Service design strategy for local government
I created on a service design strategy for a local government body in Australia. They are responsible for connecting citizens to government services
The strategy addressed some key issues.
There was a lack of clarity about how the organisational vision could translate into a best-in-class end-to-end digital customer experience in the future.
There was also a lack of clarity about how customer needs are being balanced with stakeholder needs and how the organisation could improve related prioritisation frameworks and product submission formats.
There was a need to uplift the way experiences are being delivered, with an emphasis on Human Centred Design (HCD) and process maturity.
Unknown as to whether they would need to move beyond expanding their services in future to becoming service consultants and innovators as well, or stick to delivering services created by other government departments.
Approach and activities
The approach started by creating a service matrix, which provided a clear view of the many hundreds of services they provide across many touchpoints and departments. Agreed customer goals were established by running an opportunity scoring survey and a usability review. A current state service blueprint established the connections between the customer and the infrastructure behind those services. I analysed their service delivery processes, focussing predominantly on design and product. I worked with a range of stakeholder to create ideas for the future state, inspired by impressive digital services from around the world. I then worked with a designer to convert those ideas into stotyboards and future state concepts, as well as a vision summarising those ambitions. Prioritisation and new measurement frameworks were proposed, before defining multiple work streams that would be necessary in future as a part of an extensive roadmap. In parallel I created micro lessons and guidelines for the design team.
The outcome
The strategy itself was comprehensive, well constructed and insightful, which meant it was well received. However, implementing it will take many years and include changes to ways of working. As strategies are essentially decision-making tools, it is hard to say how many decisions will be a result of the strategy in the long run. However, a very effective 6-months of work resulted in something innately useable which provoked a new way of thinking about service delivery.
