Since the beginning of the year we’ve started to capture the finer elements of our content redesign work.
Following the launch of the refreshed version of bcpcouncil.gov.uk, in November 2020, our focus has been on the harmonisation of the service content from the websites of our preceding councils.
Fresh insight
With this new focus came an opportunity to look at the way we’re working and how processes might be improved. We launched several newly harmonised areas with the refreshed bcpcouncil.gov.uk site. From that we learnt lessons and took the chance to regroup and gather insights to develop how we can work more effectively moving forward.
To do this, I’ve been working with my colleague Michelle to redesign our project plan. Michelle also attended the Government Digital Service (GDS) ‘Agile for Teams’ training our project team received in February 2020. So, she has a great understanding of the importance of designing content based on feedback and insights. We’ve worked together to put the theory of our training into practice – moving from the discovery phase through to launching our minimum viable product and back to discovery.
We quickly identified that our original project plan was very high level. It captured progress at a service level but we also needed something to track the progress within each service. A plan that showed the scale/depth of the content we’re working with.
Michelle had a great example of a plan she had used on a previous project, which she was able to adapt for our work. Another example of using the tools available to us and not reinventing the wheel or overcomplicating processes.
Packaging our work
This fresh approach has helped us develop work packages for each of the remaining content areas that need to be harmonised.
I’ve talked before about our categorisation work, which provided an audit of the content across our legacy council websites. This work has been used to pull together and develop clearly defined work packages that we’ve been able to hand over to our copywriters.
Welcome additions
We’ve welcomed some additional project support in the form of three temporary copywriters.
Last year I spoke about the impact 2020 had on our project and the progress we made despite the challenges the year had thrown our way. Unsurprisingly, although we made progress, we have also seen some delay to the project, so we’re really happy to have secured temporary support to bring us back on track.
The plan is for our copywriters to use the work packages we’ve created to harmonise the service content. The content will be written in a Word template that Michelle and I have created for consistency and a uniform delivery.
Once the copy is ready to be uploaded it’ll be handed over to our website editors who will build it in our website’s content management system. We’ll then share a preview link with the service, so it can be reviewed, signed off and published.
This is a somewhat re-imagined approach from our original plan to have the website editors harmonise and upload copy. We’ve had to be resilient in the way we’re working to deliver the project.
The training we received from GDS helped us prepare for these changes, in a way that we were able to manage it better, if/when needed… and it’s certainly been needed over the past 12 months.
New perspective
Another benefit of having Nick, Jordan and Fraser join the project team to support our copywriting work, is the fresh perspective they bring. Each of them has brought new skills and an external view into the content harmonisation process. I’ll be asking them to write a post about their experiences, so far, so they can share their insights with you.
So, check back for that post or sign up to receive alerts when we publish new content.
Also, if you’re working in the public sector and want to discuss how we’ve approached our project and redesigned our work, get in touch.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Digital 