About me
Estimated read time: 2 minutes
I work at the intersection of digital delivery, public governance, and the practical work of earning trust.
Over the last 15+ years I’ve helped design and deliver public services in the UK and internationally. That has included work at the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) on GOV.UK and early thinking on Government as a Platform, as well as longer-running work on service design, digital identity, and the enabling conditions that make delivery safe at pace.
I’ve also contributed to OECD work on digital government and digital identity, including the OECD Recommendation on the Governance of Digital Identity and the Good Practice Principles for Service Design and Delivery. After leaving the OECD I’ve advised and supported work with the World Bank, UN University, the governments of Azerbaijan, Kosovo, and Thailand, NHS England and DWP on the realities of digital transformation in complex, high-accountability environments.
In recent years I’ve been using AI-assisted development tools in two places: personal side projects, and in the context of public service transformation to bring ideas to life. What has struck me is not simply the speed, but the way these tools collapse the distance between an idea and something you can put in front of users. That is powerful. It also raises the bar on judgement, standards, and governance, because the pressure to treat “it runs” as “it’s ready” arrives earlier.
Ultimately my work is driven by a belief in the power of digital tools to improve lives, foster equity, and strengthen trust in public institutions. I’m passionate about building a state that is inclusive by design and accountable in practice.
This paper is my attempt to describe that moment plainly, and to argue for a version of faster delivery that remains public-service shaped: evidence-led, inclusive, and accountable. I hope you find this exercise valuable.
I’ve kept the phrase “a vibe-coded world” because it names a real cultural pattern, and because it provokes the right question: what happens when software becomes easier to produce than to govern?
I used AI tools (including ChatGPT and Gemini) in drafting and editing. I did so in the same spirit the paper argues for: faster iteration, but with responsibility staying human, and with my standards and values at the heart.