We’ve collected some advice from LPAs in the previous cohort, to give you things to think about as you get started with the programme.
What advice do you have for new LPAs joining the programme?
"Ensure you’ve got all the contacts and relationships identified that you’ll need for the life of the project, as a few of these may be outside planning (eg IT, GIS, finance, procurement, business support, etc).
Manage expectations from the beginning, and keep everyone updated on progress. Bring everyone along for this exciting journey – it will help to identify the digital allies across the planning service and wider local authority.
These products will only be as good as the testing and feedback that goes into them. Keep planning officers and subject matter experts engaged and at the heart of the process.
Your project team should be the champions and experts in these products. The best way to keep up to date with the progress of the tool is to test it yourself even if you’re not the end user."
(Emily Hadley, Buckinghamshire)
"Ensure that staff and senior leaders understand and have a working knowledge of Agile (do the training as a group); have clarity on what you need now, next and in the future; seek to gain an early understanding of the overall program and be surgical in where you are going to focus your efforts and input on, but be flexible; use these early months to orientate yourself to the programme and this will help you smoothly onboard."
(Duncan Miller, Newcastle)
"Do not be afraid to ask dumb questions, even though you might feel like it, you're not the only person in the room who doesn't have a clue what's going on. If you're still reluctant to ask questions in groups, message someone privately afterward and ask for help."
(David Forster, Doncaster)
"Read as much as you can about the programme to get a good understanding of what has been done to this point and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Be open-minded to pretty much everything. Also, no suggestion is a bad one – some really great ideas can come from a random thought.
Recruit and/or backfill project team members as soon as possible.
Align the correct skill sets to specific groups, for example, recruit planning employees that have experience with multiple application types, such as Householder, Listed Building Consents, Minor applications, Lawful Development Certificates and Prior Approvals. This is so the project team member would not feel that sometimes they don’t have the know-how to contribute to all the conversations."
(Lisa Maryott, Medway)
How has it changed how you work or your role?
"In a nutshell outside of the ODP project it has helped us to develop an "agile mindset" and in a small way revolutionised how we capture user needs, deliver products and improvements across planning."
(Duncan Miller, Newcastle)
"Getting used to an Agile way of working was the biggest change when you are used to traditional project management methods, I found that our roles and responsibilities within our internal project team naturally evolved and fell into place during the course of the project."
(David Forster, Doncaster)
"Working on this project has helped to recognise ‘digital’ as a planning specialism, challenging assumptions that we are closer to IT than planning. We are not all technical experts, although Digital Planning has showcased great technical talents in planning teams, but planners with a creative vision of a better and more modern planning service for the future.
Digital Planning teams are often multi-disciplinary (often coming from various officer and technical backgrounds both inside and outside of planning), which allows us all to learn new skills within the team. Open Digital Planning has also opened up new learning opportunities for other areas that we don’t often see in planning services, such as software development, design, user research, etc."
(Emily Hadley, Buckinghamshire)
What's one thing you wish you had done sooner to help you adopt software?
"Had an internal kick-off with touch points in the LPA to ensure the right people were involved at the right time and show them the software products that you aim to adopt e.g. ICT, legal, procurement and commissioning."
(Duncan Miller, Newcastle)
"Get copies of any contracts looked at by your legal teams as soon as possible, they can look at the general terms without the need for you to finalise things like start dates, contract lengths, etc as their approval can be the lengthiest part of the process."
(David Forster, Doncaster)
"Kept the wider service engaged and updated with the process from the beginning and fostered excitement for the advancement of the products.
Improved the quality of our data and digitalisation of planning information, but this is a challenge across almost every local authority.
Invested in project management support to help with managing our resources and helping with coordination of things such as user testing, stakeholder management, and communications."
(Emily Hadley, Buckinghamshire)