Further reading

These books, reports and websites offer clear guidance on user-centred design, agile delivery, open working, and building modern digital infrastructure.

The Welsh context

• 
  Report · 2018

  System Reboot

  By Lee Waters

  This influential report outlines the urgent need for systemic transformation within the Welsh public sector. Setting the scene for our work, it highlights long-standing challenges and makes the case for a bold, new approach to public service delivery in Wales.

• 
  Standard

  Digital Service Standard for Wales

  By Centre for Digital Public Services and Welsh Government

  The Welsh Digital Service Standard provides practical, outcome-focused guidance for designing and delivering public services that truly meet user needs. It embodies the ’better way’ principles we’ve outlined, offering a tangible framework for teams across Wales to build services that are simpler, clearer, and faster.

Ways of working

• 
  Book

  The Radical How

  By Andrew Greenway and Tom Loosemore

  This foundational book provides a compelling blueprint for delivering transformative change within government. It offers practical guidance to the mindsets, approaches, and challenges of digital transformation, directly informing our emphasis on moving beyond short-term fixes and adopting new ways of thinking and doing.

• 
  Guide

  Test and Learn Playbook

  By Martina Vojtkova, Laurie Smith and Suraj Vadgama

  This playbook provides actionable strategies for adopting a ’test and learn’ approach, which is crucial for agile delivery and responding to real-world feedback. It offers practical methods for experimentation, rapid iteration, and learning from failure, directly supporting our report’s emphasis on flexibility and continuous improvement in public services.

• 
  Book

  The agile comms handbook

  By Giles Turnbull

  Clear, open communication is essential for successful digital transformation — especially when working in the open. This handbook offers practical advice on how to communicate transparently and iteratively, supporting our call for radical transparency and helping to build a more open public service culture.

  ISBN 978-1-7399422-3-6

• 
  Book

  Trio Writing: Designing bilingual content for user-centred services

  By Joanna Goodwin, Adrián Ortega, Ceri Brunelli-Williams, Heledd Quaeck and Nia Campbell

  This practical guide to collaborative writing supports our principles of working in the open and multidisciplinary teamwork. It shows how structured collaboration can produce clear, user-centred bilingual content, leading to better communication and outcomes in public services across Wales.

  ISBN 978-1-4467822-4-8

Leading and organising for change

• 
  Book

  Digital Transformation at Scale

  By Andrew Greenway, Tom Loosemore, Mike Bracken and Ben Terrett

  Building on extensive experience from the UK Government Digital Service, this book offers critical insights into how major digital transformation can be managed across large, complex organisations. It supports our calls for bold leadership, multidisciplinary teams, and a focus on continuous delivery, and demonstrates how these principles translate into large-scale systemic change.

  ISBN 978-1-9130193-9-6

• 
  Book

  The Service Organization

  By Kate Tarling

  This book offers crucial guidance on how public sector organisations can be structured and led to effectively deliver modern, user-centred services. It provides practical frameworks for building an organisational culture that supports continuous service design and delivery, and directly informs our recommendations on leadership, multidisciplinary teams, and improved ways of working.

  ISBN 978-1-913019-76-1

Building the digital state

• 
  Book

  Platformland: An anatomy of next-generation public services

  By Richard Pope

  This influential thinking explores the concept of ’platforms’ as foundational digital infrastructure, moving beyond individual services to create reusable components and shared capabilities across government. It underpins our recommendations for fixing the ’plumbing’ of government and simplifying procurement, enabling a more integrated and efficient digital state.

  ISBN 978-1-9167491-1-5

• 
  Policy paper · 2025

  A blueprint for a modern digital government

  By UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

  This blueprint sets out a vision for the future of an agile, user-centred government that resonates deeply with our recommendations. It reinforces the importance of integrated digital public infrastructure, open standards, and a focus on outcomes, and provides a broader strategic context for the actions proposed in our report.

• 
  Report

  Foundations Of The Digital State independent report for Scottish Government

  By Gordon Guthrie

  This report offers a comprehensive vision for building a modern digital state, particularly relevant in a devolved context. Its focus on foundational components, capabilities, and strategic investments provides valuable parallels and reinforces the systemic changes we advocate for: leadership, skills, and funding to enable sustainable digital transformation in Wales.

  ISBN 978-1-0685451-0-8