Synthesis and wrapping-up the first Digitalcheck sprint 2024

  • Co-hosted the last user-test for a digital-decision support system, checking for the eligibility at the beginning of our service journey in the pursuit of digital-ready laws
    • in a total, seven user-test gave us valuable feedback
    • we could prove that this approach would help our users decide and also provide the right information at the right spot
  • Wrapped up the synthesis of the tests on the eligibility check prototype
    • Scored all our research questions and connected hypotheses
      • nice to see that the test and prototype worked as anticipated
      • build the foundation for the next steps
    • Applied the atomic research method to mitigate possible blind spots in our research questions
      • the method also proofed itself, once again useful to onboard another team member
    • Jotted down possible next steps for an upcoming sprint
  • Worked on the version 1.3 of the Digitalcheck PDF
    • clustered all the feedback and change requests
    • ranked what is important and decided what we will change
    • started on Friday to apply these wording changes. Mainly to improve clarity
  • The Werkzeugfinder (tool finder for visualization tools) got soft launched by the other sprint team. This is a proud moment, I spent a ton of time scoping, testing, researching and refining this mini-service touchpoint last year. Check it out and hit me up with feedback: https://visualisieren.digitalcheck.bund.de/?source=BeneWeeknotes
  • Moderated the team retro - reflecting on bias and decision-making in scoping and planning meetings. It was a thing that bugged me since the yearly planning in April. The retro was lovely to reflect and derive some action items for the next one.
  • Participated in the weekly team check-out, reflecting on transformation “wins” of the week. For me personally:
    • receiving feedback on an artifact from a policymaker without explicitly asking for it - “You are always asking for feedback, I worked through this document and annotated some things you can advance.”
    • a couple of meetings later, our counterparts of the national regulatory council reacted similarly. After discussing the eligibility prototype, they proactively offered to invest one of their working-sessions developing further feedback.
    • It’s moments like these that encourage me to maintain and recharge my belief in the power of always pushing a co-creation mindset

What else happened

  • As last week was user-test heavy, I put off company related stuff, so got done with some things that piled up
  • Gave interested colleagues a virtual-tour through the forest and our reforestation efforts and answered a couple of related questions
  • This week was our bi-weekly bookclub we are reading Transformed by Marty Cagan. The sentence of this week’s reading assignment that resonated the most with me: “A true release is some value in the hands of your software”
    • truly enjoyed the discussion - a nice format to zoom out on a company / ecosystem level and reflect together
  • Meeting ex-colleagues from my consulting days to catch up
    • took a tour through the office-spaces I helped to design the collaboration furniture set-up, before I left the company (creating an environment to co-create and collaborate for a team of around 40 people)
    • exchanged ideas on the policy cycle, once again made me appreciate that we have many artifacts published openly. It is great to point at work and help out others by that #openbydefault
  • Traveled back from the easter vacation - sadly this was rather exhausting as the train connections didn’t work out as planned