Adapting the Harvard Kennedy School’s ‘Model for Digital Maturity’ for Design.
How Kainos and Public Digital adapted the User Centred Design element of the model on a recent project.
I was recently involved in a digital maturity assessment initiative for a global not-for-profit organisation where we applied the Harvard Kennedy School’s Model as it is tailored to governments and adjacent organisations rather than commercial entities. The intention was to reuse as much as possible and update / refine where necessary.
We looked at Design in some detail and considered the relevance and value the framework could add to our project. After reviewing the framework we felt some of the specific areas could be improved to both increase the value of the framework and ensure design is considered as a force for change.
Like others we felt the framework positioned design primarily as a UX testing tool rather than an approach that can help teams build the right thing. Some additional rigour was needed to increase the framework’s impact.
As part of our work we:
Introduced a description
We added a description for each area. This outlines the area’s intention and describes what we expect to cover. We found it extremely useful as we could quickly go down all areas and get a snapshot of each area’s context, something that the main title may not always fully reveal. We presented the description as a series of questions to help get the team in the right mindset.
Added a stage
Let me preface this by saying there is nothing lacking in the existing 4 stage model (Low, Medium, High, Future State); They cover most organisations and clearly show progress through the framework. We found it useful however, to add an additional stage to make sure we cover organisations and teams that still operate in legacy ways of working. By adding this additional stage we could help organisations identify possible existing challenges and allow stakeholders to have a realistic view of where they are and what needs to change.
Refined existing areas
We then reviewed each of the areaS and adapted where needed:
Codifying User Experience Testing: We did not make any considerable changes here, just some amends to the language used as well as introducing a legacy stage where testing with users in non-existent.
Prioritizing User Perspectives: In our opinion this area missed the mark. It again focuses on user testing as the single definition of users’ perspectives.
While testing is a legitimate way to ensure a service has considered user needs it is primarily used as a summative method and does not always provide necessary insight needed at the beginning of projects.
We changed this to focus on whether products and services are informed by user needs as well as on how insight is collected. For example is insight collected through primary research? Are user needs considered a priority? Is user insight used to inform policy?
Building Product Management Capabilities: This area felt transactional and role-depended. We shifted the focus from managing products to building problem solving skills and capabilities. Rather than focusing on the role, we highlighted UCD as a methodology for identifying and solving problems, rather than just testing services with users. For example, are teams empowered to identify and solve problems? Are problem-solving methods encouraged and promoted?
Shared Design Patterns (Design System): Here we kept the focus on building, sharing, and maintaining common design patterns across projects and units.
Added a new area
Designing For All: This is an area we strongly felt was missing. Products and services need to ensure equal access, experiences and outcomes for all. Focus on inclusive design needs to be a priority, not an afterthought. This area spans inclusive design and accessibility and seeks to find out how units and teams ensure they design for all and follow relevant equality, inclusive design, and accessibility regulations.
We hope our work has made a positive contribution towards improving the model. We also understand this is an evolving framework and may still need some refinement, so feel free comment.
