✅ Invite users to help design a new product or service
✅ Design with users in mind and engage with all types of users from the start
✅ Meet accessibility standards: ensure your product or service is accessible on any device or platform and through all communication channels
✅ Consider privacy and security needs and implications
✅ Make security features easy to use – never put the burden on users

Collaborate

✅ Go beyond email and ditch the phone – online collaboration tools like Whereby, Zoom and Slack help you share information and see each other, whether you’re in the same place or not
✅ Give candid feedback that builds on ideas rather than shuts them down (change “yes, but...” to “yes, and...” )
✅ Ask colleagues and leaders how they collaborate

Practice digital leadership

✅ Flatten hierarchy and practice servant leadership – ask employees what they need to do their jobs
✅ Use brainwriting exercises to flatten hierarchy in meetings and make sure everyone’s voices are heard
✅ Hold frequent one-on-ones with your manager/employees and co-write the agendas
✅ Conduct employee satisfaction surveys and/or 360s

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