A new resource to help digital teams working in the defence sector has just been issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The ministry said the Digital Defence Manual is a new central place for advice on how to design and deliver effective digital defence services.
It has come in response to perceived limitations in the 2021 Digital Strategy for Defence. This said that people and process are as vital as tech for successful digital change, and there is a lot of GOV.UK guidance on digital, but it can be difficult to implement in the defence sector.
There have also been blockages such as the lack of a single place for teams to check which standards they need to meet, and teams not knowing where to go for guidance to do their role in defence - along with an ambition to innovate the way defence works.
The authors say this has made the issuance of “clear guidance that they can rely on and access easily” a priority.
Service standard tips
It provides developers, for example, with tips for meeting the GOV.UK Service Standard in defence, ethics, accessibility, using security classifications and advice on good tools.
It also has guidance on creating content for digital services in this part of government: in total, this first iteration of the manual has support for 27 of identified gaps.
But as there is a total of 42 areas where digital teams need defence-specific guidance, this is very much a living document, according its editors.
