Our Approach

Method

LOTI uses an outcomes-based methodology – an extension of the Design Council’s double diamond approach – for all projects. That means we start with the end in mind, focusing on what we’d like to be different in the world because we acted.

When setting out on projects that expect to have a significant technology component, we try to head off the risk of ignoring the hidden enablers of a great solution by building in an explicit prompt to consider the non-technical aspects of the problems and solutions.

LOTI outcomes based method

People

We recognise that while digital technologies and data provide a powerful set of tools and approaches with which to innovate, they are rarely the whole solution. We’re therefore committed to working with colleagues far beyond boroughs’ technology teams to understand the real nature of the challenges to be addressed and how they can be solved.

Collaboration

We fundamentally believe in the power of collaboration, but we know that working across organisations can be hard. We’re dedicated to making collaboration frictionless for our members. We use agile methods with a healthy dose of pragmatism to get things done. Our aim is to work quickly, trial and improve ideas fast, and deliver results

Transparency

We believe in working in the open and being honest about our successes and failures – it helps make our work better. The vast majority of our documents are public domain and this website also offers a dedicated library of our reusable resources, guides and toolkits. We also publish a monthly newsletter, read our latest newsletter:

How we engage with the tech sector

In order to represent the best interests of our members, LOTI is technology and supplier agnostic. That means we do not favour or endorse the products and services of any one company. Nor do we procure technology on behalf of London boroughs. Rather, we’re here to help ensure our local government colleagues are good, informed and demanding customers of the best innovation the market can provide. Specifically, we help boroughs to:

Share knowledge about which suppliers and technologies serve them well
Implement procurement practices and contract terms that underpin important principles, such as interoperability
Take part in workshops about how technology can enable them to meet their specific service challenges
Meet as a group with a broad range of quality tech and service providers for early market engagement discussions through our partnership with techUK. (Please note we are not able to introduce individual companies to boroughs unless a member of the LOTI community wishes to recommend them to their peers.)
Engage with free or subsidised training offers from multiple suppliers
Speak en masse with major suppliers to share ideas, challenges or suggestions.