My Early Days in Digital Transformation

Starting a new role at Aberdeen City Council felt like stepping into a very different world from the engineering environments I had worked in previously.

Suddenly I was surrounded by digital services, accessibility discussions, web design, smart city ideas, and people trying to modernise large public systems.

So I'd consider myself part of the team now at Aberdeen City Council. I've managed to get into the swing of how things work,

I have lots of new friends and colleagues, and I am really getting into the hot desking. I get to sit at a different desk each day and get to sit with different people most days. Although the folk I work with directly in the Team generally sit in the same area.

Adjusting to a New Digital Workplace

I have had a few days working from home and it's good. Probably the easiest login from home I have ever had or used yet. No hassle, no dongle, no phone app, and no code to remember.

I also found myself surrounded by people who were genuinely passionate about improving digital services and modernising how the council worked.

A couple of interesting tech projects I heard about this week is Smart Benches and City Lab.

Discovering Civic Technology

ACC has commissioned a couple of Smart Benches for Aberdeen City. They are solar-powered smartphone recharging centers in the form of a park bench. So if you are low or run out of charge you can pop by one of the benches, take a load off and recharge your phone. This is a great concept and it will be good to see how they work and are used when installed. I do have concerns about a USB point exposed to the elements but I'm sure that has been thought of.

The other initiative is City Lab, which is run jointly between The University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon’s University, and ACC. It brings together students, ACC staff, and partner organizations for one term to design and build sustainable projects for the city.

ACC has identified areas where new projects would help the city and community. Students get to be creative by brainstorming and developing their ideas. I wish I could have had access to something like this when I studied at RGU.

Some of the projects going through this scheme are smart tiles that generate electricity by people walking on them to power traffic lights, smart school busses with teaching capacity, and smart signage.

Seeing How Digital Services Are Designed

This week I also got a sneaky peek at the new ACC website design.

I can't say too much but help came from a design agency called Screen Media. It was great being able to work with these guys and get an insight into the whole web design process.

A lot of thought goes into layout, colours, and accessibility. I was well impressed with the draft and excited to be involved with the process so far. It also goes to show there is a lot more to good web design than code and a bit of CSS. Looking back now, this was probably one of the first times I really started appreciating how much user experience, accessibility, structure, and communication matter in digital services.

I will keep you posted when it goes live.

What Stayed With Me

Looking back, this period feels like the start of a major shift in how I thought about technology.

I was moving away from purely physical engineering problems and becoming increasingly interested in systems, usability, accessibility, and how technology shapes everyday public services.

The pics this week are not mine (I wish) I found them on display at the Brewdog next door to Marischal College. They are part of an Aberdeen Star Wars Exhibition. Thought they were cool, and as ever I forgot to note who the artist is. I like them though.

This also connects closely to my reflections on visual thinking and systems thinking.

A lot of the same ideas around simplicity and usability also appear in my post about technology overcomplication.

The transition into digital work also links naturally to my reflections on changing career into software development.

I’m still fascinated by how technology, systems, and design affect the way people interact with services every day.

A lot of the work I do now still centres around simplifying systems and improving digital experiences.

You can find out more here.