The Summer bank holiday is here - the last bank holiday before Christmas (and only 4 more months till Christmas!) This week, we’re sharing our summer bank holiday tips ahead of the long weekend to help you reset and refresh.

Reset, refresh and remember to update

No one wants to log onto their devices after a long weekend only to be met with the dreaded software update message. So before logging off this week, it’s a good idea to run any software updates to ensure your device is protected from the dangers that come with an out-of-date system.

Staying on top of system updates is important to:

  • enhance existing features
  • patch security flaws
  • add new security features
  • fix bug issues
  • and improve the overall performance of your device

We advise checking regularly and setting your device to automatically push updates.

It can also be a great time to de-clutter your inbox and desktop, create new folders to order your past and present work, so you can log on next week with a clear mind and a clean desktop.

IRL drinks with our remote team

Last week, some of our South Wales based team got together for a few drinks in the Pen and Wig, a local pub here in Cardiff. It was great to have a chance to chat and catch up with the team after a long and busy week.

Digital Wooficer Monty, the miniature Dachshund even sampled their new dog menu which featured a range of mocktails and tasty goodies.

He ended up letting loose after a ruff week with a paw-star martini and a Sunday roast with his colleagues.

If you saw him being a little bit naughty and standing on the table, no you didn’t. But in all seriousness, we had such a great time and we’re already planning the next social event!

Auto-reply updated…

This week, you may receive an updated automatic reply on the Digital Team inbox. Big thanks to Translation for their help in turning this around for us so quickly!

We hope that the new guidance will help streamline our workflow and answer some of the common FAQs we receive into our general team inbox.

If you have any feedback for us on this new holding email, please do get in touch! Our next step is to review and update our content request form, so any feedback you do share will be taken into consideration as we update this form.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Andrew completed two digital marine licence forms which are now live on the site.

One form appears on two pages, and another is part of the forms for screening and another for scoping (and sometimes screening and scoping together). These new forms have replaced the hard copy versions that were previously being used, to ensure a smooth process for those filling out forms as well as those processing them.

Why are we moving away from paper forms? There’s a lot of different reasons, but primarily - they take more time to process, aren’t as accessible and they can quickly become out of date. It’s a simple process for us to update our online forms, but it can be timely and costly to reprint paper forms once they become dated.

Other things we have been working on

  • Lucinda, Laura and Alex are exploring the next steps to make Gov.uk pay live before publishing the Newborough horse riding permit application form
  • Our team met to discuss improvements we can make to our online form to help users submit work quickly and in the correct formats.
  • Laura has been finalising the content and form for water companies who need consent before discharging water into a river
  • Sophie’s been chatting with experts across the organisation to find new images for the web banner
  • Laura has translated the new form for Flood Risk Activity Permits. Kim is doing some testing and to pick up any issues that might have been missed before we move to live.

Fun Fact Friday

According to the experts at Legoland Discover Centre, there are more Lego people than real people on the planet.

Since 1978, over 4 billion minifigures have been made, and if they were people, they would be the largest population on Earth with more than double China’s current population.

But do you know which Lego minifigure is the rarest throughout history?

The answer is….

The 14K Gold C-3PO

They made five, in fact, making this the rarest Lego minifigure ever. They weren’t even something you could buy when they were first produced; instead, they were part of a giveaway. Those lucky enough to win them have a treasure on their hands. One sold for $300,000 in 2008!