Sharing influencers at the Public Sector Design Community meetup
Last week we hosted the Public Sector Design Community at Argyle House. Attendees shared the research or design book, podcast or talk that’s influenced their career.
About the community
The Public Sector Design Community is for anyone working for the public sector and is involved/interested in designing public services.
They host informal meetups around Scotland for people to share stories and experiences and learn from one another.
We worked with the community to organise their latest meetup on 9 October at Argyle House.
Sharing our influencers
At the meetup, we were invited to share the books/podcasts/talks that have helped shape our careers. It was a great opportunity to hear some great recommendations and network with fellow public sector folk working in Scotland.
Some of the recommendations from the night:
Books
- This is Service Design Thinking
- Well designed: how to use empathy to create products people love by Jon Kolko
- The Naked Diplomat by Tom Fletcher
- Bikenomics by Elly Blue
- Content design by Sarah Richards
- The elements of user experience by Jesse James Garrett
- Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Interviewing for research by Andrew Travers
- Just enough research by Erika Hall
- Rocket Surgery made easy by Steve Krug
- Don’t make me think by Steve Krug
- Change by design by Tim Brown
Events and talks
- Mike Press and Hazel White’s 2018 Service Design in Government conference talk
- Tom Loosemore’s 2015 Code for America talk
- Ron McCallum’s How technology allowed me to read TED talk
Podcasts
From this list, two recommendations came from Website & Communications staff. Neil Allison recommend The elements of user experience, and Duncan Stephen shared (and blogged about) how Thinking, fast and slow showed him the connections between his uni degree and the user research work he does now.
Read Duncan’s blog post on Thinking, fast and slow
While I did not speak on the night, I’ll second the recommendation of Content Design. If you’re a UoE staff member looking for an effective digital content refresher, Sarah’s book is a great quick read on the topic.
Join the community
If you want to get the latest updates from the Public Sector Design Community, join their mailing list.
Sign up to the Public Sector Design mailing list
If you’re interested in similar meetups but can’t make it after work, get involved with our User Experience community. We host regular lunchtime talks and discussions.
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