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Jason Kitcat

@jasonkitcat.bsky.social
409 followers 185 following 138 posts

Director of Digital, Data & Technology at UK’s Dept for Business, Innovation, Science & Trade 🏛 / ❤️ public service / All views my own! 📢 / jasonkitcat.com

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 22h
Please do blog about it as I'd like to send some people to read it as a case study 😊
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It sucks, I'm sorry. 2 years ago our vendors decided to go away to France for a month without telling anyone in advance. Didn't reply to emails or calls while away. It was the month we thought we were completing. Sending you all good wishes and fingers crossed for a completion any day now 🤞🤞🤞
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Lovely Council Spend Map exploring open data on local government spending. bentossell.com/council-spend/ Can't see big vendors like Microsoft or Google? Because they are bought through resellers e.g. Phoenix Software, Softcat or Insight (via always great @densediscovery.bsky.social)
bentossell.com
Council Spend Map
A visual map and database of published payment data from English councils categorized by supplier and year.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Cracking post from the team “The fastest way to improve policy is to build it” - delivering value every day digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/28/t...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
The fastest way to improve policy is to build it
Building the BICS eligibility checker taught us that testable delivery can actually help shape policy decisions, not just implement them. Here's what we learned.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Delighted to share the evaluation report of our AI tool Redbox@DBT (now snappily renamed to BIST Assist!) - as public servants it's so important that we share our work and learning in the open www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Redbox@DBT trial: evaluation report
An evaluation of the Redbox@DBT trial by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), which took place from December 2024 to March 2025.
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Reposted by Jason Kitcat
Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day He passed in 2017. As Encyclopedia Britannica puts it, “He is survived by his two children, two grandchildren, and the entire human race.” If you don't know his story, please take 3 minutes now to learn it. @gchalliance.bsky.social @docsforclimate.bsky.social
sammatey.substack.com
Happy Stanislav Petrov Day
Take five minutes to not destroy civilization
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It’s really hard dealing with thousands of GOV.UK pages to update with stretched teams. At least www.gov.uk/dsit shows direction of travel. We will get there.
gov.uk
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, ensure that new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK and drive forward a modern dig...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
We've been experimenting with using AI to make it easier to query our complex graph databases, read more in our latest post digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/09/09/m...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Making graph databases more accessible with AI
What if analysts could query graph databases using plain English? This experiment tested AI-assisted querying, uncovering practical benefits, challenges and considerations for future adoption across g...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
At BIST we've been using machine learning in building our Business Finder, an internal product to help our advisors focus on the companies most likely to benefit from our support. digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/08/26/b...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Building technology with purpose: how we developed Business Finder
Read about how our new Business Finder tool makes valuable data useable so that advisers can effectively find and support potential exporters more consistently.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Except reliability, which is improving, but v slowly hal.cs.princeton.edu/reliability/
hal.cs.princeton.edu
HAL Reliability Evaluation
Accuracy isn't enough. We evaluate AI agents on reliability — consistency, predictability, robustness, safety, and self-awareness.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Can confirm a rich internal Bisto discourse this past week
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
We're keeping on with learning and evaluating how to make best use of AI in public services. Here's my latest thoughts and provisional conclusions jasonkitcat.com/2026/07/26/m...
jasonkitcat.com
More thoughts on AI
It has been about 5 months since I last blogged on AI and so much has happened, there is a lot to ponder and learn. In my specific context, which is relatively low volume but high complexity work (…
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
static.klipy.com
Noice Nice Meme Reaction
Alt: Noice Nice Meme Reaction of Michael Rosen
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
oooh what's that?
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Lovely post from Rainbow in our team, reflecting on their journey delivering Digital & Agile Basics training "What I learned when I started teaching agile" digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/07/22/w...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
What I learned when I started teaching agile
A chance to teach agile became an opportunity for personal growth. Through support, training and practical experience, I discovered new strengths and gained confidence to explore future career possibi...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
It is odd isn't it? Is it an unintended consequence of comparison sites? Vendors have to undercut competition to get to the top on comparisons, but it's not sustainable so they hike up prices year 2+ in the hope some stay to recoup true costs.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Amazing. What a run. Been great to see from the distant side lines.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
In today's post we share more about how we built and evolved 'Ask DBT' our internal AI tool for staff to access key policies and guidance around working for the department. We chose to build most of the tool in-house to reduce costs, find out more digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/24/i...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Introducing Ask DBT: Our new AI tool for making sense of the intranet
How we built a tool that gives colleagues from across DBT a way to ask questions in plain English and get clear, trusted answers drawn entirely from intranet content.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Wow, congrats, richly deserved. That's been a proper shift. And I suspect you will continue to contribute to our collective ambition to make a difference!
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I think that is covered in points 5, 6 and 7 in the blog post? But yes you are right and we did lots of content work on HR content before we even began to explore AI options, and continue to iterate the content & information architecture.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
We've been running our AI cubed model (AI lab, factory & operations) for more than a year now in Department for Business and Trade. In this post, Anthony Love shares 10 things we've learned running our AI experiments touching on ethics, sandboxes and more digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/27/1...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
10 things we learned running rapid AI experiments
Read about what DBT's AI teams learned as they ran rapid AI experiments to improve ways of working across the department.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I’ve weaned myself off Google search to use Kagi. Yes it is $5 a month, but it’s no nonsense. I agree there’s a strong case for public good infrastructure in this space. Until then Kagi is great!
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
We implemented one of the first uses of MCP in government, connecting our DBT Assist AI tool with our CRM to help automate and improve how briefings on companies are produced. Read more from the team on how they did it safely and securely digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/14/u...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Using single sign-on and MCP to safely connect AI to live government data
The DBT Assist team shares how they safely connected DBT’s AI tools to live customer relationship management data, overcoming a common challenge faced across government. By leveraging existing single ...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Super interesting discussion on interoception - how comfort & convenience may undermine our development in understanding our body’s signals stevemagness.substack.com/p/the-hidden...
stevemagness.substack.com
The Hidden Cost of Comfort
We Padded the World And Nobody Can Feel Anything Anymore
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
😱 Or make it a lovely surprise, and just keep going… 🙏
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
We recently wrapped up our annual Data Challenge in DBT, which is a great opportunity to encourage collaboration and innovation across the department. Read more about how we run it, and what we did this year digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/12/d...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
DBT Data Challenge 2026: From ideas to impact
How DBT colleagues with all levels of experience turned simple ideas into working prototypes within a week, demonstrating the energy and creativity within Digital, Data and Technology.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Here's a case study in how our work attracting talent to the UK was reviewed to improve the online journeys as part of our quarterly Firebreak week digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/05/b...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Britain Gets Talent: Fixing a fragmented offer to attract global talent
How might a clearer, more joined‑up digital experience help attract and reassure global talent choosing the UK?
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
For the last few years teams across DBT & gov collaborated on the Global Supply Chains Intelligence Programme. We used cutting-edge technology, analysis & data to bring insight into how supply chains connect our economy: digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/04/28/g...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Global Supply Chains Intelligence Programme: an AI-enabled big data analytical platform for government
The Global Supply Chains Intelligence Programme (GSCIP) team has won the Analysis in Government Impact Award for informing major policy decisions, improving operational outcomes and driving analytical...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Our content team at Dept Business & Trade are doing fantastic work thinking deeply about what it means when AI is the primary source of information for citizens. Read more about how we're preventing AI misinformation digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/04/20/h...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
How we’re preventing AI misinformation at DBT
At the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), we are proactively building a content lifecycle that guards against AI providing the public with incorrect government information.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
User research on how businesses experience government support is key to how we develop the Digital Business Growth Service, read more about how we do it from our lead user researcher digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/03/24/h...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
How we’re making strategic decisions based on the needs of businesses
Find out what we have learned as we take a more strategic view of user research insights to improve decision making and support businesses more meaningfully.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
I’ve been refreshing my memory and getting Essex to adopt the Service Standard was a big win for us in this space essexdigitalservice.blog.essex.gov.uk/2018/03/19/h...
essexdigitalservice.blog.essex.gov.uk
Hello world - come work with us! -
Essex County Council's Essex Digital Service
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I was at Essex 2017-19 and we just said "GDS do it, so it's ok for us too" and didn't ask for specific permission. Officials already understood being party political wasn't allowed, so guardrails were there. I think press office got jittery maybe once but we managed it!
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Delighted to share our experiences running a multi-disciplinary co-lab to help develop DBT's Business Growth Service, more in the post: digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/03/11/s...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Strengthening business support through user-centred, evidence-led collaboration
How our Digital, Data and Technology team's first Co-Lab collaborated with policy and Local Business Support teams across DBT to make policy and services more user-centred and effective.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Well this is lovely - Haruki Murakami and Harry Styles in conversation about running (News+ link) apple.news/ABXj0KVisTzK...
apple.news
There Are Few Things Harry Styles Has to Himself. Running Is One of Them. — Runner’s World
The global pop superstar chats with legendary author and fellow marathoner Haruki Murakami on the sublime simplicity of running—and how it nourishes the creative life.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Lovely post on Flickr's URL structures unsung.aresluna.org/unsung-heroe... - I absolutely adored how Flickr was built and worked hard to emulate it. Cal Henderson ran a brilliant workshop sharing more of their engineering process for scaling, which became essential for managing growth at Netmums
unsung.aresluna.org
Unsung heroes: Flickr’s URLs scheme – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Yes! Hence the need to keep experimenting and sharing our learnings, which will help ground our understanding further.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Tracey Wilson writes about how Department for Business and Trade are working on improving our published content in a world of AI summaries. digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/03/03/c...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Content isn’t static: what I learned about content ownership in the world of AI summaries
We reviewed a number of Department for Business and Trade (DBT) tagged pages flagged for review to confirm ownership and decide next action: update or retire. Without clear ownership and ongoing stewa...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Re-posting for morning readers 👇
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
More pondering on AI as I wrangle with what it means for public servants... Here's where I've got to so far: There is a useful path to take between hype and doom. It's time to keep experimenting and learning as nobody knows what the future will bring. jasonkitcat.com/2026/03/02/s...
jasonkitcat.com
Some thoughts on AI
“Anyone who tries to tell us they know the future is simply trying to own it.” — Margaret Heffernan in her introduction to Uncharted Take a deep breath. Nobody knows what is going to happen with AI…
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Reposted by Jason Kitcat
mia ridge @miaout.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
A nice piece of work: Towards a science of AI agent reliability AI 'reliability lags capability, and that reliability will remain a barrier to deployment unless researchers and developers focus effort on improving reliability as a separate dimension from accuracy' www.normaltech.ai/p/new-paper-...
normaltech.ai
New Paper: Towards a science of AI agent reliability
Quantifying the capability-reliability gap
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I fear many do not understand that AI search does not provide results in the way standard searches do. Broken mental models alert🚨 theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...
theshamblog.com
An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – Forensics and More Fallout
Context: An AI agent of unknown ownership autonomously wrote and published a personalized hit piece about me after I rejected its code, attempting to damage my reputation and shame me into acceptin…
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
We can’t be sure an AI “ClawBot” did post a nasty blog post when their code was rejected, but an ArsTechnica journalist did use AI hallucinated quotes when reporting the story….
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Totally agree this is a big risk. I was in a session with big consultants showing me how agents would do all sorts of clever things with our suppliers & stakeholders. Yet they were assuming they wouldn’t also be pointing agents at our services. Spam and race conditions beckon…
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
It's so easy to fall into a "build it and they will come" mindset when creating digital products & services. We work to overcome this with our wonderful Engagement & Strategic Adoption team, here are reflections on how we've boosted adoption of our CRM tool digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/02/17/d...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
Driving success through digital adoption
Digital adoption is about people. Our work on Data Hub shows that change is a process, and through collaboration and support teams can embrace tools that help improve workflows, strengthen business en...
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Oh behave!! 😆
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Humble-brag there Simon!
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Nostalgia alert - illustrated catalogue of Walkman models (not just Sony ones) walkman.land via @densediscovery.bsky.social
walkman.land
Walkman.land
The most complete portable pocket audio cassette player database. WML is a tribute to the Walkmans.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
We have long championed the importance of monitoring & evaluation in digital teams, so we're delighted to have succeeded in getting 'digital evaluator' added as a role in the UK Govt Digital & Data framework digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/02/12/a...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
A new evaluator role to support modern digital government
Discover the new Digital Evaluator role! Learn how it ensures accountability, value for money, and continuous improvement in UK government digital projects.
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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Every quarter we encourage our DDaT teams to pause & take part in a Firebreak week. It's a way to encourage us to work on challenges in new ways, with a different mix of colleagues. I think it's a core ingredient to sustaining and encouraging innovation digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2026/02/09/h...
digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk
How breaking the routine fuels fresh ideas and delivers value
Every 3 months, DBT Digital, Data and Technology colleagues are free to pause routine work to test fresh ideas. They gain insight, build skills and deliver improvements for colleagues, the public and ...
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Reposted by Jason Kitcat
Erika Hall @erikahall.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
I'm going to share a very good story about the internet. I won't tell it well because I apparently have the flu, but I think we all need a good story about the internet. It starts in 2021, when I took a sabbatical and got a little workspace to write a design book.
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