Both the public and private sectors stand to benefit from free sharing and reuse as a key approach to doing digital better. In a 3-part blog we cover: 1/ this beneficial way of working is still challenging, 2/ (this post) making decisions to share and reuse, and 3/ the means of sharing that will realise the benefits of reuse.

Making decisions to share and reuse

Understanding the barriers to sharing and reuse that we wrote about in part 1, highlights that it is a difficult realm to seek success in. So how can we make a decision to get involved?

Many questions come to the fore when considering if sharing and reuse could, and should, be established from the outset of a project, such as:

• Do we need to build in the capability to share from when we start to research in Discovery?

• What does successful design look like for a reusable asset?

• What if we put the investment in to make it reusable but no-one else adopts it?

• How will we cover the cost of operating and maintaining it?

And many other questions too, such that these together are enough to stop most leaders in their tracks. To take on the responsibility of answering these hard questions is not easy. Seemingly, given the almost total rejection of these practices in UK government to date, there is currently little to no incentive for digital leaders to take on this extra challenge and risk.

However there is an incentive, and it is important. In the UK we have a contractual foundation for public sector digital leaders built into the Civil Service code, listed under Standards of Behaviour: Clause 6. You must carry out your fiduciary obligations responsibly (that is make sure public money and other resources are used properly and efficiently).

Given the very high efficiency benefits of increased speed of delivery, reduced operational cost, greater security, and greater quality, of sharing and reuse, it is in no way contentious to state that to not undertake sharing and reuse, breaks the Civil Service code of Standards and Behaviour.

In summary, regardless of whether it is hard or not, undertaking sharing and reuse is fundamental to the role of all civil servants. And as taxpayers, we expect these practices to be understood, adopted, and acted on by public sector digital leaders.

Principles for sharing and reuse

We have worked closely with others across the public sector from 2013 on a number of sharing and reuse projects, and have captured 15 principles for helping to make a decision to share, and to reuse, these are: 

1. The service need is common 

2. The effort to reuse is minimal

3. The benefits are clear and measurable

4. The functional scope is constrained to common needs

5. The experience is consistent across the brand

6. The demand is tangible

7. The cost is lower than the options

8. The alternatives are considered but not better

9. The funding needed is available

10. The commercials are in place

11. The owner is accountable, active and available

12. The value provided is for all of government and not provided for the owner

13. The marketplace is employed where commoditisation is possible

14. The means of sharing components is appropriate

15. The quality meets critical standards

These principles help to navigate decision complexity. They are accompanied by question criteria that can quickly ascertain suitability, and that make it easier to review and assure assets being proposed, for example:

The service need is common

• Is there clear evidence of a common need across multiple digital services? For example cross-departmental research may identify a common user need within disparate services, a cross-government community of practice may have verified a reusable pattern, or the open source government community may have consistent demand for a code-base that implies a common user need exists. 

• Are the business needs also largely common? For example if one service only has need for low volume transactional throughput in non-realtime then their solution could be very low cost compared to another service which needs large scale transactions in real-time. These different non-functional requirements coming from business needs can sometimes mean that sharing a single building block will not be able to meet the needs of both services. But absence of any major difference implies no blocker to sharing and reuse.

These principles and criteria inform what a good reusable asset looks like, helping to provide assurance of assets and establish marketplace consistency when routinely applied. 

Language for sharing and reuse

Reuse can emerge from the ways we work together but for this to be seamless we need to implement clear and common language. To this end we classify digital assets that can be reused across services in government into 5 categories. 

Categories of reusable digital asset

• Components - Reusable parts of service functionality 

• Data - Structured information 

• Platforms - A container for presenting a solution

• Frameworks - A basic structure for a solution

• Tools - Utilities for improving speed and quality

If you look at these categories and think for example, "where is products?", then you will enjoy part 3 of the blog which explains why products are better understood as a means of sharing.