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A TAKT service · for governments adopting GOV.UK-style delivery

Kickstart Squad

An AI-enabled squad that shapes your service in four weeks. Four rapid research-and-design cycles, ending in a working MVP definition, a rollout plan and a roadmap.

The opportunity

Governments around the world want to adopt the UK's GOV.UK model of user-centred, digital-first public services — but they need a fast, low-risk way to start that transfers the expertise, rather than just renting it.

Traditional consulting is too slow and too abstract. A full build is too big a first commitment. The gap is a credible, rapid kick-start that de-risks the direction and leaves your team with a plan they can act on.

What it is

A dynamic, AI-enabled squad — a service designer, a product manager and an engineer — that runs four one-week research-and-design cycles over a single focused month.

It works like a design sprint, but with real technical understanding, so what's designed is grounded in what can be built. It ends by shaping an MVP and a transitional service. It's a kick-start to a service — not the whole build, but the confident start to it.

The squad

Small, senior and multidisciplinary — every member is principal or lead level with 10+ years in government. No juniors, no ramp-up, no overhead, with AI as the accelerant.

Service Designer

Rapid user research, journey and service design, and the evidence that keeps every decision grounded in real need.

Product Manager

Prioritisation, scope and viability — shaping what matters first, aligning stakeholders, and owning the roadmap.

Engineer

Technical feasibility, architecture and prototyping — so what's designed is grounded in what can actually be built.

AI, as an accelerant

Used responsibly to compress research, synthesis, prototyping and analysis. AI speeds the cycle; accountable humans own every call.

Four weeks, four iterations

Each week is a complete cycle — research, design, technical shaping, review. Scope flexes; the four-week timebox doesn't.

01

Discover & frame

Rapid research to align on the problem, the users, the constraints and what success looks like — and the first concepts.

Output: Framed problem, evidence base, first concepts

02

Shape & prototype

Turn concepts into prototypes and test them against user need and technical feasibility, narrowing the options.

Output: Tested prototype, options narrowing

03

Validate & refine

Iterate on the evidence and pressure-test delivery realism, until a direction earns confidence.

Output: Validated direction, MVP taking shape

04

MVP & handover

Define the MVP and the transitional service, then assemble the plan your team can act on.

Output: Report, rollout plan, roadmap, handover

What you get

01

Findings & recommendations report

What was learned over four weeks, evidenced — not opinion.

02

MVP definition

The shape of a viable first service, plus the transitional service to run alongside legacy processes.

03

Rollout plan

How to stand the service up — the practical next steps.

04

Roadmap

The path from MVP to a fuller service, sequenced and realistic.

05

Prototypes & design artefacts

Tangible proof of the direction your team can build from.

Why it works

You leave with a validated, buildable direction and the confidence to invest — a clear MVP and transitional service that reduces delivery risk, and a rollout plan and roadmap your own team can act on.

And because the squad works alongside your people, the GOV.UK way of working is transferred, not just the output. Time-to-decision is measured in weeks, not months.

Kick-start your service.

Tell us the service you want to shape. In four weeks, we'll hand you a direction you can build.

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