Thoughtworks: Collaborating to make the OG of Public transport data more CO2 efficient #techUKDigitalPS

What is NaPTAN? 
NaPTAN is the B.O.T.A (baddest of them all) - data the public uses every day without even being aware of it. NaPTAN contains details of every access point to Public Transport - every bus stop, train station, metro stop, ferry terminal, taxi rank, and airport in the UK.  

Created in the early 2000’s, NaPTAN was the jewel in DfT’s data crown. By 2020 it was showing signs of age and the platform it was hosted on needed some work. Thoughtworks collaborated with DfT to replatform NaPTAN to align with their tech strategy, reduce hosting costs and unlock a roadmap for future enhancements. 

Aiming to reduce CO2 

Delivering the original benefits case together gave us the confidence to go further, exploring techniques used by some of our private sector clients around the world to measure and reduce carbon cost. We are now working in collaboration with DfT to do this. Our collaboration has several layers, from product down to story level. 

Product level collaboration 
At product level, we know the most CO2 efficient feature is one that does not need to be built.  

To prompt our thinking we ran a workshop called Ethical Explorer which took the whole team through thinking about Bad Actors, Data Control, Exclusion and of course Environmental impacts. Small teams explored each aspect independently, then came back to collectively discuss. There were ideas that hadn’t been voiced in other meetings, and the session gave the whole team an understanding of non-technical aspects of NaPTAN.  

The outcome of this collaboration meant that we could propose an enhanced product vision for 2050 - “NaPTAN exists as a stable, robust and secure dataset in 2050 enabling the entirety of the UK public transport system and because of this it has reduced the greenhouse emission.” 

Working at a story level 
To translate this high level vision into every feature and story we use cross functional requirements (CFR).  

We adopted the metaphor of a circus, with the “Elephants of Compliance”, the “Cute baby tiger of Data Storage”, and the “Bin bags of Cleanup”. Using these prompts we considered the highest priority areas for this tranche of work, and were able to clearly articulate across the team how this impacts every feature. This created a team culture of looking at the most efficient ways of delivering code and using our cloud platform. 

Collaboration has extra effects 
While collaboration takes time, and means extra meetings, by making these interesting and engaging across the team, we had many new ideas emerge and now have all the teams’ buy-in. This means we are now delivering as an aligned team. 

This thinking has to be a collaborative effort between the team developing features, the product managers, the digital services team in DfT, and the policy stakeholders, and the wider ecosystem of NaPTAN data producers and data consumers. 

For NaPTAN, knowing we are looking to 2050, we know the small reductions we make in CO2 emissions will have long lasting consequences and wider impacts across all of public transport data. Our goal is not only to increase public transport use. We also want to ensure the data that drives that is delivered as effectively as possible.  

Not bad for an OG Data Set!

This article was written by Dr. J Harrison, Thoughtworks. 

Dr J takes a strategic view of cultural change in Technology through a few lenses, notably queer theory.  

This combines well with their years of experience using agile processes to build software and a talent for really understanding clients - looking at the problems they are solving and how to make great teams that deliver real value. 

Their passion? How you can do things better with just simple changes - bringing their Service Design thinking into both the Technology and the Diversity and Inclusion spaces. Currently obsessed with transport data and crocodilian evolution, and how we evolve towards stability and longevity. What does it mean to plan for a product that will be used in 2050? 

Hashtags:  #queernuisance #thoughtworks #CCF 

Learn more about this author here.

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