iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Did a little interview with @beckiesmith.bsky.social @civilserviceworld.bsky.social - thanks v much Beckie for having me! :)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

What a lovely thing to say, thank you!🙏🏼

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

That’s a lovely thing to say, thank you lovely ☺️

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Reposted by Janet Hughes

Beckie Smith @beckiesmith.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

In "there's a CSW story for everything" news, here's a thought-provoking piece soon-to-be civil service reform DG @janethughes.bsky.social wrote for us back in 2016 on boldness – too often "actively discouraged, squashed or derided": www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/...

civilserviceworld.com

Government Digital Service programme director Janet Hughes: What if boldness were an explicit value of the civil service?

Civil servants will always need to be honest, impartial, objective, and act with integrity – but we must make sure we don’t encourage passivity or ...

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Ha! Thanks for re-sharing that old chestnut! Fortunately I fully agree with my past self, on this if not on all things :) #BeBold

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

OMG that's like the maybe only the 3rd time that's been known to happen in all the years I've known you! I am honoured! 😍😅

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

absolutely - that's what makes it interesting and worth doing imo :)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

haha thank you and don't worry I plan on bringing plenty of that along :) :)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Thank you so much Will, that's so lovely of you to say <3 I'm so massively grateful to have had the opportunity to meet so many incredible people in this role and I will carry them all in my heart for a very long time <3

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Defra will be appointing someone to carry forward the work of the farming and countryside programme shortly and will share info about who is taking over asap.

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

I'm also really excited to have the chance to help make public policies and services work better at scale in my new role.

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

I'm massively grateful to everyone I've had the pleasure of working with over the last 5 years and hugely proud of the progress we've made together.

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Afternoon all :) After 5 years in my role in Defra, I'm going to be leaving this June to take up a new role as Director General of Civil Service Reform and Efficiency in the @cabinetofficeuk.bsky.social

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

That list is my and @contentdesign.london’s Finest Work of All Time, and I will have you know that (a) absolutely nobody takes any notice of it at all, at least not when it comes to policy-related content, and (b) if only they did, then all the main problems would be instantly solved.

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

LOOK what me and my Dad just found, during an archeological dig in one of his cupboards! (Sound on!)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 24/10/2024

I am 100% here for the niche / nerdy soil-related joke content 👍👌❤️ h/t @waiterich.bsky.social

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Reposted by Janet Hughes

David Durant @bowsy.co.uk · 18/10/2024

#UKGovCamp2025 is looking for someone with comms experience and enthusiasm for improving government to help us with our upcoming event in January. If that's you or someone you know please reply to this. Thanks!

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

How utterly wonderful 😍💔

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

Also, orchestrating / navigating the operating environment > being right, every time. Being right is at best insufficient, and normally irrelevant

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

100% - a lot of opportunities come in fancy dress as disasters / there are almost always opportunities lurking if you’re prepared to look around for them. Opportunism entrepreneurialism are the Main Things you need to make anything much good happen, it turns out.

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

(Though I find the theory, as ever, much neater than the reality - the magic juice of scaling / normalising pioneer practices to entrepreneurs and managers is often elusive, in reality)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

I am, thanks, and I very much do!

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 17/10/2024

ah yes I had forgotten about that!

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Reposted by Janet Hughes

Tom Loosemore @tomski.com · 16/10/2024

I've written up what we mean when we say 'Be Bold'. public.digital/pd-insights/...

public.digital

What we mean when we say “Be Bold” — Public Digitalpublic digitalpublic digital

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

ooh I love this! And thanks for the shoutout @tomski.com! <3

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

Reminds me of the gut punch of finding out that the point of bureaucracies is to keep themselves stable. It is a feature, not a bug. (And therefore all efforts to ‘transform’ them are basically doomed unless they’re recognised as failing or are in some other exceptional state of readiness/openness)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

Well that explains the friction / general inertia that I think is perpetuated by having siloed civil service ‘professions’ and organisations pretty well I’d say

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

Like most framework type things, I reckon it depends how you use them - structure can be useful to prompt inquiry into different perspectives & insights. But it’s a great shame to think you’ve done / paid for most of the work because you have a shiny slide deck, and I reckon that happens a LOT

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

I also wonder if this is one of a range of things that don’t get enough attention because ‘policy’ tends to be focused on just a few links in a much longer chain from context to problem to diagnosis to theory of change to design to actual practical real-life solution and impacts?

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

And discussions that are nominally about ‘transformation’ etc are beset by terrible and vastly expensive standard slide decks that reduce it all to 7 things starting with S (which can be useful but reduce the complexity of systems, histories and relationships involving gloriously messy humans)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

Yeah that’s really interesting, and I think you’re right: in general a lot is taken as given about org design and the way things work, and we don’t give anywhere near enough attention to the role those things can play in enabling (or not) successful delivery and outcomes

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 15/10/2024

Hi Neil, I don’t do thoughts on political commentary (but I do think alot about where the line is cos I do a lot of public-facing work - generally I focus on learning from farmers & other experts about what works (or not), and answering qs about technical policy & service design & delivery)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

not to worry, he has been superseded by a single legendary post by that @dasbarrett.bsky.social so is no longer relevant

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

I'm not sure how anyone could possibly top that particular heartbreaking work of staggering genius 😂

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

oh yes this is the content I am very much here for thank you very much 😂

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

Having a multi-year spending review can help enable that, as can being at the start of a cycle as we are now - both tend to lend themselves to a longer-term horizon than can be the case at other times. So now is a good time to try and make progress on this stuff I reckon 🤞

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

I agree with Stefan, I can see the logic but separating things out in this way places them in competition - we need product / service teams that can do all of the above, and are mandated and resourced to do so

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 06/10/2024

Hello :) Articulating that and being bolder sound excellent if you don’t mind me popping up to say so :)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 06/10/2024

start with apex predator needs 🤔

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 06/10/2024

Hello! That’s very kind of you to say, thank you! :) Been rather enjoying your adventures on social and actual media too, as it happens, and ISTR you were rather good at the old civil servant malarkey yourself, back in the day. *And* strong 🐥game!👌 Is it time for you to come back yet? :)

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Janet Hughes @janethughes.bsky.social · 06/10/2024

yes, and I’d also question placing user needs at the top of a hierarchy as though they are the purest thing and meeting them is somehow above politics and policy - the principle is ‘start with user needs’, not ‘pretend that is the full and only legitimate purpose of a public service’

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