MINDHVR#2 Preview: Why digital transformation isn’t (yet) reinventing Government
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By Martin Stewart-Weeks | May 2020
We’re presumably close to the point, if we haven’t already gone way past it, when talking about the digital revolution is, well, pointless. In the well worn analogy, it’s a bit like asking the fish to write a dissertation about water. Like the water, digital just is. The world has changed. We’re on a new path. Get over it. Better still, get on with it. The question now is where the path leads and at what pace.
That was at least partly why coauthor Simon Cooper and I wrote a book that explores the digital transformation of government and the public sector in Australia. Simon would agree with me, I think, that while it made a whole lot of sense to write a book about the distinctively Australian experience of digital transformation as it impacts the way we are governed and the work of the public sector, talking about “digital” as if it is something separate from the way the world is makes increasingly less sense.
“We argue that digital transformation of government is a story that is missing half its plot — and perhaps the most interesting half.”
But there you are. To some extent, the book and its title are stuck with the conundrum of using a title and a framework to unravel a phenomenon which contradicts our central message of the deep, pervasive and irreversible reality or digital.
In the book, we argue that digital transformation of government is a story that is missing half its plot — and perhaps the most interesting half. We have defined “digital transformation” as a way of rethinking the entire business of governing, government and the work of the public service; to better serve citizens and customers in a democratic society, and across all levels of government.
It’s not that there isn’t a lot going on to rewire the transactions and exchanges of governing to make them faster, more convenient and cheaper. And it’s important, hard work. We need it to be done and done well.
But the point about the digital transformation of government is that digital transformation isn’t the point. What really matters is what’s happening to government and governing and the structures and values of public work.
I’d go further. In response to an irretrievably digital world characterised by a combination of speed, intensity and connectedness, government and the public sector have to respond with thinking, investing and policy and delivery capability that builds and manifests trust, empathy and competence.
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