A Web Directions event Transform 2017 Australia's Digital Government Conference

Session Details

Postit notes on a glass wall

The Transformation Playbook

Sarah Atkinson & Dan Sheldon

Transformation is not simply about the services we deliver. It's about the organisation, its people, processes and of course the technology used to deliver those services. So we've brought together two half day workshops, that together cover the field.

Part I: A survival guide for digital government with Dan Sheldon

Digital promises to transform government: to reshape the relationship between citizen and the state. That's the theory anyway. The reality of working in digital government is often involves more frustration than transformation. Business cases, governance, procurement, policy, programme management: sometimes it feels like you're drowning in layers of bureaucracy before you've even started.

In this session, we'll take a honest look at the way government works and how to deliver value despite of it. If you're a digital practitioner, this session will equip you to deal with the world around you while staying sane.

You'll learn simple approaches to:

  • Understand and avoid common governance, commercial and technology pitfalls that could spell disaster for your project
  • Identify and work with the various, warring professional tribes in government
  • Getting your management to put user needs first and embrace agile methods

Part II: Real world Transformation with Sarah Atkinson

Transformation is hard. It requires resilience and comradery.

There is no clear right or wrong way to be successful; instead there are guiding principles to anchor to and contextual decisions to make.

In this hands on session, Sarah will introduce you to tools and techniques which form the foundation of affecting transformation, bringing to life behaviours and characteristics underpinning the Digital Services Standard, also weaving in concepts from "Radical Candor" and "The Coaching Habit".

You will then work through a range of simulated transformation scenarios, allowing you to experiment, share and learn.

At the conclusion of the session you will be armed with immediately applicable concepts in preparation for returning to your teams (or why not bring the whole team).

About the Workshop

The workshop takes place over a whole day, divided into four sessions. The day is fully catered, providing opportunity to connect with your peers over coffee, tea and lunch.

Dan Sheldon

Dan Sheldon works as a technology consultant to governments and healthcare systems worldwide, helping to prepare them for the Internet era. Dan was co-founder of the new NHS.UK digital healthcare service and helped government save millions as senior advisor to the UK Government CTO at the Government Digital Service.

Sarah Atkinson

Sarah is a practitioner and realist at heart. Curiosity, experimentation and pragmatism are at the core of Sarah’s DNA.

Her hands on experience and passion is backed by over 15 years of successfully building, coaching and leading teams through to working with senior executives.

Having led a number of large scale transformations, Sarah co-founded Pragmateam, to provide Agile transformation, training, coaching and delivery services with like-minded practitioners.

Sarah and team are now leading transformation initiatives in government agencies. Pragmateam is passionate about supporting leadership to achieve their strategic goals, whilst working closely with the teams on the ground to increase their capability through delivery.

Tickets start at $599, for an in-depth day with the world's leading Government digital service design experts.

Register Now

Australia's Digital Government Conference.

CanberraWorkshop March 29th Conference March 30th

Register Now

What is Transform?

Australia's Digital Government Conference

As user centric approaches to Government service delivery, pioneered by the UK Government Digital Service change how Governments worldwide meet their citizen's needs, Web Directions brings you experts from the GDS, Code For America, the US Digital Service and Australia's own Digital Transformation Office to address this vital issue.

Whether you're in Federal, State or Local Government, or work with Governments of any level to deliver services, Transform will keep you up to date with developments in Government service design and delivery.

Register Now

Praise for past Web Directions events

Phil Whitehouse
Web Directions is the must-attend event of the year for anyone serious about web development.

Phil Whitehouse,
Innovation Lead DigitasLBi

Ethan Marcotte
I’ve been admiring the Web Directions events for years, and was honored to be part… What a fantastic event!

Ethan Marcotte,
inventor "responsive Web design"

Dave Greiner
Out of any conference, Web Directions is far and away our favourite

Dave Greiner,
founder Campaign Monitor

our audience watches intently

About Us

Co-founded and now run by John Allsopp, Web Directions has for over a decade brought together leading developers, engineers, visual, IxD, UX and product designers, Art and Creative Directors, indeed everyone involved in producing web and digital products to learn from one another, and the World's leading experts across this vast field.

We spend our lives thinking about what comes next, keeping up with trends in technology, practices and processes, and filtering the hype, to make sure you don't miss trends that matter, and don't waste time on hype that doesn't.

We promise attending one of our events will leave you significantly better versed in the challenges you face day to day, and in solutions for addressing them.

In 2017, we'll be organising Respond in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane Transform in Canberra, Code in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and Direction in Sydney.

vignettes form our events, social, speakers and more. Includes Hannah Donovan skylarking.

John Allsopp

John Allsopp has been working on the Web for over 20 years. He's been responsible for innovative developer tools such as Style Master, X-Ray and many more. He's spoken at numerous conferences around the World and delivered dozens of workshops in that time as well.

His writing includes two books, including Developing With Web Standards and countless articles and tutorials in print and online publications.

His "A Dao of Web Design" published in 2000 is cited by Ethan Marcotte as a key influence in the development of Responsive Web Design, who's rightly acclaimed article in 2010 begins by quoting John in detail, and by Jeremy Keith as "a manifesto for anyone working on the Web".

Code of Conduct

For over a decade, we've worked hard to create inclusive, fun, inspring and safe events for the Web Industry.

As part of our commitment to these values, we've adopted a code of conduct for all involved: ourselves, our speakers, our partners and our audience.

If you have any concern or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact us.