The scale and pace of the technological change at DWP has been the spur for creating 2 new teams focusing on innovation and ideas generation. I’m proud to be heading up one of these - the DWP Technology Incubator.
The Technology Incubator team operates as a virtual, multi-disciplined team doing Discovery and Alpha. It’s drawn from the different technology functions including Security and Accessibility and works with our Business Transformation Group (BTG), creating great digital services to transform the Department.
Innovation is at our core
We work as an ideas laboratory, looking at and understanding user needs. We try out and demonstrate different technology options until we find the technology solution that delivers the best result and meets those needs.
Our focus is on enabling new digital services with BTG to help deliver the DWP 2020 vision. This vision is designed to ensure that DWP can deliver the best services possible in the years ahead.
Nurturing fledgling technology ideas
As the name suggests we incubate new technology ideas from germination right through to hatching during Discovery and Alpha
Our incubation process normally takes 90 days. During this time we sketch out ideas using simple code to show user needs and create visual prototypes. From these we determine reusable digital technology design patterns and establish prototype architecture designs in line with the Government and DWP Technology Code of Practice.
To Beta and beyond
If a digital service is something we want to progress to Beta and beyond, it moves from the Incubator team to the Technology Function teams for further development.
The Technology Function teams industrialise, scale up, and deploy the digital service technology. They work continually to test and improve the service based on user feedback and evidence of how the service is being used.
Some of the original Incubator team stays involved after the transition to bring some continuity, and ensure that the project retains a focus on its original purpose.
We'll be updating this blog as we work on ideas and new technologies in the Incubator. Sign up for email alerts, or follow DWP Technology on Twitter to make sure you catch those posts!