Talking Contact Tracing at FOSDEM

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/02/talking-contact-tracing-at-fosdem/

I was delighted to be invited to speak at FOSDEM. And I was not at all intimidated to be speaking on the cavernous Janson stage. The audience were lovely0, asked interesting questions1, and - most importantly - laughed in all the right places 😅.

Regular readers will recognise this as being an updated2 version of the talk I gave at EMF 2024 - feel free to watch that one if you want to see if I've improved.

Huge thanks to the AV team and the video-wizards behind the FOSDEM infrastructure.

As I say in my introduction, these are my personal recollections. I no longer work for the Government, so feel free to send any complaints to the circular file.

Feedback

A few pieces of public feedback I got after the talk.

There's nothing like #FOSDEM. Maybe if you're in a particular community that doesn't have a devroom so doesn't attract so many people it's not the same but finding people you know face to face and making new contacts is so valuable. But there's something for every open source developer.

Talk highlight? I've got to go with @Edent on the UK COVID tracing app. Even if you're not UK based it was a lesson in how government works and dealing with the abuse on Twitter. Superbly presented too.

This #FOSDEM I've learned that @Edent, who up to now I have known for @openbenches, championed making the NHS covid app open source 🤯🚀.

Watch his excellent talk https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4411-lessons-learned-open-sourcing-the-uk-s-covid-tracing-app/

FOSDEM 2025 - Lessons learned Open Sourcing the UK's Covid Tracing App

@Edent your talk was part of the wonderful things in this year’s FOSDEM. I look forward to more on health from the perspective of those who understand what’s behind the technology

That's a wrap of #FOSDEM for me, saw lots of great talks. If you have time to watch only two, consider https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4411-lessons-learned-open-sourcing-the-uk-s-covid-tracing-app/ by @Edent and https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-4233-privacy-first-architecture-alternatives-to-gdpr-popup-and-local-first/ by @sitnik_en. I found them inspiring for being a good human and I learned something new in both 🤩.

FOSDEM 2025 - Lessons learned Open Sourcing the UK's Covid Tracing App

An excellent talk and performance by @Edent on open sourcing the NHS COVID app at #fosdem2025 #StreamingFosdem

Also: open source at the day of release rather than from the beginning (reduce noise).

#conference #covid19 #fosdem #nhsx #OpenSource #presentation

🆕 blog! “Talking Contact Tracing at FOSDEM”

I was delighted to be invited to speak at FOSDEM. And I was not at all intimidated to be speaking on the cavernous Janson stage. The audience were lovely, asked interesting questions, and - most importantly - laughed in all the right places 😅.

Regular readers will recognise this as being an up…

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/02/talking-contact-tracing-at-fosdem/
⸻
#conference #covid19 #fosdem #nhsx #OpenSource #presentation

Pushing The Button
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/pushing-the-button/

This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in 2020, but published four years after the events.It's May 2020 as I write this. I'm typing to capture the moment. Right now, I've no idea what the impact is.

This is the exact moment, on Thursday May 7th, I hit the Big Red Button - three of them! - to open source the UK's COVID-19 Beta test app.

It was thrilling and terrifying. We'd spent the last few weeks getting ready to open source the repos and then, at the last minute, it all went wrong. The plan was to launch on Tuesday - but fate conspired against us.

The problems fell into three main areas:

<

p>We took the pragmatic approach. We took a snapshot of the code, thoroughly scrubbed it of all identifying information and secrets, and prepared to release it. Then we waited. And waited.

Every time we thought we had the go-ahead, there was another delay! There was a strict comms schedule. We couldn't launch now; it would interrupt that other announcement!

I was asked to help rewrite bits of the announcements. This led to some memorable questions from the comms squad. How can you explain to the average user...

• what "Source Code" is?
• why the Android code is different from the iPhone code?
• who are "Git Hub"?

And, the kicker? All these questions came in while I was on a conference call with a bunch of government ministers! The joys of multiple monitors!

It was interminable. I sent texts which went unanswered. Emails. Phone calls. Just a few minutes more. Any moment now. We need to wait for...

And then!

"Can we launch ASAP?"

Yes! The email I was waiting for. But I am a paranoid and cautious Fraggle. Was that "Launch now!" or "Can we launch now?"?

So I sent a reply. "Just to confirm - do you want me to publish now?" And waited.

And waited.

I got an email from my boss "Launch now!"

And a second later, from comms: "Please hold off - no go. Will call you shortly."

How I longed to press that button. I could say that I only saw the first email... No. Maybe. No.

An eternity. During which time I casually glanced at Twitter and read all the angry messages from people demanding the release of the code.

The call came. "Publish it - but don't tell anyone." Weird flex, but OK.

I called my very-patient wife into my home office. I wanted the moment captured. She opened her camera. A few clicks, and it was done.

I did a little dance. Let all of the tension out of my body. And waited for the hate to roll in.

It didn't. The response was... positive! Yes, there were grumbles, but so many people were fulsome in their praise that it was overwhelming. Congratulatory tweets and emails did the rounds, and I had a nice cold ale.

I took the bank holiday weekend off. Well, I obsessively read all the tweets, answered questions about my blog post, and kept half-an-eye on GitHub. I'm not good at relaxing.

Has it worked? Did we make the NHS more open and transparent? Did open source win the day? Did the beta test work? Were lives saved? Or was it a damp squib?

As I write this, we're still in the eye of the storm. Perhaps, when this post is published, we'll know the answers.

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/pushing-the-button/

#covid19 #nhsx #retropost #WeekNotes #work

🆕 blog! “Pushing The Button”

This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in 2020, but published four years after the events. It's May 2020 as I write this. I'm typing to capture the moment. Right now, I've no idea what the impact is. This is the exact moment, on Thursday May 7th, I hit the Big Red Button - three of […]

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/05/pushing-the-button/
⸻
#covid19 #nhsx #retropost #WeekNotes #work

Drinking Champagne with the Secretary of State
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/drinking-champagne-with-the-secretary-of-state/

This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in February 2019, but published much later.

My life is weird. Again.

Looking out over London from the top floor. The Eye is glittering and the Palace of Westminster is glowing.

Someone pours me a glass of (very expensive1) champagne, as the Secretary of State laughs at my witty bon mot.

Is this my life now? People of distinction and influence listening to what I have to say? It isn't an oak-panelled room, with deep armchairs, where cigar-smoking men carve up the world. It's a modest and plain office where men (and women!) have gathered for a bit of mutual backslapping. But I am here. I'm in the room and being thanked.

And why not! We've all worked hard on launching NHSX and are rewarded with a little audience. The chit-chat is awkward - despite the geniality, we're all aware that the boss is here.

Naturally, I believe someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and ask me what the hell I think I'm doing in a room full of proper grown-ups. But, no, people keep asking me questions and telling me their well-practiced anecdotes.

It is simultaneously amazing and banal. I've been at this work-party several times in my career, with dozens of companies, with a parade of CEOs. This feels different. A tiny glimmer of "I've made it a difference!"

I eat my fill of crisps - I am driving later - and slip out. I want to savour the moment, but know too well the perils of outstaying my welcome. I float all the way home.

Proximity to power is a powerful glamour. I understand why some are drawn to it, and some are seemingly addicted.

But I'll be different, I'm sure, as I bask in the experience.

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/drinking-champagne-with-the-secretary-of-state/

#dhsc #meta #nhsx #retropost #work

🆕 blog! “Drinking Champagne with the Secretary of State”

This is a retropost. Written contemporaneously in February 2019, but published much later. My life is weird. Again. Looking out over London from the top floor. The Eye is glittering and the Palace of Westminster is glowing. Someone pours me a glass of (very expensive1) champagne, as the Secretary …

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/02/drinking-champagne-with-the-secretary-of-state/
⸻
#dhsc #meta #nhsx #retropost #work

🆕 blog! “The Digital Covid Test That Nearly Was”

These are notes that I wrote during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. I've published them a few years later. By now, you're probably sick and tired of shoving a swab up your nose and / or down your throat. You've grown blasé about the little medical marvel as it reacts to whatever antibodies are […]

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/08/the-digital-covid-test-that-nearly-was/
⸻
#covid19 #nhsx #usability #ux

The Digital Covid Test That Nearly Was
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/08/the-digital-covid-test-that-nearly-was/

These are notes that I wrote during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. I've published them a few years later.

By now, you're probably sick and tired of shoving a swab up your nose and / or down your throat. You've grown blasé about the little medical marvel as it reacts to whatever antibodies are flowing laterally. You don't even bother reading the paper leaflet any more. Right?

But that swab test wasn't the only option on the table.

One of the (many) tasks our team was looking into was how to make the experience of taking the test more digital. Instead of black-and-white pamphlet, how about... AN IPHONE APP an interactive website? It could show you videos of exactly what to do! It could have a built in timer to remind you when to check your results! It could have multiple languages - including British Sign Language! AMAZING!

Sure, there would be a cost to producing and updating it - but making it easier for people to take accurate tests could save lives. And that'd be worth it, right? We wrestled with several different ideas and sketches of prototypes. Testing them to see if they were actually useful. In the main, they weren't.

But this wasn't the only digital process we were considering. One proposed Covid test was digital. I don't mean there was a circuit board examining your results. I mean digital - as in it used your finger.

I placed the tiny needle, safely trapped in a plastic sheath, against my forefinger. "With a quick stabbing motion," read the leaflet, "prick the skin." I did so. I suppose the best thing I could say about the experience was that it was a different kind of pain to the brain-piercing horror of the nasal swab. *shudders*

The leaflet continued, "Milk three drops of blood from your finger." I had to pause for a moment. "Milking" blood isn't high on my list of super-funtime activities. Nevertheless, I persisted and managed to spill just enough of the red stuff into the provided capsule.

What was the next step? I looked at the leaflet. "PTO"

So I grabbed the leaflet, flipped it over and stared vacantly at the blood-stained mess.

Ah.

There were many reasons - so I am told - why the finger-prick tests weren't widely rolled out. There was significant cost, the risk from sharps was hard to manage, and people simply didn't like cutting themselves to bleed. It didn't matter how much more accurate the test was - if you can't convince people to take it regularly, it isn't worth it.

Also, it was messy.

Would a whizzy digital service to accompany it have helped? Perhaps a video from a friendly face with a reassuring accent to calm your fears? Gently smiling as they sliced into their fingers? Probably not. People would have just ended up with blood-soaked iPhone screens.

Ew!

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/08/the-digital-covid-test-that-nearly-was/

#covid19 #nhsx #usability #ux

🆕 blog! “So, farewell then COVID-19 App”

Today is a day of mixed emotions for me. The UK's COVID tracing app is finally closing. The app was, by any reasonable measure, a success. A team of experts at the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford and Department of Statistics at the University of Warwick estimate the NHS COVID-19 app prevented […]

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/04/so-farewell-then-covid-19-app/
⸻
#covid19 #nhsx #OpenSource

Half way on our journey to the new #NHSEngland.
14 months completed.
14 months to come.
1 year since #NHSx was closed.
Today #NHSDigital is closed.

Will take a while to settle...💙
Onward!
#WorkingInTheNHS #NHS