From Research to Recommendation: My Summer in DDaT at UKEF

Over the last few months, I had an opportunity to intern in the Data, Digital and Technology (DDaT) division in UK Export Finance. I began this role directly after finishing my degree in law, so I was excited to embark on this adventure in the civil service. I was unsure on whether coming from a non-technical background would make me feel wildly out of my depth. I assumed that delivering digital services in the public sector would require a great deal of specialised technical experience, so I was curious to see how the skills I developed throughout university could add value to projects.

From the outset of my internship, I was welcomed into a friendly team that made integrating into a new environment seamless! To settle in, I had many 1-1 meetings which gave me an opportunity to get to know everyone personally and provided an insight into their daily roles. The introductions helped broaden my understanding of DDaT and put to bed any worries I previously had about coming from a non-technical background. 

After those first two weeks, I felt a lot more confident in possible future career choices, and excited to get involved in work impacting users across UKEF.

The Digital & Transformation Playbook

The development of the Digital & Transformation playbook was the main project I worked on during my internship. The project aimed to answer one simple question: How can information across DDaT’s professions be organised in a way that make sense to the diverse teams?

Currently, information is spread across multiple resources and internal sites, resulting in disjointed information and confusing access for users. These pain points underpin the rationale behind developing a playbook which was more connected and usable across teams. Before starting this internship, I thought I would be assisting on the sidelines, but I was grateful to be able to take full ownership of this project from research to prototype iteration. I started to feel less like an intern and more like a colleague in the team. 

Through the duration of the project I: 

• Reviewed the existing Playbook prototype and earlier discovery work to understand how the structure had been developed.
• Planned and facilitated a card sorting exercise with 10 colleagues from across DDaT to explore how users naturally grouped information and expected content to be organised.

• Analysed the card sorting findings and used the insights to inform the next iteration of the prototype, refining categories and reorganising content to better reflect users' mental models.

• Designed and conducted moderated tree testing interviews to evaluate how effectively users could navigate the revised Playbook structure and locate key information.

• Used the interviews as a form of usability testing, exploring whether participants could complete tasks.

• Reviewed navigation pathways and points of uncertainty from the interviews, identifying opportunities to improve labels, signposting and content placement.

• Combined findings from both research activities to develop evidence-based recommendations for the future development of the Playbook.

• Presented the project's findings, recommendations and proposed next steps to the department, demonstrating how user feedback had directly shaped the evolution of the Playbook.

Reflections

One of my biggest take aways from this experience was that understanding users is integral to the success of any digital service. When I first learnt about the playbook, I thought that reorganising information would be the challenge, however, through user research methods, I quickly realised that the greatest challenge is understanding how users navigate and understand information.

This insight made me realise that, contrary to my initial assumption, digital departments do involve a great deal of human interaction demonstrating the importance of empathy and understanding in informing service design.

Perhaps my greatest reflection of the internship was that growth and confidence come from being trusted. In my first week I would not have thought that I would be independently leading such a major project, especially in a digital space. From researching to iterating prototypes, I surprised myself with the work I was able to take ownership of.  

I wouldn’t have been able to do this without my wonderful team that were so helpful and supportive. I am super grateful for my incredible line manager, Ben Johnson, who gave me the foundation of confidence I needed to achieve such amazing things over the internship. I am immensely thankful for the time and effort that the team so generously offered and following this internship I am excited about the possibility of pursuing a career in the Civil Service.

This experience was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and I feel ever so privileged to have started the first leg of my career in UKEF.