07 March 2024
Virtual, online
What our participants say
Reflections
The reflections of people who have attended SDinGov.
SDinGOV 2023 – Highlights and experience
"In this post, I’ll give some highlights from the conference and will share about my experience as an attendee."
- Blog by Stéphanie Krus
Key Takeaways from SD in Gov 2023
Obvious care and attention had been paid to creating the conditions for relationship building and encouraging active and respectful participation.
- Blog by Jules Maitland
Reflections from this year’s SDinGov 2023 conference in Edinburgh
A few days on, I’ve been reflecting on why this year’s conference felt so much about the heart and not the mind.
- Blog by Nicola Pritchard
Weeknote from SDinGOV 2023
Time for another season of weeknotes – though there is every chance the title is nonsense but Google thinks that is Week Note One in Scots Gaelic as I am writing this in Edinburgh as I hide from humanity after a wonderful – but intense – few days up here for Service Design in Government.
- Blog by Matt Jukes
SDinGov: User Centred Policy Design fishbowl
"Designing and delivering this session together was joyful. I was delighted by how much participation we had — especially from folks who are curious about the policy design community..."
-Blog by Amanda Smith
Going beyond planting seeds: How I’ve approached building design maturity in the BC Government
'But … sometimes it doesn’t feel like enough. I want to see my work have a difference now, not later. I want to go beyond planting seeds. I want to become a gardener.'
- Blog by Martha Edwards
Reflections on SDinGov 2022
'What a great chance to really surround yourself with what’s on the collective mind of people working on service (and user-centred) design in the public sector.'
- Blog by Amanda Payne
Reflections from SDinGov
'It’s common to see or hear people talking about the difficulties of including ‘hard to reach’ people in service design. At SD in Government, it was clear that these people aren’t actually hard to reach, we just aren’t doing enough to engage them.'
- Blog by Jasmine Kendall
What is a service designer? Thoughts from SDinGOV22
'People had the opportunity to discuss their definitions with their neighbours in the room, and to share their sticky-note definitions with us afterwards – using the well-known service designer’s method of grouping sticky notes on a convenient wall.'
- Blog by Caroline Jarrett
The Consolations of Complexity
'It's helped me act (and not act) more decisively. It's helped me better understand the weird, sometimes irrational world of government. Above all, it's made me feel a whole lot better and more positive about stuff.'
- Blog by Tom Morgan
Reflections from SDinGov
'It's helped me act (and not act) more decisively. It's helped me better understand the weird, sometimes irrational world of government. Above all, it's made me feel a whole lot better and more positive about stuff.'
- Blog by Coco Chan
SDinGov 2022: Our main takeaways
'At a time when concern over living conditions is at a high, being in a room of people that really care about making things better in an inclusive and meaningful way was both heartening and energising.'
- Blog by Danielle Stone
Torchbox at SDinGov 2022
'I’m so proud to work on government services - and it was a real privilege to spend time with people from all corners of the UK government who are so passionate about delivering services which make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.'
- Blog by Annie Lewis
6 things we learned by designing services for experts
'When we were preparing our talk, we realised that we’ve built services for lots of different people ... coast guards, housing officers, healthcare professionals, judges, school inspectors, and many more. So we decided to tweak our focus so it became: 6 things we learned by designing services for the people who deliver them.'
- Blog by Chanelle Pal, Louise Duffy and Morrighan Humpleby
Do you need another map? Probably not.
'I was working on a service where decisions weren’t being made. We knew a lot about our users and we’d tested our idea, but there were a number of organisational barriers to making a plan and delivering it.'
- Blog by Vicky Houghton-Price
Our main takeaways from SDinGov 2021
'As a team, we’ve been reflecting on this year’s brilliant Service Design in Government Conference. For those that haven’t been before, SDinGov is a two-day conference dedicated to exploring the critical themes and progress in the field of service design within public services. Whilst it’s headed up in the UK it attracts participants and speakers from all over the world. '
- Blog by Nicola Pritchard
Reflections from an infiltrator: From ‘SD in Gov’ to, um, ‘kind of SD, elsewhere’
'I work in international development on evaluation, learning and social innovation. Like so many other non-Service Design attendees I met today, I see so much overlap in the principles and approaches I work with: participation, inclusion, collaboration, constant learning and aspiration for positive social impact.'
- Blog by Alison McKinley
SDinGov Conference Highlights 2021
'On the 16-17 September 2021, 450 participants gathered for the much anticipated Service Design in Government 2021 conference. SDinGov has earned itself a reputation of high-quality peer-to-peer learning, collaboration, creativity and the creation of a space within which genuine connections can be fostered.'
- Blog by Jo Oliveira, Martyn Evans and Kassie Paschke
The strategy is good service design
'The majority of examples at SD in Gov expressed service designing is not just a long game, it’s the always way of working for good services, for better organisations.'
- Blog by Simon Wilson
Service designers of the future support Edinburgh conference
'It was a pleasure to be able to support the Service Design in Government conference once again; connecting the organisers with University of Edinburgh students keen to network and learn more about the discipline. It’s been a positive experience all round.'
- Blog by Neil Allison
Weeknotes S9 Ep9: SDinGov
'I was really struck by how personal each of these sessions were, and not in a self-interested “hey, I’m here to make myself look good” kinda way. But in a humble, vulnerable, “hello, here I am, and here is something I’ve learned” kind of way. Personal.'
- Blog by Sam Villis
I wrote 25 pages at SDinGov, so you didn’t have to...
'I was lucky enough to attend the Service Design in Government conference in Edinburgh last week. With themes including ‘Policy, Participation and Power’ and ‘Social Design’ I managed to get to as many of the 45 sessions as I could without drinking too many coffees, eating too many pastries and washing my hands not enough times.'
- Blog by Aimee Tasker
View from SDinGov 2020
'It was a hugely thought-provoking event. Almost every session I attended was excellent, sparking new ideas and thoughts that I am still getting to grips with almost a week on.'
- Blog by Duncan Stephen
Beyond service design — craft, collectivism and being human
'It was a busy three days, and there was much that was thought provoking and inspiring — even in just the sessions I could go to — so I can’t possibly do all of it justice here.'
- Blog by Sarah Prag
LinkedIn Posts
LinkedIn posts from SDinGOV
Feedback
Feedback we have received from participants who have attended SDinGov.
Anon (2022 participant)
An amazing experience as always! love the amount of breaks and opportunities to mingle, great to hear about other's work. Love that it's in Edinburgh. Loved being back in person! Thank you!
Anon (2022 participant)
As always goes beyond the high expectations I have before attending.
Tass Smith (2022 participant)
Lots of interesting, thought provoking sessions. A good mix of talks, discussions and workshops.
Jude Webb (2022 participant)
It was excellent, meeting great peope + hearing great talks + sessions
Anon (2019 participant)
Well thought through, convenient location, good timing, great talks, relevant topics
Simon King (2019 participant)
Great people, great atmosphere, very welcoming, hugely thought provoking.