Helen Mott

Digital / using design to make the world better for people & planet. Trying to raise better boys. Now @netcompany_uk Previously Head of Digital @justice_digital

[Kate Tarling @kateldn]

The Service Organization book is officially out today! It's a distillation of how to build the much-needed foundations for what the organisations behind successful services look like. Based on 15+ years of practical hands-on experience and leadership in governments, telcos,... 🧵

[Julie Zhuo @joulee]

Start-up life = hard won insights. Here are my top 10 for this year.

1. Doing well at a start-up is not simply about skill, it is about mentality.

A start-up mentality values action over correctness, results over process. It suits those that value autonomy over clarity.

[Dr. Nicole LePera @Theholisticpsyc]

We have to shift our society to understand it is a myth that males are a "less emotional" gender.

Males are human beings. And human beings are emotional creatures by nature. Those emotions might be displayed in different ways, but they're still present.

[Dr. Nicole LePera @Theholisticpsyc]

We have to teach young boys that true strength is about vulnerability. Understanding what they're feeling, learning to express how they feel, and how to process those emotions.

[Dr. Nicole LePera @Theholisticpsyc]

Your developmental age is different than your actual age. Many adults are much younger emotionally, because of this.

Here's how to find out your developmental age:

[Oh God, What Now? – the politics podcast @OhGodWhatNowPod]

Ok it’s not politics but it is Christmas. In tribute to the late #TerryHall can we trace the people on the cover of Too Much Too Young? If it’s you or a friend/family member, reply with a contemporary pic and hashtag #2much2young . GO!

[Amy Gandon @GandonAmy]

As part of a project due to report early next year, I asked 50 current and recent ex civil servants to complete the following sentence…

‘The civil service is a place where…’

This is what 10 of them said. Tune in this time next week for the next instalment.

👇

[@jamestplunkett.bsky.social @jamestplunkett]

Anyway, the point is: when manpulation becomes the game, innovation turns into its evil twin. Firms start competing over who can most cleverly optimise their subscription trap/drip price/scarcity warning/countdown clock/checkout default. The power is subverted. (12/n)

[Helen Mott @mottlehen]

Nice post on ‘treacle-causing’ process creep in organisations, through perfectionism, too many glue ppl, entropy & ego. Not government-specific, but recognise so much. Even the uncomfortable realisation that as a ‘glue person’ I’m part of the problem…😬
https://t.co/QXRH8PSi9K

[Amjad Masad @amasad]

I don't think people understand the monumental changes coming to software this decade. Quick thread:

[ਇਮਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ | Imandeep Kaur @ImmyKaur]

Amsterdam changed the goal of its economy from GDP to wellbeing, Wales put Future Generations at the heart of their procurement + more through legislation. You don’t have to know the whole story, to start to move towards a better direction, the innovation + creativity can follow.

[Helen Mott @mottlehen]

@itsallgonewrong Reflected on this one a lot recently. I'd been around private sector UCD for a decade, but was a year in gov to get it in my bones. A user research home visit to someone who was fired cos she got pregnant, her kids with her at the visit. Not just a 'user', this shit's real...

[Jamie Arnold @itsallgonewrong]

I’m thinking about how people learn about user centred design, agility, service design and their associated ways of working. What are the things that you needed to experience first-hand before you *really* understood them in your bones? ❤️🦴🙏

[Helen Mott @mottlehen]

🤩 "Our downfall is not that we choose not to be kind — it’s that we disagree on what kindness looks like in practice, and can’t pay attention enough to think things through when they get muddy." Never truer. @ted_rau https://t.co/NSxMvnfoSd

[Helen Mott @mottlehen]

@jackcols @transformUK Congratulations Jack! A fab move 🙌

[Paul McLeod @pdmcleod]

I’ve read heartbreaking books about 9/11 but the piece of writing my brain recalls every year is the bizarre first-person account of the Toronto Star writer who happened to be in New York when the towers came down. Unfortunately for the Star, that person was their fashion editor.

[Beverley Newing @WebDevBev]

Over the moon to see the Accessibility profession in the government DDaT framework!

https://t.co/T7wAhXt6kf

This is the culmination of a year's work that @cfunn and I lead on, with lots of help from @accessibleweb and accessibility leads at other departments. 🎉

[@jamestplunkett.bsky.social @jamestplunkett]

Thinking about the Queen's speech. One thing I remember being struck by when I started work in No 10 back in the late 2000s is just how much the bottleneck of parliamentary time slows down policymaking. (1/n)