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  "path": "/2026/06/01/the-curry-house-storm/?utm_campaign=rss&utm_source=rss",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-05T10:18:17.810Z",
  "site": "https://visitmy.website",
  "tags": [
    "Managing my health",
    "working in the open",
    "‘More harmful than helpful’: young people sour on AI",
    "Writing a business plan in NHS England",
    "Joining NHS England",
    "Smile at everyone you know",
    "Contact me",
    "related posts"
  ],
  "textContent": "Last week was the end of my second full working week on the Innovation & Analysis team in Digital Prevention Services at NHS England, working on Managing my health. Though I’ve been with the team for three weeks when you look at a calendar, I’d only worked nine-and-a-half days.\n\nI’m still gathering context and learning how people get stuff done in the organisation, where different people sit, and who’s doing what.\n\nJoining a discovery at the end is hard. It’s better when you start together, but we do get to start the next phase together – so it evens out.\n\n## Doing weeknotes\n\nIt’s probably a good time to repeat why I write weeknotes and why I publish them here, on my own website. These are mostly for my own use, a way to reflect on what I’ve done, to help me remember things, and foster connections. It’s useful to know what other people are thinking, as well as what they’re doing. People do get in touch to collaborate and discuss things.\n\nThese are not the team’s or the NHS’s viewpoint though. These are my notes, and I might get things wrong. (Please tell me if I do.)\n\nI’d very much like the team to write and publish weeknotes together, and I expect we’ll get into the swing of things soon. They’re all either good communicators, up for it, or writing weeknotes already. (Additionally, Ralph wrote a good weeknote on working in the open the week before last.)\n\n## Learning the organisation, teams, culture\n\nMost of last week was spent pulling together evidence and a narrative to show how our plans for alpha might benefit a service team. They’re doing good work to target patients and encourage them to take a test, starting a journey of preventative health, in the app.\n\nThere’s a hypothesis that one of the features of the app they’re utilising may not be best suited to meet the user need. There’s good supporting evidence for this hypothesis, which I pulled together to help frame a chat.\n\nWe learned more about the environment the team is operating within, which helped us empathise with their situation a lot more. There’s pressure from stakeholders, some firefighting, and other distractions which prevent them from being as strategic as they’d like. It got me thinking about what I’d want if I were in their shoes: stability, evidence that changing plans will deliver results.\n\nThese are not things we can promise at the end of a discovery. So instead of trying to convince them with a compelling narrative, we shifted tack. Hear their thoughts, ask for minimum viable involvement, and seek to compound good results. That’s all we can ask.\n\nIt went well and they’ve offered up people and time, which we’re grateful for.\n\n## Working hypotheses\n\nMy main hypothesis is that the existing set of products, platforms and enabling services was not built for a joined-up, personalised paradigm. Service teams are attempting to better meet the needs of patients and users in that more joined-up world, but what’s available to them doesn’t help in an ideal way.\n\nThis is no one’s fault. A new paradigm provides a different lens through which many things look odd.\n\nTeams are under immense pressure to deliver. Getting something out that makes a marginal difference is a step forward. But each team takes a step forward in a slightly different direction, using different bits of kit.\n\nAlongside this, there’s the tendency to want to solve common problems with big platforms. This is an organisational want – it doesn’t come from the teams. But big platforms that solve many needs take a long time to research, architect and build. By the time it’s ready, the need hasn’t been met, expectations have changed, and it’s time to think about a new big platform.\n\nOutside of all that, the operating model is gummed up. As much as they try, teams can’t be properly agile, use lean methods, or learn rapidly. Cycle times are slowed down, losing the ability to act fast and fully. It takes a long time to deliver marginal value. Flow is slow.\n\nIt’s hard to manifest a responsive, proactive experience when the environment isn’t set up for that.\n\nThis is what I’ve been able to pick up over 10 days or so. It’s possible my hypotheses are incorrect, or not nuanced enough, but it’s what I’ve seen so far.\n\nIt’s good though. It works the brain cells. And the people are great.\n\n## Bookmarks\n\n  * **‘More harmful than helpful’: young people sour on AI, 6 mins.** Many young people use AI but worry it harms their creativity and job chances. They feel lost in a tough job market where AI changes how applications and interviews work. Despite some benefits, many think AI causes more problems than it solves in their lives.\n  * **Writing a business plan in NHS England, 6 mins.** Good notes on the terrain from a fellow product person in NHS England.\n  * Joining NHS England, 3 mins\n  * Smile at everyone you know, 4 mins\n\n\n\n* * *\n\nGot comments? Contact me, let’s talk. View related posts.",
  "title": "The Curry House Storm",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-01T11:24:10.000Z"
}