Performance Frameworks

How do you measure whether a service is working when it isn't a transaction? There's no form to complete and no queue to shorten. That was the question behind a run of data projects at DWP Digital, and it's one I'd happily ask again.

I worked directly with digital performance analysts to build performance frameworks that could be used and trusted across teams. The research touched data architecture, labour market information, benefit journeys and digital transformation. The questions kept coming back to the same few things. What even is data? Who is it for? When people say they want "data", do they actually need information? How do you show value when nobody can point at a product?

It meant experimenting with data visualisation, APIs and data sources, and some of it was hard going. It was also some of the most rewarding work I've done, because the answers changed how the analysts framed what they were measuring.

What I'd tell you: a framework nobody trusts is just a spreadsheet. Talk to the people who have to use it before you build it.