Looking backward to look forward

The value of timelines as maps.

I love maps. I love making maps. And I love that people make many different types of maps. Journey maps, relationship maps. Affinity maps.

However, one I don’t see many of are timelines. I’m not sure why. It could be because they involve a lot of desk research to do. Or because people are more interested in the present than history. However, I find timelines a useful tool for most projects.

Here’s why:

Timelines help us understand how something came to be

The word ‘provenance’ can sound like jargon, but I like using it in the context of understanding why something came to be:

prov·e·nance (prŏv′ə-nəns, -näns′)n.

1. Place of origin; derivation.
2. a. The history of the ownership of an object, especially when documented or authenticated. Used of artworks, antiques, and books.
b. The records or documents authenticating such an object or the history of its ownership.
The Free Dictionary

For me, provenance can solve mysteries of things having awkward seams. Often buildings with awkward stairwells or lifts that don’t serve all floors have a history of being multiple buildings. Or, in the case of someone I know working on a UK bank’s database only to find sections in French, the mystery was solved when he learned that the database had started with a French acquisition and was now the only remaining trace of that company.

I decided to use this approach to investigating a common complaint, that IT systems within a government agency—in this case, the Department for Work and Pensions—don’t talk to each other. Combining the idea of provenance with Conway’s Law — that an organisation’s IT will copy its communication structure — I decided to do some mapping of the department.

I used National Archives data (literally through the provenance of documents as they were moved with the changing departments, snap!) to map out the history of the department back to what I considered a reasonable start for information technology systems, 1980. (I later found out from the Ivan Fallon’s book The Paper Chase that this diagram could go much further back, but I will save that for another map).

History of the department from 1980–2020. Thanks to Stefan Czerniawski for pointing out errors (and more errors!). Description of diagram in footer

Some key elements I took from this diagram included:

• systems made in the 1990s had no real reason to talk to other systems as there were several executive agencies!
• some agencies had merged and split—which could mean better (more recent) documentation, or more fragmented systems
• services that had switched owners (for example Child Benefit) could have different systems again.

Is this unusual? Probably not. James Wilsons points out in his book On Bureaucracy, that most established ‘bureaus’ (government agencies) turn into snowballs that absorb smaller agencies. And reshuffles aren’t unheard of. Looking at the list of UK government departments with “and” in their title makes me think that this experiment could be repeated with several other departments.

Timelines contextualise a thing in the era—and implicit values—in which it was created

What is £3,000 worth to you? Back in 1986, it was 4 months salary for a teacher, ¾ of a SEAT Ibiza… and also the threshold for a particular policy’s tax rules. 30 years later, I was working on a digital service for said policy, and the £3,000 was there, unchanged. (For those interested, adjusting for inflation alone would have made it £8000 in 2016). This meant that far more people were getting caught with this figure than perhaps originally intended. This example stuck with me as one reason to investigate when policies are enacted.

Back in 2020, Ali and I used this as a prompt to do a timeline of health-related policies. There is a lot of interest in government in ways to see if we can make it easier for people to get what they’re entitled to without having to do multiple applications and repeating themselves.

While we did other timelines relating to life events, we did this map with the idea that the age of various policies might affect how easy it was to combine questions together.

Example of policies over time. Note that this may not be exhaustive and was done as a way to explore policies.

Did the timeline help ask more questions about similarities and differences in policies? I would answer yes. Looking at dates helps us do thought experiments:

• What did we understand of disability in 1948—the year the legislation for Industrial Injury Disablement was introduced?
• What did we understand of caring—what it was, and who did it—in 1976, when Carers Allowance was created?
• How do different policies from different ages—sickness benefits, overlapping caring benefits—intersect with each other?

Depending on the particular lens you want to take, it could be helpful to overlay other events—be it governments, legislation relating to identity politics, workers rights—so see if there are particular dates that serve as a ‘before’ and ‘after’ for comparing legislation.

Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it

I’ve seen some excellent timelines used for sense making, particularly from the National Audit Office. For example, I love their timeline of disability schemes on page 28 of their 2019 report of supporting disabled people to work. But I’d love to see more of this. To quote the (often misquoted) philosopher Edmund Burke “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”.

EDIT: after sharing this blog post, the ever-knowledgeable Stefan Czerniawski pointed me to a more zoomed out timeline of Whitehall history that he blogged about… back in 2010! Those who don’t know about history indeed! (Thanks also to Stefan for pointing out a few things I got wrong in my first version of the DWP diagram which I’ve since fixed).

An earlier version of this post appeared on vickyteinaki.com

Details of timelines

Timeline for Work and pensions departments in the computing age: organisation timeline 1980-present

Included:How the current department has emerged since 1980.

Not included: non-exec agencies or advisory departments, details, for example child benefit options, Northern Ireland devolved services.

Various employment department back to 1916.

Department of Employment (1970–1988) — to Employment Department (1988–1995) to Department for Education and Employment (1995–2001).

The Employment Service (1991–2001) was a non-executive agency reporting to the Department for Education and Employment.

The Department for Education and Employment splits with Education portfolio going to Department for Education and Skills and Employment elements going to DWP.

Pension and assistance — some departments back to 1916. Department of Health and Social Security (DHSC) (1968–1988) — then Health portfolio to Ministry of Health. Department for Social Security DSS(1988–2001). The following executive agencies reported to the DSS:

• War Pensions Agency (1994–2001, then moved to Ministry of Defence)
• Child Support Agency (1992–2001)
• Benefits Agency (1991–2000)
• Information Technology Services Agency (ITSA — 1991–2000 and then outsourced)
• Contributions Agency (1991–9, then moved to Inland Revenue), and
• Resettlements Agency (1989–1996 — then went to grant agency).

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — 2001-present. Merged DSS and Department for Education and Employment. Some portfolio from DSS went to Treasury and the Ministry of Defence.

Newly created Pensions Service(2001–8), reporting to DWP.

Newly created Disability and Carers Service (2001–8) — reporting to DWP. Both merged to become the Pensions Disability and Carers Service 2008–2011. After this they were merged to DWP but continue to exist as brands.

Child Support Agency became Child Support Agency (2001–8) reporting to DWP. Then Child Support Agency (2008–2012) reporting to CMEC, and finally Child Maintenance Group (2012-present) as an external body working with in DWP.

The Benefits Agency and Employment Service merged to Jobcentre Plus (2002–11) as an executive agency reporting to DWP, then merged into DWP but retaining their own brand.

While the ITSA stopped, a similar tech function called BPDTS Ltd existed from 2016–2021 (external but with DWP as its sole customer) before being merged with DWP.

Timeline of departmental health and health-related policies

What this diagram shows

• the age of different Health (or Health-related) policies. The time a policy was written may affect its intent: for example, then-current understanding of disability
• what policies have replaced (or are in the process of replacing) others

Not included on this diagram

• Details of multiple legacy policies and who is still using them
• Changes within a policy to eligibility (for example changes to Incapacity Benefit)
• Disability Premiums (though introduced in the 1990s) — more effort is needed to understand this
• Local council-level policies or schemes (for example, the Children Act 1989 requiring all local authorities to have a register of disabled children, or the Blue Badge scheme which was created in the 70s)

Themes

Unable to work

1971 — Invalidity benefit (replaced)

1983 — Statutory Sick Pay (current — not a health policy but relevant)

1981 — Severe Disablement Allowance (still available but being replaced)

1995 — Incapacity Benefit (still available but being replaced)

2009 — Employment and Support Allowance (still available but being replaced)
2013 — New Style ESA (current) and Universal Credit (not a health policy but relevant)

Independent living if disabled

1971 — Attendance Allowance (current -not a health policy but relevant)

1975 — Mobility Allowance (replaced)

1992 — Disability Living Allowance (current for under 16), and Constant Attendance Allowance (not a health policy but relevant)

2013 — Personal Independence Payment

Injured at work

1948 — Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

1979 — Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers’ Compensation) Act

2008 — The 2008 Diffuse Mesothelioma Scheme

Caring for someone with a disability

1976 — Invalid Care Allowance — renamed Carers’ Allowance in 2003 (current — not a health policy but related)

2010 — Carers’ Credit (current- not a health policy but related)

2016 — Scotland devolved allowance (current — not a health policy but related)

Staying in work

1984 — Special Aid to Employment (replaced)

1994 — Access to Work (current)

1995 — Reasonable adjustments (not a health policy but related — part of Disability Discrimination Act, merged into Equality Act 2010 but not shown)

2011 — Mental Health Support Service

Pregnancy

1987 — Statutory Maternity Pay (current — not a health policy but related)

1994 — Maternity Allowance