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Martha Edwards

@maredwards.bsky.social
693 followers 311 following 290 posts

Service Design and user research things 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 Tweets are my own and don't reflect who I might work for or with

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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I wrote a summer edition of weeknotes, hoping this becomes a habit again as it felt a bit therapeutic to write this all out. The short version: - Mapping - Meetings - Reflecting - Travelling www.marthaedwards.ca/weeknotes-s1...
marthaedwards.ca
Weeknotes: S1 EP1 (July/Aug 2026)
What happened * I started July by taking a bit of time off - No big plans, just some time with family. Then the children did a few weeks of summer camp while I worked. Then I ended August with two (...
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Happy New Year to all of you 🎉 I finally got around to writing my yearnote for 2025, for those who enjoy such reflections: www.marthaedwards.ca/2025-yearnote/
marthaedwards.ca
2025: A Yearnote
I meant to write this before I left for the holidays in December but it feels like I'm only just catching my breath after some big work deadlines and personal things, along with school break and the m...
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Digital transformation leadership panels: “service design and user research are critical for our success” The response when I, a service designer and user researcher, try to register for an event to talk to leaders about digital transformation 🫠
Screen shot of text that reads: “This event is designed specifically for current team leaders and executives leading digital transformation within their organizations. Based on the information available, your role does not currently meet the participation criteria for this session.”
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Strikenotes episode 4, the series finale (thank goodness) Our union and government reached a tentative agreement on Sunday so we've returned to work 🥳 This is my first day back and I'm feeling a little lost. I haven't worked since Sept 12 and I got re-orged to another ministry while I was away
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit is standing on a beach with the words where am i ? written below him
ALT: a man in a suit is standing on a beach with the words where am i ? written below him
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
It’s been years but I’ve finally done it - I’ve listened to every episode in my giant podcast queue thanks to the @bcgeu.bsky.social strike. Any recommendations for new pods? I like the ones that tell a good story (not usually a fan of conversation-style ones, unless they’re really good)
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Strikenotes episode 3: 4th week on the picket lines with my union @bcgeu.bsky.social We had a four day picket week due to Canadian thanksgiving on Monday. Grateful to the union for giving us strike pay on the holiday 🙏🏼 Chilly temps this week but we didn’t have much (or any?) rain ☀️
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Still not back at work so here’s strikenotes episode 2. 3rd week on strike, 6th for many colleagues. We all kicked off the week with a huge rally at the BC Legislature. It was both chaotic and energizing. But it seemed to do nothing to move things forward which was disappointing & demoralizing
Union rally with a sign that says “defend public services”
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
In case you needed this reminder today … Ready for the March on the Legislature ✊🏻 #defendpublicservices #bcgeu #bcpoli cc @bcgeu.bsky.social
Picket sign saying defend public services
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Also realized I should probably provide some “strike” context (all from my perspective) -in Canadian gov, most positions below director level have mandatory union membership (uk gov doesn’t do this?) -in Aug, 91% of members in my current union voted to strike for a cost of living increase
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
I've been itching to write about #SDinGov and update my #weeknotes but..... I'm on strike and I'm not sure if it counts as 'scabbing' to write about work on my personal blog 😬 So, here are some 'strikenotes' from 2 weeks on the picket lines
woman and dog posing with a sign that says "on strike"
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Well this is disappointing. I would quite like to go back to work 🥲
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
This time last week I was filling my heart and brain with ideas and knowledge and connections at @sdingov.bsky.social This week, instead of returning to work, I joined our union @bcgeu.bsky.social ‘s picket line to fight for fairer wages for our public servants. What a September 😅🥳
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
“AI isn’t taking your job, the people making the decisions are” “Responsibility must be shared, not outsourced” “Being able to ignore the doom and gloom is a privileged position” “Be hopeful AND cynical” Necessary truth bombs from @elmosmoe.bsky.social at @sdingov.bsky.social #sdingov
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Unreal moment this morning. Almost feels like there should be some sort of holiday for “the starter word you’ve used for literal years was finally the Wordle word” Or at least something more than a quiet “woo” alone in a hotel room 😆
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Imagine you were scheduled for a 15 minute chat with the absolute top person in your public service org (besides the elected leader.) What would you use that time to say or ask? For me, it's prob something around how human-centred designers and/or grass-roots community organizers can have impact
media.tenor.com
a microphone with the number 3 on it
ALT: a microphone with the number 3 on it
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
A 'fun' / challenging game to play in government is "try to find this person on the org chart" Are they in this vaguely-named division or that one? (NEITHER) Ooo this branch has all the right keywords...maybe there? (NOPE) Which of these 35 'strategy' teams are they be part of? (NONE OF THEM)
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
July monthnote up ft: - Recent work (internal project + usability testing) - Writing some things - Spending perhaps too much time on non-design-specific tasks to make the design happen - taking connection opportunities wherever I can find them www.marthaedwards.ca/monthnote-ju...
marthaedwards.ca
Monthnote: July 2025
July started slowly for me: recovering from illness, travelling with my kids, bringing home a new puppy wore... it all wore me out. But work kept chugging along at its usual pace. No summer slowdown h...
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Stef Walter @stephaniewalter.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
The full schedule of ‪‪@inclusivedesign24.bsky.social‬ is online, and it's going to be an amazing 24 hours for anyone interested in accessibility. For those not familiar, it's 24 hours, free conferences on accessibility, available on YouTube. Save the date: 25 September 2025!
inclusivedesign24.org
Inclusive Design 24 (#id24)
A free 24-hour online community event on accessibility and inclusion
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Rail question for UK folk: Let's say I'm booking a semi-flexible one-way, meaning I can travel on any of the same train within a 70 min window Best train for me is 11am but 10:30 is cheaper. Is it irresponsible to book the 10:30 semi-flexible with the intention of taking the 11?
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
So many 'private sector' mindsets have been adopted in gov that go against our core principles. EG the idea of 'proprietary' work- People 'protecting' work from being copied & shared. It wastes $ & leads to inefficiency & duplication How can we move from 'it's mine' to 'everything is co-owned'?
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Short-form weeknotes 21-25 July What happened - Working on internal service design review atm: team interviews + built out a blueprint, glossary, team guide and list of all tech and touchpoints (whew) - helped a colleague by running a few UX testing sessions on a big public-facing service
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
June weeknotes are now live, ft 🚀 Thinking about the future (and activities that help do this) 🚀 ✨ Proof that working in the open really works! 🫠 Another re-org in my division 😴 taking a break from design community 👯 much extroverting 🐶 and a new family member www.marthaedwards.ca/june-monthno...
marthaedwards.ca
Monthnote: June 2025
This is a few days late because my youngest and I were struck down with a nasty stomach flu last week and I still haven't bounced back completely. Anyway, here's what's been happening in my world lat...
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
In the past month, I've learned that 2 of the houses I walk by *daily* on my way to the kids' school belong to people I know through work. Feels like some kind of metaphor for how disconnected we are from our neighbours even though we are connected online (or maybe just coincidence + small city)
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Times Colonist @timescolonist.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
dlvr.it
Leave drug-coverage decision for terminally ill child to experts, not politicians: Eby
But Charleigh Pollock’s mother argues her daughter’s doctors’ advice was ignored.
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Last week I shared a workshop activity that I was planning (headlines of the future) at our x-gov design crit. That activity has already been used twice in one week by designers who got the idea from my share. In case you needed a reminder to share what you are working on 🙂
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Absolutely gutted by this heartbreaking decision. Charleigh goes to school with my own 9yo and she's such a joyful presence in the school community 💔 I hope @timescolonist.bsky.social & other media are giving this decision the scrutiny and attention it deserves
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Here's something I've been noodling over as I reflect on the delivery cultures in the gov orgs I've worked for. Before I obsess any further .... 1 - I feel like someone must have done something similar before. Does this ring any bells for anyone?! 2 - any thoughts? does this resonate?
a 2 by 2 matrix on service delivery culture in government which compares teams that are empowered versus controlled, with organizations that have high central support or low central support. Control + low support = inadequate, slow service delivery. Empowerment + low support = chaotic, fast delivery. Control + high support = inflexible, slow delivery. Empowerment + high support = responsive, fast delivery.
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Interesting user research recruitment method…. Just send people cash in the post with messaging that presumes they will do your diary study! 🤣 (I enjoy getting random money in the mail so will definitely incentivize this behaviour by participating)
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
When Canada elected Mark Carney as its Prime Minister on Monday night, the word 'humility' came up six times. It's a word and trait I deeply value, as it's how I would describe my most formative leadership role model: my dad. So I decided to write about it: www.marthaedwards.ca/leading-with...
marthaedwards.ca
Leading with humility
Why being humble is a trait that's too overlooked and underrated "I am going to begin with the value of humility, and by admitting that I have much to be humble about.... Over my long career, I have...
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Monthnote for April is up, somewhat on time this month. Ft: - A ministry re-rog 😬 - a federal election 😬 - taxes 😬😡 - and a bit of work stuff too www.marthaedwards.ca/april-monthn...
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Filing taxes in 🇨🇦 be like - Start tax return on external tool ($) - Connect return to Canada Revenue Agency - CRA autofills everything with the info it has - Realize CRA has all info & could be doing this part for you - Flip table & rage against ineffective public service delivery - Repeat next year
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Happy first day of “election anxiety is over, back to just regular anxiety now” to all who celebrate ✌️ 🇨🇦
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
WITHOUT getting into the political discourse around it, completely from an objective perspective.... what do other user researchers, forms experts and content designers think about this "survey"?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
screenshot of a survey that asks very leading questions
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Been a while since I've had time for my 'short form' weeknotes so here it goes. What I've been up to: -Spoke at SD in Gov Virtual which went great -Made a followup post on LinkedIn which went a bit viral and was noticed by the top person where I work, which was 😎🥳 but also 😬😅
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
When IT makes me re-image my macbook and I back up literally everything except my bookmarks which I really really rely on 🫠 And for some reason it doesn't come through via syncing 🫠🫠🫠 ☠️
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Governments often focus more on keeping 'fraudsters' out of services than they do on ensuring everyone who is eligible can get access. It's why we have huge security/ identity teams, but small accessibility teams Enjoyed talking about this and other trust things at @sdingov.bsky.social virtual 🙂
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Dan Hon @danhon.com · 02/03/2025
You should know that a big part of 18F's work was to make sure multi-million to multi-*hundreds*-of-millions dollar contracts at fed *and* state level didn't go to shitty enterprise IT consultancies that *repeatedly* delivered tech that didn't work, was late, or didn't even do what it needed to
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
💔 😞
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
TIL that Government of Alberta has a ministry called "Red Tape Reduction"
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Weeknotes Feb 18-21 (17th was a holiday here) What happened: -2x workshops learning more on how someone might change their legal name, and how birth certificates and registrations happen in BC. I'm moving into the phase of this work where I'm starting to compile insights & turn them into action
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
OH in a very senior-level meeting: "this gov website works great but it's too bland. Can you add some photos?" The problem with photos is.... -Accessibility issues -Bigger carbon footprint -Adds unnecessary clutter -Can be misleading -False tokenism -Anything else? (Or maybe I am just grumpy?? 😅)
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Short-form weeknotes - 10-14 Feb -Spent 2 energizing in-person days (and evenings!) learning from @theschoolofgood.bsky.social + connecting with @loudowne.bsky.social @rufflemuffin.bsky.social and so many BC gov colleagues. It was wonderful, my heart and head are full. More on that later
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Short form weeknotes - Feb 1-7 What happened this week: - My city (the least wintery one in Canada) had a wild amount of snow. Daycares and schools closed, meetings got cancelled. My kids school was open but it still added stress - dressing them for winter + too icy for my mental health walks
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
😓
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
With the intention of putting more thought and effort into my writing, I'm reducing my long-form weeknotes to monthnotes, and going to attempt to post short form here. On that note here's my first monthnote for 2025: www.marthaedwards.ca/january-2025...
marthaedwards.ca
January 2025: Monthnote
I mentioned in my yearnote that I want to focus on impactful writing - I think this means using the time I would spend on bi-weekly weeknotes for other types of writing, and making my weeknotes once a...
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Reposted by Martha Edwards
Erin Candy 🍒🇨🇦 @erincandy.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
You can’t stand up to Trump when you’re working from his playbook. Mark Carney calls out Pierre Poilievre 🔥 It’s either Mark Carney or Fascism, Canada.
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
It's so fun to be Canadian right now 🫠 nationalpost.com/news/donald-...
nationalpost.com
Trump mentioned 'Manifest Destiny' in his inaugural speech. Here's what it means for Canada
Donald Trump referenced the term in his inaugural address. Here's what it means.
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
I felt too star struck to talk to her at first, that's how legendary @vickytnz.bsky.social was to our gov design community. I'm going to miss seeing her energy, work and word so much - I can't imagine how all her close colleagues, friends and family must be feeling now. What an unfathomable loss 💔
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Martha Edwards @maredwards.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
2024 was a year of big job changes for me, and I've written about it in my yearnote: www.marthaedwards.ca/2024-a-yearn... As for 2025 I'm just hoping that Canada doesn't get taken over by an orange dictator, that's not too much to ask right??
marthaedwards.ca
2024: A yearnote
It always surprises me when someone can manage a "year in review" type post right at the beginning of January. For me, the year doesn't actually begin til at least a week or two in, once the children ...
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Billionaires love the “Community Notes” approach to fact-checking because it involves people working for them for free
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