iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Rob McCarthy

Nikola Goger @nikolagoger.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Thanks everyone who came to listen to our talk about "Share & Reuse by Design" at @sdingov.bsky.social ! It's great to start conversations with people from other departments who are as dedicated to normalising and enabling reuse as we are. <3 @robjmccarthy.bsky.social #sdingov

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Well done Shaun. Doing your kids proud in more ways than one.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

And, some courage to push back against the detractors that are comfortable in the status quo. The status quo being; what worked in the past but has now let the boulder roll back a tad.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Having a jam is 100% the best way to make hours of time vanish. Well… that, and playing Age of Empires.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Has any pre-and-post analysis of the efficiency drive been carried out on X (formerly known as Twitter)? I’m curious as to what the impact was on user experience, product revenue, business objectives, ethics, etc. Does anyone know?

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

None of this is to complain about what anyone is doing (love your work @andyjones.bsky.social). But the centre have responsibilities and so do departments. There are attempts to do more by all… but is it enough? Is the current model and system frustrating enough to drive change @bowsy.co.uk?

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Can the centre really be responsible for it all? And if they aren’t, can departments be responsible for contributing but potentially then not have their needs met? Someone has to take the charge on this and solve it structurally rather than stealthily. Which is where I think it’s failing.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

I love this convo, but I wish it was more than just a convo. And, it is frustrating. So frustrating. And it should be so frustrating that it’s being actively solved. But, who is it frustrating for? I’d argue it’s not frustrating enough for anyone within the current system.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Not come across any on GOV.UK (not to say there isn’t any though) but I have seen them in use across front-line NHS digital products for privacy and security reasons, and also for security reasons on internal facing products in gov.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

With a blueprint for modern digital government having been recently released, it got me thinking: what does an effective digital delivery model actually look like? I thought so much about it, I put pen-to-paper and wrote a blog post: medium.com/@robertjmcca...

medium.com

A digital delivery squad model that Government should widely adopt…

…and Spotify should actually use.

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Reposted by Rob McCarthy

Laura Yarrow @laurayarrow.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

This week I sat down and wrote some thoughts down on the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government. Tldr? : Exciting, bold, and hugely ambitious. Bring it on. www.laurayarrow.net/blog/theres-a-lot-to-be-excited-about-in-the-blueprint-for-modern-digital-government

laurayarrow.net

There’s a lot to be excited about in the blueprint for modern digital government — Laura Yarrow

Last week was quite the ride. We kicked the week off with our Secretary of State (SoS), Peter Kyle, announcing the new Digital Centre, and blueprint for modern digital gov at the GDS office in Londo...

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Reposted by Rob McCarthy

Frankie Roberto @frankieroberto.com · 21/01/2025

Blueprint for modern digital government: “Create an inventory of services to measure the progress of service modernisation and publish a version of this in the open.” Woop woop! 🎉 You’re welcome to start with this? govuk-digital-services.herokuapp.com

govuk-digital-services.herokuapp.com

Government digital servicesX-GOVUK

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Those terms are certainly eye-rolling-public-sector-jargon. But, I’m running several successful workstreams on the MoJ Design System. The workstreams are producing excellent work, far from mediocre. I think the difference is the who, what and how of delivery, rather than what it’s called.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Sounds amazing Shaun, well done to you and your team. Is this to improve the “handover” of Figma designs to development internally on the GOV Design System team? Or is this to embed Figma into the GOV Design System with accessibility annotations on a central Figma file?

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

We have an amazing Accessibility Specialist that is embedded within the team alongside a fantastic Content Designer, Interaction Designer and Developer. Accessibility is important to the entire team but having an Accessibility Specialist on hand means we can go above mere compliance.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Sorry to interrupt… but the MoJ Design System have released a component today. We now have an Interruption card in the Ministry of Justice’s design system, and I have to say it, but the work of the team is at another level. 🤩🤩🤩 design-patterns.service.justice.gov.uk/components/i...

design-patterns.service.justice.gov.uk

Interruption card - MoJ Design System

Design your service using MoJ styles, components and patterns

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Without calling out any design systems, what does a “best practice” section look like?

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Yes to all you’ve said Dave, thanks for sharing your tips. And yes to making it as easy for the consuming user as possible. I think that’s definitely key, especially if it comes to a PM prioritising a backlog. “Why do we need to spend time updating this thing when we already have it”.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

An amazing community resource. Thanks for sharing it Frankie.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Design System folk: I would love to hear tips and techniques you’ve tried and tested to encourage adoption of improved components? Or another, somewhat corporate way of putting it, what change management techniques have you successfully applied?

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

It’s easy encouraging teams to adopt a new component into a design system. Right?! It’s shiny… ooohhh aaahhh! But, how about encouraging adoption of an improved component, especially when a team already has said component in their product. Now that’s harder. 🧵

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

You’d get more engagement to your post if you had written ‘I love Sharepoint’. That would have been click baity. Probs have gone viral. Instead, you’re just truth saying.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

And so it begins… A bot has liked a post of mine on here. I don’t imagine there’s many scantily clad and lonely women looking for “friendship” on BlueSky that are also into design systems, but hey ho, I seem to have found one.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

You should have a column in a tabloid. A weekly gossip column on design system “politics”.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I’m the same. Buses, trains, anywhere actually. People seem to be fine with openly swearing in public these days and unaware of children around them.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Ahhh I see, no probs. So I see a component as a single reusable piece of UI that has a generic use (e.g. a date picker), and a pattern is often, but not always, a collection of components that are more specific to meeting a need (e.g. selecting a date and time for an appointment).

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Now that’s a question. And I don’t think there’s an easy and definitive line to draw.

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Reposted by Rob McCarthy

Shaun @sconner.net · 21/11/2024

People might disagree with this, but I think we need to remove A/AA/AAA or things like critical/severe/should/must, etc., from accessibility audit reports. They're abused as a mechanism for product and delivery managers to deprioritise as much as possible.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

What’s your thought on patterns? I think there’s a finite amount of components. But patterns, that’s where it gets exciting. But, where a component may have a use across lots of (even all teams - I’m thinking a button) patterns are likely to be much less. Still multiple teams, but much less.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Yes. Demoing the value is powerful. “BOOM - Look! I made a thing just like that! And look closer, it’s accessible, it’s consistent with our other products, and a lot of it can be maintained and improved centrally. Now shall we talk money?” I’ve shortened it a bit, but something like that 😂

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

It’s a good point but it’s not always easy to just do a design system. Without sounding like Liam Neeson, you do need a set of specialist skills to be able to start a design system. But I think I get what you mean - you don’t need to ask permission, which I 100% agree with.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Oh gosh yea. I don’t think DS teams should be creating one-off components.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I hear about people struggling to make a case for a design system in their org. I went through that pain. Without trying to sound like a know-it-all-knob, I think the key is to stop making a case for a design system. The people you’re making a case to don’t care. Instead make a business case.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Completely agree on the lean front. But what if DS users need components that the DS doesn’t have. Should the DS be meeting that need and expanding the DS? And if it requires team expansion to maintain the DS, is it not the job of the DS team to make that case?

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Has anyone read anything compelling about the trend for design systems I’m seeing which is to “do less”, “make less”, and even go as far as “we’re not making anything new”? I don’t currently understand it. If there’s a need for a thing, why not make it/centralise it. I’d like to understand it.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

Great to watch this experiment being worked through in the open. Some very interesting insights @wholistics.bsky.social is uncovering about design systems within UK Government and Healthcare. I’m a big fan of making stuff to find out stuff. Great to see that in action here 👏

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

*** BORING DAD INCOMING *** Swearing openly and repeatedly in public (like on a train) just feels so wrong to me. I’m a BIG fan of a swear word. It can be a hugely expressive and creative way to communicate. But, doing it so brazenly and unashamedly in public, just **** off already.

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

I took your advice and punched it out: bsky.app/profile/robj...

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

I've been mulling on the question: Are design systems too slow? So much so, I've written a blog post about it. SPOILER ALERT: We have a problem with our design system. It's too slow! Read on: medium.com/@robertjmcca...

medium.com

Are design systems too slow?

SPOILER ALERT: We have a problem with our design system. It’s too slow!

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Rob McCarthy @robjmccarthy.bsky.social · 29/10/2024

I’ve been slowly writing a blog post about the pace of design systems, and now beginning to think I should transition it into a blog post about the slow pace of writing a blog post about the pace of design systems… 🫠

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