Our definition of digital
Why I wrote the definition of digital
Having named the UK’s new Government Digital Service in 2011, many people instantly wanted a definition of ‘digital’. For several years I resisted, since you should always ‘show, not tell’.
But by 2016, plenty of teams across the UK government had successfully applied digital ways of working to great effect, so I set myself the challenge of writing a definition of digital that would fit in a single tweet, then 140 characters.
I wanted to emphasise that the new ways of working were as important - if not more so - than the new technologies unlocked by the internet era. When I talk to people about my definition of digital, I always stress the order: if you get the culture, processes and business models right, then you'll make better technology choices.