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Right-sizing government digital 

Government digital services are often built well—but kept running at the wrong size, shape and cost. Teams designed for active delivery remain in place long after services stabilise, creating unnecessary spend, complexity and risk.

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Looking across the public sector as whole, digital services are entering a new phase. Build programmes are ending. Funding is tightening. Expectations of reliability and accountability are rising. 

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Pebble Digital helps public sector organisations right-size their digital services: transitioning mature, business-critical services out of permanent delivery mode and into sustainable, resilient run states.


What we mean by 'right-sizing'

Right-sizing government digital is not about cutting capability or taking reckless shortcuts.

It is about deliberately reshaping how live digital services are operated so they:

  • cost less to run

  • remain secure, compliant and reliable

  • continue to meet user needs

  • can absorb change without constant crisis funding

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In practice, this means moving from over-resourced delivery teams to lean, well-designed run-state models—without breaking services or increasing operational risk.

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The problem we help solve

Many public sector services reach a point where:

  • Delivery teams are still funded, but returns from new features are diminishing

  • BAU work is poorly defined, fragmented or hidden inside “agile” activity

  • Manual workarounds persist because change feels risky

  • Operational complexity has grown organically through policy, data and system variation

  • Leaders know services are too expensive—but lack a safe route to simplify

  • The result is high recurring cost, fragile knowledge, and limited confidence to change.​

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Who this work is for

This work is designed for organisations with:

  • Live, business-critical digital services

  • Stable or mature user needs

  • Ongoing pressure to reduce costs or headcount

  • Heavy reliance on agile teams or managed services to “keep the lights on”

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Our approach

Our work focuses on how services actually run, not how they were intended to. 

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We help organisations understand: 

  • what it truly takes to keep services operating well 

  • where cost and complexity are unavoidable 

  • where they are accidental and removable 

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Our work typically includes: 

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Run‑state maturity assessment 

  • Assessing services against practical run‑state characteristics 

  • Identifying which parts of the service still genuinely require delivery‑scale resourcing 

  • Making hidden BAU activity visible, measurable and discussable 

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BAU and operating model design 

  • Defining what “run” really means for the service 

  • Distinguishing essential operational activity from discretionary development 

  • Designing lean operating models grounded in real constraints 

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Diagnosing cost, risk and complexity 

  • Identifying unintentional variation across policy, data, systems and operations 

  • Highlighting sources of failure demand, rework and assurance burden 

  • Separating necessary variation from avoidable operational overhead 

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Target and stretch run‑state options 

  • Designing credible short‑term and longer‑term run‑state models 

  • Making trade‑offs between cost, pace and risk explicit 

  • Providing senior leaders with choices they can defend 

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Transition planning 

  • Supporting incremental movement towards a run state 

  • Helping organisations stop low‑value work safely 

  • Building confidence to move away from permanent delivery mode 

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