Better connected 2012: Top tasks special

'Digital by default' - improving the online customer experience

Date/Time	Region	Venue
15 September 2011	London	Royal College of Surgeons

Duration: 1 day

Category: Socitm Insight

Cost: Socitm Insight subscribers: £195 +VAT
Non-Insight subscribers (Socitm Members) £275 +VAT
Non-Insight subscribers (others) £295 +VAT

Organised by: Socitm Insight

The files below are only available to Socitm Insight subscribers. Delegates who are not subscribed to Socitm Insight should email insight@socitm.net

Martin Greenwood: Better connected 2012: moving to a 'top tasks' approach ( 1.33 MB PPT)

Gerry McGovern: Understanding the need for top tasks ( 14.71 MB PPT)

Conor Moody/Kevin Jump: Implementing top tasks at Liverpool ( 2.8 MB PPT)

Michele Ide-Smith: Identifying top tasks at Cambridgeshire CC ( 3.9 MB PPT)

Aideen Flynn: Implementing top tasks approach for library services ( 2.22 MB PPT)

Helen Williams: Implementing top tasks approach for planning services ( 4.84 MB PPT)

John Fox: Implementing top tasks approach for council tax services ( 5.83 MB PPT)

Marco Ranon: Accessibility of top tasks ( 234 KB PPT)

Overview

Socitm has made it clear that there will be a major change in approach to the assessment of local authority websites for Better connected 2012.

This reflects our belief that the design and information architecture of future council websites should focus heavily on 'top tasks'. Indeed, we see a 'top tasks' approach as essential to developing websites that work easily and quickly for customers, and, therefore, regard the concept as a key component of achieving channel shift.

This event will focus on what a 'top tasks' approach means for local public service websites, how top tasks should be identified, and how they can be accommodated within public sector websites. With a rare appearance from web guru Gerry McGovern, the event will also explain how the survey for Better connected 2012 will reflect the top tasks concept.

Who should attend

• Web managers
• ICT managers with responsibility for the web
• Customer service managers
• Corporate communications managers
• Corporate and service transformation managers
• E-communication and e-service managers

Programme

09:30	Refreshments
10:00	Better connected 2012: moving to a 'top tasks' approach  Opening remarks from Martin Greenwood (Chair)
10:15	Understanding the need for top tasks Gerry McGovern, CEO, Customer Carewords
11:15	Refreshments
11:30	Implementing top tasks - Conor Moody, Web manager, Liverpool Direct
12:10	Identifying top tasks - Michele Ide-Smith, Cambridgeshire CC
12:45	Lunch
13:45	Choice of workshops (see below)
14:25	Choice of workshops (see below) Workshop 1 - Implementing top tasks approach for library services, Aideen Flynn, Better connected reviewer Workshop 2 - Implementing top tasks approach for planning services, Helen Williams, Better connected reviewer Workshop 3 - Implementing top tasks approach for council tax services, John Fox, Better connected reviewer Workshop 4 - Accessibility of top tasks, Marco Ranon, RNIB
15:05	Tea
15:20	Top tasks: Panel session with all speakers
15:55	Review of day
16:00	Close

Why attend

This event will provide you with information and ideas to support the latest thinking about website content and presentation, where more is less, where content has to be prioritised and, above all, where meeting customer needs is paramount.   

There are powerful arguments for services to be 'digital by default', but they come to little if the website (and increasingly the mobile device) is not focused on the tasks that most customers want to complete.    

We will hear the latest thinking by one of the world's leading experts and thinkers on the concept of top tasks. We will hear from two practitioners, operating in completely different types of council, how they are tackling the implementation of the concept, leading often to surprising results.  Implementing top tasks raises many issues related to the governance and role of the website across the organisation as the prime channel of service delivery.

We will then explore the customer journeys of three important tasks for local authorities. We have chosen tasks likely to feature in the Better connected assessment so that delegates can get to grips with the sort of work involved in implementing a 'top tasks' approach for a specific service.

Finally, we will have a general panel discussion involving all the speakers so that delegates can discuss their issues and concerns with this challenging new era for online public services.

Speakers

Gerry McGovern makes a much-awaited return to the local public service sector in the UK. Author of The stranger's long neck: how to deliver what your customers really want online (2010), Gerry has pioneered the thinking behind top tasks and will share with us the latest thinking about how to identify and implement top tasks. The internationally renowned champion of web content, he will also draw out the critical management implications which lie behind the technique. Finally, those lucky enough to have heard him before will know that he is a brilliant communicator of these ideas.

Conor Moody has managed the re-design of the Liverpool City Council, basing it on the top tasks concept. Not only does the design of the new website embrace the concept and swept away much of the conventional wisdom of the previous generation of web design in public services, but it has lead to important changes in the way in which content is developed and edited and managed.

Michele Ide-Smith is the web strategy manager at Cambridgeshire CC. She has led a comprehensive investigation into how the county's website is used and what this means for its development.

Aideen Flynn, formerly web manager at a London borough, is now a Better connected reviewer and has completed an unusual piece of research that has allowed her to experience becoming a member of six London libraries, and through that experience comparing the online facilities at each.

John Fox, formerly award-winning web manager at Salford City Council and Helen Williams, with a background in council PR and communications are both Better connected reviewers.

Marco Ranon, principal web access consultant with the RNIB, has been working in web accessibility and quality assurance for over ten years.

Venue

The Royal College of Surgeons has an excellent location in central London.

It is 5 minutes walk from Holborn and Chancery Lane tube stations on the Central line and 10 minutes walk from Temple station on the Circle and District Lines.

Better connected 2012: Top tasks special leaflet ( 1.85 MB PDF)

Date/Time	Region	Venue
15 September 2011	London	Royal College of Surgeons