1. Redesigning services with customers
Ideas Camp is a seminar approach developed to enable Kent Connects Partners to
1. Help move forward projects in the PS ICT Action Plan
2. Develop concepts based on the drivers for change in the PS ICT Strategy
It helps Partners develop a shared understanding of issues in these areas through learning
from pioneers within and outside Kent. The process that the Ideas Camp helps deliver is
outlined in this flowchart.
The first Ideas Camp organised on 30th November focused on the Priority Themes of
Customer Service Innovation and Public Service Redesign:
1. Introducing a joint approach to channel shift through the Kent eCitizen project
The project was introduced by its lead - Peter Brook, Transformation & Partnerships
Manager at Kent CC - to stimulate a discussion on how other partners could help shape its
development and to discuss drivers for change in moving customers online.
If you would like to get involved in shaping this project, contact peter.brook@kent.gov.uk.
2. Developing principles for designing ICT-enabled services with customers
The “Made in Lambeth” approach to working with communities to design solutions was
introduced through the perspective of the council – Sophia Looney, Divisional Director for
Policy at Lambeth Council and through the eyes of the entrepreneur Tom Rowley, Co-
Founder of Good for Nothing, accompanied by a short film you can see below.
These approaches have also been used on how technology can tackle particular customer
needs, social challenges and digital priorities.
The Principles will inform the development of a challenge to involve customers to design
solutions using technology to support themselves and their communities. This will notably
include developing a prototyping process in West Kent.
If you would like to get involved in taking these principles forward to develop a challenge, or
if you want to continue the conversation from the seminar, do join the online group.

2. Principles
The following principles were co-designed by
participants of Ideas Camp, building on the
presentation & mindmap on Made in Lambeth,
a process used by Lambeth Council to involve
people in the development of local solutions.
These principles will be embedded into the
“Transformed by You” methodology to inform
the development of a similar challenge-based
approach in Kent. We have set up an online
group for people who want to help shape this.
1. Get on board the services responsible for the challenges you’re setting
2. Understand what people you need to invite to come up with & design solutions
3. Define how you can get people involved in the different stages of the process
4. Design a process in which people can be productive and find exciting
5. Make challenges clear so people know what their ideas will help address
6. Manage expectations of everyone involved and remain flexible on outputs
7. Make sure you capture insights from the process that can help you improve
8. Identify ways to support community to take forward the solutions
9. Ensure the solutions can be validated by all the community

3. Principles Ideas
Get on board the services Make sure you’ve got a key owner that can give the
responsible for the competition influence and authority
challenges you’re setting Get ownership from the decision makers (at political & officer
level) and staff working in those services from the start
Bring on board all organisations who are working on the
areas the challenge you have set
Identify groups that want to experiment in collaborative ways
with public services to help develop the process
Identify what people you Identify what skills you need to tackle the challenge you set,
need to invite to come up then invite people/groups with those skills to participate
with & design solutions Develop understanding of the skills you need with the
community
Attract people with the skills to design solutions and people
with the skills to take them forward
Attract “super users” of your services
Attract people who are already creating solutions in their
community
Make sure you have a good balance of people with different
skills
Tap into skills that your organisation doesn’t have to design
the solutions
Define how you get people Design process in a way that can involve wider selection of
involved in different stages people
of the process Don’t focus all the engagement on one event, break it up to
engage people in different ways
Be mindful of how people might be motivated only by
particular stages in the process
Welcome and be open to everyone who wants to volunteer
to help organise the event
Make sure everyone is on an equal footing – staff and public
should be able to help design solutions
Get staff who are happy to take part in the event and take
constructive feedback on their services
Get the decision makers in the room
Get any staff participating to leave their job titles at the office
Make sure you have a message that is about supporting the
community, not supporting the council
Design a process in which Create a “can do” environment
people can be productive Keep the design of solutions moving forward to maintain the
and find exciting enthusiasm of participants
Rapid design over 48 hours can build on momentum in
developing solutions but can be seen as slapdash
Get people to prototype and test, don’t make them think they
have to design the finished product

4. Ensure process helps people interact with each other,
develop contacts and build skills
Make challenges clear so Challenges need to be issues they can influence
people know what their Define measures of success…but define them with the
ideas will help to address decision makers around the challenges you set
Focus the challenges on issues around social self help &
community capacity building to build in sustainability
Don’t define what outputs you want, but do define the
outcomes and share them
Make the challenge stretching for people but achievable that
they could come up with ideas & solutions to
Manage expectations of Create objectives that are achievable and where the
everyone involved and deliverables can make a difference
remain flexible on outputs Make the process ambitious but realistic
Remain flexible, including your expectation in what is
delivered
Don’t overpromise, work towards smaller and short term
wins
Don’t expect the solutions to turn into big projects, the
smaller (scale) the better
Drive can’t always be achieved internally, work with
enthusiastic partners
Make sure you capture Make sure you have a process to evaluate and capture
insights from the process insights
to share with services Have a live lessons learned log so you can continuously
review expectations from partners & participants
Identify ways to support Use the “alpha-beta” concept of solutions always being work
community to take forward in progress to be refined through feedback from users
solutions Decide with the participants what role they want to have and
what support the council or other partners can provide
Make sure you follow through after the event
Identify the best way the council can support others to take
forward, doesn’t have to implement the solution itself
If you enable people to contribute to designing & testing the
solutions, they will be more likely to use them
Ensure the solutions can Get people to test out the solutions both during their design
be validated by all the and after the event
community Consider if criteria for design of solutions should focus on
standards/technologies that can be reused by other
organisations (i.e. open source)
Use the process to build a community of “doers & makers”
around the challenge put forward