In May, we brought together Stream’s Advisory Group 2 (Technical) which comprises subject matter experts from 16 water companies and other industry stakeholders. Co-chaired by Icebreaker One and Pennon Group, this group advises and supports the project partners as they commence work on Stream’s Implementation Phase.

Date: 27th May 2025 10:00-11:30 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Lucy Chambers (IB1); Dilani Pararajasingam (Pennon Group

Secretariat: IB1

Summary:

  • Members discussed the Icebreaker question  – ‘If you were to set up a startup on the basis of data sharing across industry, what principles would you apply when thinking about your collaboration tools and tech stack?’
    • It was noted that logging in needs to remain easy 
    • It was noted that, with an increasing threat landscape, cybersecurity should be front and centre when considering collaboration tools and tech stack
    • There was discussion around keeping costs low and benchmarking other startups to understand what is being done in the space
    • Other themes of discussion included open source, portability, minimising friction and complexity  
  • It was noted that Stream is trialling an outcome based approach for next quarter’s goals
    • It was noted in AG1 that metrics should be added in to measure when/whether these outcomes have been achieved
    • It was noted that it will be a busy quarter for the operations pillar, focussing on aligning work across industry needs and member objectives 
    • It was noted that work for the technology pillar will surround integrating a fully operational tech stack
  • It was noted that members reviewed the consolidated tech stack. Questions raised included:
    • How should we balance the technical complexity of multiple products with functionality benefits?
      • It was noted that there is a natural tension with having multiple products and having products interact, complexity should be considered, with multiple teams working across Stream
    • What are the support/SLA requirements for each product? How do these limit speed of change functionality or manage risk for Stream? 
      • It was noted that a process/guide should be developed with this information
    • We don’t have a Steam IT team so how can we support all products
      • It was noted that somebody should be responsible for training on new tools being brought into Stream
    • Can we define expectations in terms of portability?
  • The broader recommendations were noted:
    • Benchmarking suggest tech estate against other start ups
    • Creating stream principles and process for tooling
    • Explore further M365 tools and what it can do for us, is it enabled to do so?

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat, and are confidential to the Advisory Group members.