Does data now have a seat at the table during strategic discussions? If not, what will it take to get it there?
Yes, data is an integral part of all change planning at the Home Office, with checkpoints at the various investment gates to ensure that data has been considered, designed, and planned as part of the project. We’ve seen a genuine shift, from having to keep trying to be heard to being actively engaged as an integral part of solution design and delivery.
What are your key areas of focus for data and analytics in 2022?
Exploitation, exploitation, exploitation! Whether it’s supporting formation or performance monitoring of policy, delivering real-time intelligence and risking, driving low latency operational dashboards, or ensuring compliance with our data protection and equality duties, the appetite to consume data and data products and services has never been greater. In fact, that appetite extends across government, with HO functions wanting to consume data from other government departments and agencies, and vice versa. Developing capabilities that are both scalable and re-usable is key to meeting this increased appetite – as well as maturing and continually improving our existing product catalogue.
What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role?
The critical skill is the ability to speak operations, policy and technology languages and act as a bridge between them to ensure that requirements are understood and technical constraints are accounted for. At the heart of this is understanding the outcome the business users are trying to achieve or the problem they are trying to solve.
How did you develop – and continue to develop – these skills or attributes?
Engaging widely and often, tailoring that engagement to the needs and knowledge level of the audience. It sounds easy, but it means a very busy diary and needs a real focus to keep prioritising as an activity. Listening to policy, operational and technology colleagues, as well as current and prospective suppliers, and playing back to them (ideally with a diagram) is key to building the trust needed. A mantra I have with the teams I work with is, “if I can’t draw it, then I don’t understand it”. I find that a drawing is more easily translated between the different worlds, too!