Halloween is over, bonfire night is done. Are we allowed to talk about Christmas now?

We’re definitely in that period where everyone needs something and ‘it has to be done before Christmas’.

It can be quite overwhelming so it’s good to pause and ask ‘y tho?’. Most of the time it’s a deadline that has been set for no real reason and just causes lots of stress for all involved.

person with blank expression and text 'y tho'

It’s our Christmas party next week. Sorry, we mean team meeting. Very important team meeting. Our time together is never wasted, it’s always good to hash out work stuff and then go to the pub and hang out.

But who will be that last one standing on Wednesday night? Kim and Owain have got a pretty good reputation for sticking it to the end, but if last Christmas is anything to go by then Shaun might be one to watch. We will endeavour to keep you updated on all the important party news next week.

One way in

We have been working on a project to make it easier for people to do things on land we manage, such as horse riding, filming and running.

Since Sam, Lucinda and Laura started working on the project at the start of the year you may have heard talk about our new check service. And our horse riding prototype that includes online payment through GOV.UK Pay.

But until now, we haven’t tackled one of the biggest issues. One way in.

There are currently six application forms to choose from if you want to do something on our land:

  • filming
  • events
  • surveys
  • annual permissions for individuals
  • annual permission for businesses, clubs and societies
  • long term projects

The evidence tells us that people are confused about which form to fill in. They either have to contact us to find out or they guess and often get it wrong.

On top of this, most of the applications we receive are incomplete. The permissions team has to ask applicants for more information almost every time.

A couple of weeks ago we decided it was time to tackle this problem, and this week we think we might have cracked it!

We have:

  • designed one smart survey form for 22 different activities with 8 different routes (this is our one way in!)
  • designed-in both the common questions and the questions bespoke to each activity
  • removed lots of unnecessary questions
  • designed a start page so users know what information they need to prepare before they start
  • provided guidance about how to prepare some of the documentation, like maps and risk assessments

It’s hard not to feel excited and just super chuffed with what we’ve done so far. We need to refine the content a bit and we will be presenting the prototype to the permissions team in December. We are hopeful that they will like it.

Our aim with this project has always been to make and show a thing - to help our thinking, share with the team and test with users. So far it has worked well. FIngers crossed we can get this over the line!

Ideas Photo of hand-drawn ideas on paper

Mapping the journeys in MURAL Screenshot of a content map in a whiteboarding app

Prototype Screenshot of a content map in a whiteboarding app

Recruitment

Lucinda has done a banging job designing new job application content and forms.

Up until now, candidates would have to fill in a word template. Lucinda has been working with Joe from recruitment to make the process more user friendly and to make it digital!

We now have online application forms with start pages that tell candidates what they need to include in their application.

It’s not just web content either. Kim has done a huge amount of work to publish a whole suite of intranet pages about the new recruitment procedure.

Induction fun

Kim and Sophie have been attending their induction course this week, which has been a great opportunity for them to learn more about the wider organisation and meet new faces across different teams.

From networking to talks about the support on offer at NRW, there’s been a lot to learn and they’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The course was organised by Mark Sabine, and has been a great week of courses and discussions.

New content for water and sewerage companies

Laura had sign off from the subject matter expert on a new form and content for water and sewerage companies applying to discharge water into a watercourse.

Writing about discharge hasn’t been the most fun thing in the world. But the SME has been pretty open to working in a user focused way which is always a win.

James did a 2i on the content. The next step is translation before final flight checks and publishing.

Other things we’ve been working on:

  • Laura is working on new education content. Lots going on in the test site - just need to polish a few things before getting sign off from the education team.
  • The Dee Estuary cockle licence application window opens again soon so Sam’s been working on an iterated cockle licence application service. This means new start pages, confirmation pages and completion emails both to the user and the cockles team. All will follow the standardised patterns we’re now using in other service areas.

Obligatory fact

Did you know that over 50% of our body’s bones are in our hands and feet? 27 in each hand and 26 in each foot.

Halloween may have passed, but that’s no reason to not be thinking about skeletons.