Publications

Most large organizations are trapped by their own software—stuck between rigid “best practices” and a tangled mess of over-customization. That’s felt keenly but not uniquely in the world of public finance. Two years ago in DC, Lauren Kahn, Cathal Long and I started a conversation about how to break this cycle and create tools that actually adapt to our needs. Our new paper, “Better software options for public financial management: Some ideas on where to start.” offers a set of conceptual shifts and practical steps that organisations can take to start breaking out. ...

In 2023 Public Digital was asked to support an international institution studying the impact of digitisation initiatives in public finance. They were drawing together a range of data and case studies but as we worked through them it was clear that the initiatives they were looking at took widely ranging approaches to transformation and to technology. For the analysis to be useful we needed some way of classifying the approaches taken in each case study. ...

This article first appeared on the ODI website. As we prepare for our upcoming webinar on standards for fiscal data exchange, the team at the Digital Public Finance Hub has begun to reflect on how we think about data for fiscal policy formulation and implementation. In this instalment of Budgets and Bytes, James Stewart – a technologist from Public Digital – reflects on the promise and realities of data for fiscal policy, the traps we often fall into when trying to get better data, and how to break out of those traps. ...

Working with Cathal Long and Marco Cangiano at ODI, and Emily Middleton, Angie Kenny, and Joanne Esmyot at public digital I’ve been contributing to two papers laying out a new agenda for public financial management in the digital era. An emerging paradigm In the first paper in this series – entitled Digital public financial management: An emerging paradigm – we make the case that a paradigm shift is needed in how governments and development partners approach digital PFM. We outline an ‘emerging paradigm’ based on the latest thinking in PFM, digital change in government and digital technology. ...

This article first appeared on the Public Digital blog. Governments organise themselves in the way they organise their money. The flow of cash defines accountability, behaviour, the shape of teams and the measures that matter. Yet a common feature of successful digital teams and services is that either by luck or design, they did not follow the institution’s typical funding processes. We don’t think that’s a coincidence. Digital funding for digital outcomes To successfully design, build and sustain great digital services you need to fund them properly. Too little process to manage funding, and you won’t focus on the right priorities and you’ll duplicate effort. Too much, and you’ll suffocate innovation and condemn your existing services to gradual decline and growing risk. ...

Open source software is a powerful lever for change. It gives teams greater flexibility on how they solve problems and develop services based on users’ needs. To really achieve change using open source requires a wider set of changes. In this paper, co-authored with Emma Gawen, Emily Middleton, Anna Hirschfeld, and Angie Kenny we lay out a case for how open source in government can: — enable greater digital sovereignty by helping governments to move away from contracts where they are locked-in to specific vendors for decades at a time — support the development of local or regional digital economies — create competition thereby bringing down prices — grant governments greater flexibility and control over how their services are delivered. ...

Originally published on Policy Options For the past few decades, governments around the world have been investing in digital initiatives. They’ve been applying internet-era operating principles to government promises to reshape our institutions and make them better able to deal with uncertain futures. But too often the hook for digital initiatives has been pursuing the shiny new app rather than the fit-for-purpose institution. The past few months mark a change. Extraordinary teams around the world have delivered vital new services rapidly, in a highly uncertain environment. We’ve seen the power of those teams, but also the friction that makes their work hard. We’ve seen the need for agile, adaptable government writ large. ...

The UK Government has made strides toward a digital evolution. Thanks to the spending controls and service re-design introduced by the Government Digital Service as part of its digital transformation effort, £3.56bn were saved between 2012-2015. Still, Government must look to remove structural, operational, and cultural barriers to technology adoption to experience the numerous benefits of a digital transformation. As Yvonne Gallagher, Director of Digital Value for Money, at the UK National Audit Office put it: “We need to get to the bottom of what transformation is to manage it well. Sometimes it’s called transformation but it actually means cost-cutting.” ...

Over Christmas I spoke with a team in the US government who are pulling together some work on open source policy on that side of the Atlantic. To help them I tried to document recent UK government history on the topic. Having done that it seemed helpful to publish it somewhere in case I ever need to referene it, but the GDS blogs didn’t feel quite right. This is definitely incomplete and I know a lot of other people were doing a lot of work. There’s a clear GDS-centric slant here because that’s what I know first hand. If you spot any particular egregious missing pieces, feel free to use the comments to add them. ...