PROFILE
T
he Ministry of Justice, a ministerial
department of the British Government
headed by the Secretary of State
for Justice and Lord Chancellor, specialises
in criminal justice, civil justice, family
justice, courts, tribunals, prisons, probation,
democracy, and constitution. Providing insight
into how the Ministry is using technology
to ensure a positive customer experience is
Chief Digital and Information Officer for the
Ministry of Justice UK (MoJ), Tom Read. Here
he covers the importance of versatility in his
role among other talking points for modern
technology leaders.
An overview of Tom Read’s role
within the organisation
The Ministry of Justice is one of the largest
employers in the UK, with more than 70,000
people in 900 buildings. We operate 500
courts and tribunals, and look after around
83,000 offenders in 121 prisons in England
and Wales. Our mission is an unusual one
as people usually come to use our services
when something has gone very wrong in
their lives: they might be a victim of crime
and are seeking justice; or perhaps they are
getting a divorce and need the courts to
decide who has custody of the children. channel shift for competitive advantage,
but we are very much a monopoly service:
people don’t have a choice about whether to
use our services. Our mission is to relentlessly
focus on the experience of the end-user and
make it as easy as possible for them to get
what they need from the justice department.
My team runs the core IT services across the
department, making sure users from front-
line Prison Officers to court clerks and case
workers all have modern, reliable and flexible
technology. We also ensure our more than
700 complex systems are securely hosted,
patched and well maintained. I also lead
on the digital strategy for the department.
For many organisations, this would mean Versatility is vital. The days of looking after
big contracts and data centres are thankfully
disappearing. Instead, a progressive CIO
should be expert in emerging technology,
cybersecurity, data protection, user experience,
as well as the more traditional spheres of
customer service and supplier management.
These are very different disciplines and require
a versatile set of skills and approaches.
The importance of versatility as
a CIO
OUR MISSION IS
TO RELENTLESSLY
FOCUS ON THE
EXPERIENCE OF
THE END-USER
AND MAKE IT
AS EASY AS
POSSIBLE FOR
THEM TO GET
WHAT THEY
NEED FROM
THE JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT.
Equally important is being able to recognise
when times are moving on and to drop
some long-held assumptions. Earlier in my
career I focused on rigour in planning and
delivery: establishing a plan and sticking
to it. In the past five years, my approach
has almost entirely shifted to running
long-lived multidisciplinary agile teams and
favouring an iterative delivery approach.
Similarly, good data analytics was once
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