Coronavirus (COVID-19) crystallised our urgent need for research operations, a relatively new discipline that supports user researchers. Tom Adams talks about research during COVID-19 and this new role.
DfE Digital is hiring people to help us grow a modern software engineering culture. Our teams build services that meet the needs of our users - teachers, students and parents. Here our principal software developer Lewis Wilson talks about our approach, culture and tech stack.
Katie Pether talks about seven things our recruitment team is trialling to make sure the way we hire people is anti-racist and free from bias. If you work in recruitment and you're interested in anti-racist processes this is for you.
Government services are changed and improved over time. People who work on them come and go. The continuity of why a service is how it is gets lost or forgotten, which is why keeping a ‘design history’ makes perfect sense. Here Paul Hayes talks about how DfE teams have created design histories for some of the department's services.
Steven Woods's day job didn't quite suit him plus he'd very recently become a dad. So breaking into software development seemed like a daunting task. But an opportunity to become an apprentice software developer came up. He talks here about how the Northcoders bootcamp helped him learn a new craft, and the challenges he's overcome.
Laboni Paul is a representative of the south-Asian community, and an ally to her Black colleagues. Here she shares her Black friends' experiences following the recent protests. Laboni also outlines what's going on in DfE Digital to explore the issues of race and racism more deeply.
Patrick Taylor has been writing content for parents of school children during coronavirus (COVID-19). This meant working in a different environment, using different methods while under pressure. He shares some ways to quickly get content published while maintaining quality.
As the number of our services grows, so does the need for clear DfE-specific guidance for our service teams. We've been developing a DfE Service Manual to meet that need. Here we talk about our alpha and what we've learned so far.
As well as coronavirus, there’s been a constant stream of reports about racially motivated incidents and murders within the United States. Kelsey Williams talks about how that feels as Black person in the UK and what people can do to be supportive.
The theme of this years Mental Health Awareness Week is kindness. Here we share some personal stories of managing our mental health, as well as how we look after and support each other as an organisation.
From 4 people in a basement to 120 across 3 sites, DfE Digital has grown to respond to its users' needs for excellent, user-centred services. Here, chief digital officer Emma Stace reflects on how far we've come, what's been difficult and how we're shaping up for the future.