Operating models now matter more than technology says Diana Rebaza, senior research analyst with Socitm
A quick glance to see how we got to the DDaT we’re using now From silos to systems 1980s and 1990s Most public sector operated with rigid hierarchies and silos. Decision making followed formal chains of command. Information flowed slowly through paper processes and scheduled meetings. IT was a back office support keeping systems running.
2000s: the era of e-government
Services started to go online, as portals, electronic forms and CRM systems emerged. Online delivery meant service, policy, and technical specialists had to work together (often for the first time). It didn’t make silos disappear, but things were starting to shift.
2010s: when ways of working really begin to change
This is when the organisational started to catch up with the technical. Of course, the tech continued to change (cloud computing and more mobile devices) but at the same time so did the way we manage how we work: agile; user centred design; multidisciplinary teams.
All looking much more familiar to our day-to-day experiences in 2026.
I won’t run through a summary of the early 2020s. We’re all living and working with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. And I’m sure you remember it all too well.
Moving from ICT to DDaT brings along new challenges
Yesterday’s ICT was a support function
ICT-enabled ways of working were largely transactional. Seeking changes depended on services defining their requirements, ICT then delivered solutions and success was measured through stability and cost control.
Today’s DDaT is integrated into overall strategy
DDaT leaders work alongside services and corporate leaders as equal partners. They help shape service design, organisational change, collaboration across partners, prioritisation of limited resources and the sourcing of external capability. DDaT teams are increasingly expected to be involved early in the process, take an enterprise view of demand, share accountability for outcomes and provide insight to support evidence-based decision making.
With all of these in mind, how do and should you organise your DDaT? Our public sector organisations must keep delivering reliable services now and still get ready for tomorrow’s transformational outcomes.
There is no single or correct operating model. It’s not that easy!
To get your people and organisation where they need to be, you’ll need more than one approach.
My research for Digital Trends 2026 has found three common themes that define public sector operating models for ways of working: process/project, which prioritises control, compliance and reliability; enabling, which strengthens alignment between DDaT and services through shared accountability for outcomes; and product/value, which integrates multidisciplinary teams around services or value streams to support continuous improvement and user-centred delivery. In practice, you’ll need a combination of these models, with active management of the interfaces between them.
Find a way (or ways) of working for your team and organisation
As I’ve already said, ways of working do not rely on adopting one specific method, but to deliberately design and evolve an operating model over time.
This approach allows our local public services to deliver better outcomes efficiently, collaboratively and at scale for their communities, and places.
10 steps to follow to find the best way of working for you
To find the best way of working for you, start by establishing a shared understanding of the types of operating models, then check your current position and maturity before moving on to define a suitable operating model. From there, align all components of the operating model and co-produce the model across your organisation, ensuring that you adopt an ambidextrous approach throughout. As you progress, strengthen your enterprise architecture and design authority, invest in platforms and shared capabilities, and focus on people, culture and leadership. Finally, evolve iteratively over time so the approach remains relevant and effective.
And then they’ll each need different leadership behaviours. So, for instance, process/project is direct and control orientated, enabling is collaborative and facilitative, and product/value is outcome focused.
With most teams working with all these models and leadership behaviours, the key responsibility (and burden?) for leaders is being able to juggle and balance them all.
When you’re managing these hybrid or ambidextrous combinations of models – where different parts of the organisation require different operating and leadership styles at the same time – you need to be adaptive: the right leadership style, in the right place, at the right time.
And that is not easy.
Looking ahead to the next 40 years
This year Socitm celebrates its 40th anniversary. I have done a little looking back to see what’s changed since 1986, but our focus remains on now and next. And it’s this now and next that’s reflected through the Digital Trends 2026 work and publications.The transformation underway in the local public sector is not about adopting new technologies. It’s about re designing how work happens. There might be something new (AI obviously comes to mind) to use but it might just as importantly be using what we already have differently.
Digital, data and technology matter because they support these new ways of working. The organisations and places that succeed will be those that invest as much in how people work together as in the tools they use.
And it’s people that I haven’t mentioned enough here! Throughout all this discussion of models and style it’s people and our individual and collective experiences and ideas that will make these Ways of Working work. Take them and make them your own.
Diana’s worked with the Socitm Institute team, trustees and President’s Team to research and write the next module in this year’s Digital Trends series. Socitm is the Society for Innovation, Technology, and Modernisation. A leading independent membership organisation for people transforming local public services. Our members, throughout the public sector, are passionate about the people and places they serve. Creating better local public services for all of us.
