29 min
GDS Podcast #18: GOV.UK‘s initial response to Coronavirus Government Digital Service Podcast
-
- Government
We take a look at how our teams created products and services at pace to support people through the coronavirus pandemic.
The transcript for the episode follows:
-------------
Laura Stevens:
Hello and welcome to the Government Digital Service podcast. My name is Laura Stevens and I’m a Creative Content Producer at GDS. And today’s episode is recorded a little bit differently, as we’re all remote now, this will be our first podcast done via hangouts.
We’re going to be talking about GOV.UK’s initial response to the coronavirus. GOV.UK is the online home for the UK government, and it’s where millions of people access government services everyday. Of course COVID-19 does not need an introduction as the pandemic has affected all aspects of our lives.
In the first few weeks since lockdown began, GOV.UK has created products and services to help people understand what to do in these uncertain times. GDS has set up a landing page, built new services and now streams the press conferences live from GOV.UK. All of this work has helped people. It’s helped make sure food parcels are delivered to extremely vulnerable people, it’s helped businesses offer essential support, and it’s helped give people answers to important questions - like how to attend a funeral or manage a payroll.
All this high-profile and important work is being delivered remotely, under intense scrutiny and at pace. To tell me more about this work is Leanne Cummings and Markland Starkie, both of the GOV.UK Team. So welcome both to our first remote podcast. Please can you tell me who you are and what your role on GOV.UK is.
Leanne Cummings:
Hello everyone. This is wildly exciting. This is my first ever podcast, so that’s great. I am Leanne Cummings, and I’m the Head of Product for GOV.UK.
Markland Starkie:
Hi, hello, hello. My name is Markland Starkie, and I am Head of Content for GOV.UK.
Laura Stevens:
And you’ve both been about, at GDS for about one and a half years, is that right?
Markland Starkie:
Yeah, that’s right. We both started around the same time roughly. So yeah, about a year and a half now.
Leanne Cummings:
And this is my first job in government. So I’ve joined at an, an exceptionally busy time, and I’m loving every minute of it so far.
Markland Starkie:
Yeah mine too actually. People, I think they’ve stopped saying that it’s not normally like this now.
Leanne Cummings:
Yeah.
Markland Starkie:
But I definitely heard that a lot for the first year, maybe up till last week pretty much.
Laura Stevens:
I thought a timeline might be helpful, because things are moving so quickly. So I’m sure by the time this is published, there’ll be lots more things that the GOV.UK Team has done so we’re just going to be focussed on that initial response.
So some dates. GDS started remote working fully on 17 March. The coronavirus landing page on GOV.UK was published Friday 20 March at midday. Three days later, on Monday 23, the extremely vulnerable people service was launched. And that evening Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation in a special broadcast. And then that Friday, on 27 March, the business support service was launched. And, on Tuesday 31 March, the first press conference was streamed live from GOV.UK.
So that is an intense period of delivery over a fortnight. And there’s lots of firsts in there - first time working with 100% remote workforce, record numbers visiting the site and the first time a broadcast has happened from GOV.UK. And of course this work continues, it’s not just made live, it’s, it’s always being iterated and scaling up happens.
But let's talk about that first product, the coronavirus landing page. So what, what is the coronavirus landing page, perhaps Markland, you’ll be able to answer that.
Markland Starkie:
Yeah, yeah sure. So yeah GOV.UK/coronavirus, it is essentially the, the campaign landing page for all the governmen
We take a look at how our teams created products and services at pace to support people through the coronavirus pandemic.
The transcript for the episode follows:
-------------
Laura Stevens:
Hello and welcome to the Government Digital Service podcast. My name is Laura Stevens and I’m a Creative Content Producer at GDS. And today’s episode is recorded a little bit differently, as we’re all remote now, this will be our first podcast done via hangouts.
We’re going to be talking about GOV.UK’s initial response to the coronavirus. GOV.UK is the online home for the UK government, and it’s where millions of people access government services everyday. Of course COVID-19 does not need an introduction as the pandemic has affected all aspects of our lives.
In the first few weeks since lockdown began, GOV.UK has created products and services to help people understand what to do in these uncertain times. GDS has set up a landing page, built new services and now streams the press conferences live from GOV.UK. All of this work has helped people. It’s helped make sure food parcels are delivered to extremely vulnerable people, it’s helped businesses offer essential support, and it’s helped give people answers to important questions - like how to attend a funeral or manage a payroll.
All this high-profile and important work is being delivered remotely, under intense scrutiny and at pace. To tell me more about this work is Leanne Cummings and Markland Starkie, both of the GOV.UK Team. So welcome both to our first remote podcast. Please can you tell me who you are and what your role on GOV.UK is.
Leanne Cummings:
Hello everyone. This is wildly exciting. This is my first ever podcast, so that’s great. I am Leanne Cummings, and I’m the Head of Product for GOV.UK.
Markland Starkie:
Hi, hello, hello. My name is Markland Starkie, and I am Head of Content for GOV.UK.
Laura Stevens:
And you’ve both been about, at GDS for about one and a half years, is that right?
Markland Starkie:
Yeah, that’s right. We both started around the same time roughly. So yeah, about a year and a half now.
Leanne Cummings:
And this is my first job in government. So I’ve joined at an, an exceptionally busy time, and I’m loving every minute of it so far.
Markland Starkie:
Yeah mine too actually. People, I think they’ve stopped saying that it’s not normally like this now.
Leanne Cummings:
Yeah.
Markland Starkie:
But I definitely heard that a lot for the first year, maybe up till last week pretty much.
Laura Stevens:
I thought a timeline might be helpful, because things are moving so quickly. So I’m sure by the time this is published, there’ll be lots more things that the GOV.UK Team has done so we’re just going to be focussed on that initial response.
So some dates. GDS started remote working fully on 17 March. The coronavirus landing page on GOV.UK was published Friday 20 March at midday. Three days later, on Monday 23, the extremely vulnerable people service was launched. And that evening Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation in a special broadcast. And then that Friday, on 27 March, the business support service was launched. And, on Tuesday 31 March, the first press conference was streamed live from GOV.UK.
So that is an intense period of delivery over a fortnight. And there’s lots of firsts in there - first time working with 100% remote workforce, record numbers visiting the site and the first time a broadcast has happened from GOV.UK. And of course this work continues, it’s not just made live, it’s, it’s always being iterated and scaling up happens.
But let's talk about that first product, the coronavirus landing page. So what, what is the coronavirus landing page, perhaps Markland, you’ll be able to answer that.
Markland Starkie:
Yeah, yeah sure. So yeah GOV.UK/coronavirus, it is essentially the, the campaign landing page for all the governmen
29 min