Jesmond Allen
@jesmonda.bsky.social
Human-Centred Designer. Mum. Sporadic knitter. Co-author 'Smashing UX Design' book. Not a suburb of Newcastle.
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
This is ace. An NHS video that explains what user research is, aimed at mammographers, to recruit more research participants to a redesigned breast screening service. A brilliant way of explaining UR to people wary of unusable IT systems forced upon them.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zM9...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zM9...
Digital Screening explainers: What is ‘user research’?
YouTube video by Digitalscreening
www.youtube.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:24 AM
This is ace. An NHS video that explains what user research is, aimed at mammographers, to recruit more research participants to a redesigned breast screening service. A brilliant way of explaining UR to people wary of unusable IT systems forced upon them.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zM9...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zM9...
I can’t make this year, but I had a great time at the NHS hack day last year
A group of volunteers have been running @nhshackday.com since 2012. In a crazy world, it is all about coming together with common purpose to solve problems in our health service. Please reshare this post about #30 in Cardiff Mar 21/22. We would love to have you join us. ti.to/nhshackday/3...
February 11, 2026 at 8:31 AM
I can’t make this year, but I had a great time at the NHS hack day last year
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Another day, another Ipsos survey that uses gender as a lens on public attitudes to science without taking into consideration that 1 in 8 British men think they could win a tennis point against Serena Williams www.britishscienceassociation.org/News/public-...
February 2, 2026 at 8:54 AM
Another day, another Ipsos survey that uses gender as a lens on public attitudes to science without taking into consideration that 1 in 8 British men think they could win a tennis point against Serena Williams www.britishscienceassociation.org/News/public-...
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
One of the best takes on non-sensical product and service developments:
“Protobot is very simple: it generates a product idea by matching a random product category with a random constraint.”
— by the great Molly Claire Wilson:
protobot.org#en
“Protobot is very simple: it generates a product idea by matching a random product category with a random constraint.”
— by the great Molly Claire Wilson:
protobot.org#en
Protobot: randomly generated design challenges
protobot.org
January 31, 2026 at 7:27 AM
One of the best takes on non-sensical product and service developments:
“Protobot is very simple: it generates a product idea by matching a random product category with a random constraint.”
— by the great Molly Claire Wilson:
protobot.org#en
“Protobot is very simple: it generates a product idea by matching a random product category with a random constraint.”
— by the great Molly Claire Wilson:
protobot.org#en
Inevitable Christmas post 🎄https://www.instagram.com/p/DSp5-m4Cs3H/?igsh=MTh1NzNvNXZkbDdmYg==
jesmonda on Instagram: "Merry Christmas one and all!"
Merry Christmas one and all!
www.instagram.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Inevitable Christmas post 🎄https://www.instagram.com/p/DSp5-m4Cs3H/?igsh=MTh1NzNvNXZkbDdmYg==
A long read but a really interesting one
What if government is stuck in a local maximum?
Today I'm publishing a new post exploring whether the evidence standards and control mechanisms we use in government are limiting us to a dangerously narrow field of view. If so, what could we do about that?
medium.com/@jamestplunk... 1/n
Today I'm publishing a new post exploring whether the evidence standards and control mechanisms we use in government are limiting us to a dangerously narrow field of view. If so, what could we do about that?
medium.com/@jamestplunk... 1/n
What if government is stuck in a local maximum?
The case for broadening our field of view
medium.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:08 AM
A long read but a really interesting one
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
In which @richardpope.org shares a very personal example of the problems GDS Local could help local council's to solve. richardpope.org/2025/11/26/a...
Aerated concrete and EHCPs
I was up until midnight last night trying to battle a local …
richardpope.org
November 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
In which @richardpope.org shares a very personal example of the problems GDS Local could help local council's to solve. richardpope.org/2025/11/26/a...
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
I've written up the findings from our work with people and organisations who have used AI notetakers in meetings, identified 9 risks and a bunch of mitigation strategies. www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
Nine risks caused by AI notetakers — Careful Industries
AI transcription tools are not currently mature or reliable enough to be regarded as an always on, single-source of truth for meeting notes. Nine common risks, and six possible mitigations.
www.careful.industries
November 21, 2025 at 7:09 AM
I've written up the findings from our work with people and organisations who have used AI notetakers in meetings, identified 9 risks and a bunch of mitigation strategies. www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
(3/3)
- the most radical point of the standard is that, unlike every other governance standard, it gives a voice to the real end user. Policy makers on their own, technologists on their own… are really bad at guessing what users do. User Research is the radical democratisation of service creation.
- the most radical point of the standard is that, unlike every other governance standard, it gives a voice to the real end user. Policy makers on their own, technologists on their own… are really bad at guessing what users do. User Research is the radical democratisation of service creation.
October 21, 2025 at 7:17 AM
(3/3)
- the most radical point of the standard is that, unlike every other governance standard, it gives a voice to the real end user. Policy makers on their own, technologists on their own… are really bad at guessing what users do. User Research is the radical democratisation of service creation.
- the most radical point of the standard is that, unlike every other governance standard, it gives a voice to the real end user. Policy makers on their own, technologists on their own… are really bad at guessing what users do. User Research is the radical democratisation of service creation.
🧵 gold
I need to write a long thing on this; time estimates sit at a confluence of:
- Managing the certainty of outputs (a foolish endeavor)
- Timeboxing and feedback loops (my jam)
- Wicked problem framing/solving (yay)
- Handoffs (boo)
- Folk Agile
- The feature factory
- Clarity/shared mental models
- Managing the certainty of outputs (a foolish endeavor)
- Timeboxing and feedback loops (my jam)
- Wicked problem framing/solving (yay)
- Handoffs (boo)
- Folk Agile
- The feature factory
- Clarity/shared mental models
No seriously @spavel.bsky.social please tell me how you think about estimating work it’s a big part of my life
October 21, 2025 at 6:37 PM
🧵 gold
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Do I know anyone (or anyone who knows anyone) who has had any joy in enforcement of the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018?
The Equality Advisory Advice Service (EASS) who formally accept breach reports seem to be useless. Pls boost.
The Equality Advisory Advice Service (EASS) who formally accept breach reports seem to be useless. Pls boost.
October 20, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Do I know anyone (or anyone who knows anyone) who has had any joy in enforcement of the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018?
The Equality Advisory Advice Service (EASS) who formally accept breach reports seem to be useless. Pls boost.
The Equality Advisory Advice Service (EASS) who formally accept breach reports seem to be useless. Pls boost.
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
buff.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*
I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?
It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.
October 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM
feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Here I am in 2020 in the flimsiest, most pitful PPE - like so many other NHS staff, some of whom died from the Covid they caught in their hospitals.
Tory peer Michelle Mone - who today lost her legal case & must repay the govt £122m - dares to claim she’s been ‘scapegoated’.
What, Michelle? 🧵
Tory peer Michelle Mone - who today lost her legal case & must repay the govt £122m - dares to claim she’s been ‘scapegoated’.
What, Michelle? 🧵
October 1, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Here I am in 2020 in the flimsiest, most pitful PPE - like so many other NHS staff, some of whom died from the Covid they caught in their hospitals.
Tory peer Michelle Mone - who today lost her legal case & must repay the govt £122m - dares to claim she’s been ‘scapegoated’.
What, Michelle? 🧵
Tory peer Michelle Mone - who today lost her legal case & must repay the govt £122m - dares to claim she’s been ‘scapegoated’.
What, Michelle? 🧵
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
If I was a Labour politician who wanted to design a better right to work scheme, I'd (a) start by cracking down on employers who transfer the risk to their workers, (b) work with the unions to design a scheme that puts workers' rights front and centre, and (c) phase roll-out, like digital switchover
September 26, 2025 at 7:16 AM
If I was a Labour politician who wanted to design a better right to work scheme, I'd (a) start by cracking down on employers who transfer the risk to their workers, (b) work with the unions to design a scheme that puts workers' rights front and centre, and (c) phase roll-out, like digital switchover
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
I'd like to see UK data centre plan developed with net zero goals, community health and opportunity, and local renewal in mind. What is the upside of living and working near to a data centre? And if there isn't one, govt needs to *create* one.
September 25, 2025 at 7:15 AM
I'd like to see UK data centre plan developed with net zero goals, community health and opportunity, and local renewal in mind. What is the upside of living and working near to a data centre? And if there isn't one, govt needs to *create* one.
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Hospital wayfinding discussion and reminded of expert saying people need to remember they are architectural machines maintained by professionals for treating illness. They are structurally incomprehensible to visitors.
It’s the physicalisation of jargon
It’s the physicalisation of jargon
September 22, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Hospital wayfinding discussion and reminded of expert saying people need to remember they are architectural machines maintained by professionals for treating illness. They are structurally incomprehensible to visitors.
It’s the physicalisation of jargon
It’s the physicalisation of jargon
Excited for @sdingov.bsky.social ! (Less happy for the horribly early start…) #sdingov
September 17, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Excited for @sdingov.bsky.social ! (Less happy for the horribly early start…) #sdingov
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Pondering as a I listen to clinicians' hopes for how AI could transform their practice. What I hear is deep frustration with the terrible tools inflicted on them in previous waves of digitalisation, and a nostalgic yearning for the simplicity symbolised by a conversational interface
August 20, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Pondering as a I listen to clinicians' hopes for how AI could transform their practice. What I hear is deep frustration with the terrible tools inflicted on them in previous waves of digitalisation, and a nostalgic yearning for the simplicity symbolised by a conversational interface
Waiting for youngest to get up, go into college and report back on A level results…
August 14, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Waiting for youngest to get up, go into college and report back on A level results…
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Every Silicon Valley innovation in the consumer space has been "what if this software was my mom" which explains why ChatGPT's primary use is as a therapist, relationship substitute for lonely boys, and "personal operating system" to organize their life
August 7, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Every Silicon Valley innovation in the consumer space has been "what if this software was my mom" which explains why ChatGPT's primary use is as a therapist, relationship substitute for lonely boys, and "personal operating system" to organize their life
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
Brandolini's law in the workplace: the amount of energy needed to understand that a request is bullshit is an order of magnitude higher than to shoot off bullshit requests in the first place.
AI saves a minute of time for the people sending out walls of text, at the cost of hours of deciphering it.
AI saves a minute of time for the people sending out walls of text, at the cost of hours of deciphering it.
What is the best (or at least appropriate) way to deal with "AI slop" messages, emails and requests?
For some reason, a culture has developed at my company where people are almost exclusively sending their requests, emails, instant messages and other communication using LLM generated text.
We are a
workplace.stackexchange.com
August 6, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Brandolini's law in the workplace: the amount of energy needed to understand that a request is bullshit is an order of magnitude higher than to shoot off bullshit requests in the first place.
AI saves a minute of time for the people sending out walls of text, at the cost of hours of deciphering it.
AI saves a minute of time for the people sending out walls of text, at the cost of hours of deciphering it.
Reposted by Jesmond Allen
When we say "stop leaping to AI as the solution, start with user needs" what we mean is "start by understanding problems that real humans have, design so people can use technology easily, and put people first all the time - testing and iterating with real humans".
AI doesn't have a heart. You do.
AI doesn't have a heart. You do.
August 4, 2025 at 7:17 AM
When we say "stop leaping to AI as the solution, start with user needs" what we mean is "start by understanding problems that real humans have, design so people can use technology easily, and put people first all the time - testing and iterating with real humans".
AI doesn't have a heart. You do.
AI doesn't have a heart. You do.
So much this 🧵
A lot of the gov narrative today has been about the financial unsustainability of 1000 ppl a week / city size of Leicester a year extra people getting PIP. Not the horror that 1000 people a week are becoming sick/disabled enough to need it. 1/?
As it's in the news again - this is the post I wrote a few months ago on why the disability benefits bill has been going up.
Essentially, you can't remove need by removing support - it just pops up as a cost somewhere else.
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
Essentially, you can't remove need by removing support - it just pops up as a cost somewhere else.
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
June 25, 2025 at 10:11 AM
So much this 🧵
