Digital Transformation at Scale

Early in 2012 two of the GDS team visited NASA in Houston. They saw the patches the astronauts designed for each mission and inspiration struck. From then on, each GDS team was awarded a mission patch for delivering a public-facing, time-bound project. They designed it themselves, including the GDS motto ‘TRUST, USERS, DELIVERY’ and featuring an animal somewhere on the patch All the patch design rules were broken. That didn’t matter. Something as simple as a few stickers (which the teams paid for themselves) created very visible signs of progress, and a form of creative expression that was owned by the teams themselves. They put in the hard work to deliver something; they could then display that effort with pride. Allowing individuals to express themselves and feel ownership of the delivery stories they played a part in is a huge part of the culture behind successful transformation.