PROJECT Overview

Government Digital Service (GDS) is a unit of government within the UK’s Cabinet Office. I led a few product teams working on a different services, however my side activity was to support a charity project. I led a cross-functional team who voluntarily worked on transforming the website for Play Association Tower Hamlets (PATH).

Play Association Tower Hamlets make sure that everyone from 5 to 15 have a safe space to play in the borough as they believe the freedom to play is essential to the overall well being and development of every child. The whole community also benefits from having open play space. Seeing children play outside their homes is a sign of a healthy, vibrant community.

Challenges

• No budget for the new website and brand awareness
• No time or team who could worked on the project as it’s not a part of their duties
• Legacy system with no concept or idea how to bring the website and brand into life
• Inconsistent user journey

Solution

• Engaging teams through explaining the importance of the project to find volunteers (e.g.designers, developers, QA etc.)
• Defining MVP for the product and the PATH brand
• Cross-functional team to deliver required MVP
• Increase the PATH social media presence especially on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Team

At the briefing meeting, I volunteered to work as a Scrum Master for a pop-up team who would deliver a project for the charity. I engaged with many GDS teams form different departments to find volunteers who would help me get the ball rolling. Despite of the low engagement, I built up good relationships with a few people who fulfilled the most important roles in my small cross-functional team.
I also collaborated with senior civil servants who were trustees and advisors for the charity to advise on their online presence.

As a pop up team, it was challenging to set up regular agile ceremonies and ways of working, however I coached the team to be adaptive at all times and take ownership over the project that was absolutely outside of any team member’s remit. The team delivered an excellent job despite the constraints (time, resource, budget).

Key Statistics/METRICS

• MVP delivered
• All social media channels set up
• Engagement increased and the sponsor journey is clear now for those who want to support PATH