• On the forest management plan project, Sam and Jane are note-taking for user research interviews which started this week. We love hearing directly from users and the sessions have already provided valuable insights and feedback on the prototype. We’re continuing to work closely with subject matter experts to apply a user-centred approach to the rest of the guidance. This week we also delivered a presentation to the DDaT user group on the work we’ve been doing.
  • Lucinda joined a design huddle on the Marine band 2 licence journey, offering guidance on GOV.UK and NRW patterns and styles.
  • Lucinda’s been trying out how AI can turn presentation transcripts into blog posts to support working in the open.
  • Laura and Phil spent Tuesday going through feedback from the species team about the ‘Change a species licence form’.
  • Laura met with the species subject matter experts to follow up on their comments. The aim was to listen to their concerns, discuss problems instead of solutions, and keep things simple and clear. It was a positive session and they agreed to remove some unnecessary questions that could cause confusion. Species also said they would look at simplifying some complex areas the service – this means the form will take longer to go live but better in the long run.
  • The publishing team have been cracking on with accessibility checks on several chunky reports, alongside the usual updates and edits to the website and intranet. Sophie has been continuing her Welsh classes (ac mae hi’n gwneud yn wych!), Kim has attended meetings on Hornbill and the new intranet project, and Hannah has published the new “procurement and contracts strategy 2026-2031”, as well as their mission statement and action plan. Busy week!
  • Heledd shared initial plans for team changes, including new roles in our growing team! She’s also caught up with Monika from Public Health Wales and others, to learn how other digital and service design teams are set up.
  • Heledd and Sam attended their first Camp Digital in Manchester. They spent the day listening to some very good, knowlegabe and thoughtful speakers proper “brain food”- lots of ideas and perspectives to help us in our day to day and future work. Heledd is drafting a longer note of all the speakers, and will include in next week’s notes!

Stage at Camp Digital