Seeing the Big Picture at Grade 6 level

SAs Grade 6 responsible for a cross-cutting digital identity workstream, three departments were building overlapping citizen verification features. Left alone, my programme would hit its milestone while creating duplicated spend and a fragmented user journey that cut across design principles and a Cabinet Office spending control on identity-related digital projects.

TI needed to realign delivery so departments still met their legislative deadlines while converging on a shared approach that protected value for money and user trust.

AI convened a senior working group with product, commercial and security leads from each department, and I commissioned a joint architecture map that made the duplication visible in one artefact rather than in competing slide packs. I framed the choice as three options for SCS sponsors: continue separately, pause two programmes for a shared platform, or adopt a thin shared core with department-specific edges. I stress-tested costs with finance business partners and residual risk with the security community of practice, including what would happen if one department slipped its statutory date. I then secured a decision from the relevant director-general group for the thin shared core, with a written RACI, a joint backlog and a single spend-control narrative for Cabinet Office. I re-planned my own critical path, moved two teams onto the shared core, and negotiated transitional funding so no department missed its statutory date. I communicated the change to delivery managers in plain language, including what was stopping as well as starting, and I set monthly outcome metrics on duplication removed, user completion and assurance progress. When one supplier claimed change control would break their contract timeline, I worked with commercial to redesign the milestone payments rather than quietly accepting parallel build. I also established a fortnightly risk huddle with the other Grade 6 peers so emerging scope fights were settled early, and I personally checked that team objectives and supplier statements of work had been updated, because an aligned slide deck without aligned incentives does not change delivery. Beyond the immediate fix, I mapped stakeholders who would feel second-order effects, agreed how we would handle exceptions, and made sure finance and delivery saw the same assumptions. At senior level I also reset incentives and reporting so the new priority could stick: objectives, forums and MI were updated in the same cycle as the narrative, and I held leaders to account for both. I checked progress against the measures we had agreed and adjusted the plan when leading indicators moved. I kept a short decision log so others could see why we chose this path and what we had ruled out. I briefed the people doing the work in plain language, including what would stop as well as what would start. I made sure the result could be evidenced with MI or feedback rather than relying on assertion alone. I invited a peer to challenge the approach before we locked it in, which improved the final design. I clarified owners and timescales so the change did not depend on informal goodwill alone. I revisited residual risks with the senior owner and recorded what we were consciously accepting. I shared a short lessons note so a neighbouring team could reuse the approach without starting from scratch. I tested the user or stakeholder impact before scaling the change beyond the pilot group. I aligned the local metric with the wider objective so incentives stopped pulling people backwards. I scheduled a review point with a clear stop-go criterion rather than letting the change drift. I translated the decision into practical steps on the ground and checked understanding with two practitioners. I quantified the before-and-after as honestly as the data allowed, including what had not yet improved. I protected quality standards while delivering pace, rather than treating them as optional under pressure. I ensured communications matched the operational reality so seniors and frontline staff heard one story.

RWithin two quarters we retired two duplicate components, forecast cashable savings of £4.2m over three years, and improved first-time verification completion by 11% on the shared journey. The spend-control case was approved without conditions, and the model was referenced as a pattern in the cross-government digital board.