Government and public services
A child’s bedroom window has been boarded up for four years.
2briefings
6essays
4patterns
Four patterns run through government and public services. None is unique to it.
Correct at every step, wrong at the end
2 of its 6 essays are in government and public services.
No individual part of the system fails. Every department, every agent, every board process does exactly what it was designed to do, and the outcome is still wrong, with nobody positioned to own the gap.
The dashboard stays green
1 of its 7 essays is in government and public services.
Measurement and consultation substitute for genuine understanding. The organisation collects a number or a response, treats the collecting as the work, and never asks whether it changed anything.
Designed for the person who isn’t there
2 of its 10 essays are in government and public services.
Systems are built around the capable, average, organised user, and fail exactly at the point where the person in front of them is least able to advocate for themselves.
The permanent record you didn’t choose
1 of its 4 essays is in government and public services.
Data about a person is captured once and becomes a durable, portable record used to make decisions about them, with no mechanism for the person to see it, correct it, or reclaim it.
Start with the evidence.
Six essays
Correct at every step, wrong at the end
The dashboard stays green
Designed for the person who isn’t there
The permanent record you didn’t choose
Two books
Something to do about it.
How to Design Digital Humans with IntentionFor when the voice on the other end of a public service turns out not to be a person, and no one thought to say so.
How to Co-create Experiences of Efficiency and EquityFor when a service gets faster for the people who already found it easy, and nobody asks who got left behind.
How to Build Trust Into Unseen InfrastructureFor when the system that decided about you won’t say why, and neither will anyone you can actually reach.Done before, in government and public services.
- 0items for sale. An innovation day for senior government digital leaders had no sales agenda, and new capabilities followed across key functions.Central government
- Wona full borough ICT contract from the incumbent, then delivered it end to end.Local government
- 2005and still running: the definitive register of UK learning providers.Education, government