PD Newsletter #3: Denmark's leading digital service, agile comms and how to bring open software into your organisation

Welcome to the Public Digital newsletter. I'm @egawen on Twitter; observations or news from around the world welcome.

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🏆 Denmark tops European Digital index 2018 (again)

European leaders Denmark continue their reign at the top of Europe's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). Core components of their public services are a digital letter box, Digital Post, and a digital identity system, NemID.

✉️ 90.6% of the population 15 and over are registered to use Digital Post

🔓Five million Danes have NemID, which is used 65 million times every month to check online banking, use borger.dk or shop online.

📱This week, a NemID app was launched on android and apple, which in time will replace a cardboard key card. It’s been downloaded on over 200k devices already.

For more on Denmark, read this recent interview with Rikke Hougaard Zeberg, director-general of the Agency for Digitisation.

Not your usual communications guide

Read and save this deceptively common sense guide to agile communication. Much of the advice in here is counter-cultural to traditional organisations. At the heart of it: make things open, it makes things better. 🙌

[Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, DEFRA]

Why would you want to exclude a single potential customer?

Energy firm Bulb have published their design system. It's published in the open, underpinned by user research, and it has accessibility at the heart. As they say, energy is not optional for anyone.
[Bulb. More on their excellent accessibility work Part 1 | Part 2 ]

How to use open source software (and why)

Italy say they now have some of the most advanced laws, procedures and tools in Europe regarding the use of open source in public administration. They built on existing legislation which was never applied as the tools to do it were missing. This is a common problem: laws and rules are helpful but they are not enough.

Before you ask, no, this doesn’t mean open source is the whole answer. Diego Piacentini has this to say: “We're not against good and inexpensive proprietary software that works, but the future...has to be a component between the two”. [Italian government Digital Transformation team]

Top Gun for procurement

The US Digital Service is working to bring in a (mandatory) new certification program for procurement specialists. It’s designed to teach people how to buy digital services, including making them comfortable with reducing the lengths of contracts, and understanding what user centred design and agile methods mean for procurement. Getting this right can be revolutionary, in any sector.

[US Digital Service, USDS]

Acronym champion of the week goes to FAC-C-DS

Long reads

When everything is a platform (usually to get funding), nothing is a platform. A helpful exploration on platforms vs aggregators using the Bill Gates line ("A platform is when the economic value of everybody that uses it, exceeds the value of the company that creates it. Then it’s a platform.”)
💵The economics of AI. How AI offers a transformative, economic purpose: it significantly lowers the cost of prediction.
Mary Meeker's Internet trends 2018 is out. TechCrunch offers some highlights.

On the future of banks

China's Alipay have opened a pharmacy which allows payment via facial recognition. Mobile payments in China are now a $16 trillion market, primarily channeled through AliPay and WeChat.
In the US, banks still capture the market. Here's how Amazon can distribute financial services without being a bank.

5 interesting things from around the world 🌏

1.
Canada and Estonia signed an MoU on cooperation in the field of Digital Government and Economy.

2.
New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, attended the country's annual Techweek event as a Hologram.

3.
London’s V&A displays an Estonian e-residency card, part of a new exhibition which which asks visitors to consider how cutting edge technology will shape our everyday lives.

4.
🏝A Digital Bahamas initiative has been launched, aiming to simplify government procedures, strengthen institutional capacity and enhance transparency.

5.
Shuyang Lin of Taiwan talks about using new processes and technology to open up policymaking. 🌻

and finally...

The continuing TSB IT debacle is potentially terminal 💀

Our book, Digital Transformation at Scale: Why the Strategy is Delivery is available to buy now.

It's still appearing as out of stock but can be ordered on Amazon (we have reports of them arriving) and is available to buy direct from the publisher and other bookstores.