More than just a job

Photo credit: Jordan Madrid on Unsplash

Was this the right decision?

In mid-2022, I got a phone call, asking whether I would like to apply to become CTO for the UK Government. I had only been in my current job for a short time, so I said no. That wasn’t the only reason: I had spent almost all of my career in the private sector and understood enough about how things worked in that world to be reasonably helpful and successful. I must also admit that, coming from that world, I did not (yet) perceive work in the public sector as particularly attractive or exciting.

However . . .

At the back of my mind, I felt that I had a debt to pay. My very first paying job in technology was as a COBOL programmer for HM Customs & Excise. Before that job, I was an amateur programmer, but had no degree and no professional qualifications in computing. After two years, I was trained and experienced, and capable of working in a professional technology environment - and, like many of my peers, I took my skills to private industry. I hadn’t been back since.

Perhaps I owed enough to at least have a longer conversation with the team. It might not lead to a full time job, but maybe I could help out with some pro bono advice and consulting.

It didn’t work out that way. Once I agreed to participate in the recruitment process, I found the mission of the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) and of the Digital and Data function across government was not only compelling - it contained some of the toughest challenges I had ever faced in my career. I couldn’t walk away, not out of any sense of duty, but out of the architect and technologist’s attraction to the biggest problem in the room.

I joined the team in May last year and have been trying to tackle those problems for the last ten months, with varying degrees of success. In that time, the things that have made the biggest impression on me have been the people I work with, the problems we face together, and the purpose we share.

People

I am fortunate to have a role in the Cabinet Office, in the centre of government, but to have responsibilities which take me all over government and the broader public sector. That means that I have had the chance to meet and learn from people with far deeper expertise than me - whether in technology, in policy or in the operational expertise needed to deliver public services. Wherever I have gone, I have been impressed and enlightened, and have come away humbler and wiser. It also means that I often have the chance to do one of the easiest but most rewarding jobs that can be done from the centre: to connect two people who are working on similar things, and to help them help each other.

Problems

I expected to face problems when I took this role, but I have found more than I ever anticipated. Some of these problems are familiar from enterprise technology in any sector: how to deal with ageing legacy systems; how to make technology platforms efficient, effective and secure; and how to explain what we are doing to stakeholders who aren’t specialists in our field. Some problems are familiar from any central technical leadership role in a federated structure: how to balance governance with vision; how to build a team of technical experts who can work effectively with people in the field; and how to shape strategy which is grounded in reality. And some problems - perhaps the most interesting ones - come from the intersection between the pace and promise of technology. We have to figure out how we make use of new technology quickly, effectively and safely, and that throws us new challenges every day. I sought big problems, and I have found them.

Purpose

Some years ago, I was struggling in a role, and had a heart-to-heart chat with my boss, which ended with the advice, ‘Don’t worry: it’s only a job.’ I left a few months later. Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to be able to choose roles which I feel have some form of purpose - but I have never before found the level of purpose I enjoy today. There is a lot of work to do, and some of that work is very hard, but whenever we get it right, we make a difference to people across the country, whether directly or indirectly. In my brief time at CDDO, I’ve seen the launch of the Digital and Data brand, with the tagline, Transforming lives through technology. Sometimes corporate taglines are bland platitudes, and sometimes you feel them. I feel this one.

I’ve been climbing a vertical learning curve since I joined CDDO. Part of that learning curve has been contextual: I have come to realise that I previously only had a hazy impression of what government and the public sector did, and how it used technology to do it. However, part of the learning curve is also general: this role has tested my technical leadership abilities, and I have had to adapt to a more varied, federated and distributed environment than ever before.

I feel privileged to be entrusted with this role. I would also love to share this privilege with others. Despite the great people in Digital and Data teams across government, we still have many vacancies at all levels. In my team specifically, I will shortly be launching campaigns to recruit a Government Chief Engineer and a Head of Office. If you would like to lead all forms of software and infrastructure engineering across government, or if you would like to work directly with me in a role resembling that of a Technical Assistant in a technology firm, look out for the adverts. (Of course, I will post them here too.)

Was this the right decision? I think so. Could it be the right decision for you too?