Together, while apart in 2020
One-of-a-kind at #OntarioDigital. That’s for sure.
Editor’s Note: Summing up a year like 2020 comes around once in a generation. Hard. Hopeful. Heroic. Was it a system error or a bug? We asked the people working in digital, data and tech inside government to look back on the year that was, and share their experiences serving the public when they needed us most. These are their reflections, in their own words.
A year ago, I said that 2020 would be the decade of digital government. As it happens, it feels like we’ve squeezed ten years into ten months.
2020 has given new meaning to the word “unprecedented.” In the context of digital transformation, the pace of change has radically shifted, accelerated by new realities and the growing need for teams to quickly adapt to meet the immediate needs of the people, communities, and businesses of Ontario through simpler, faster, and better services and open data.
As I mentioned on RBC Disruptors in April, it really has felt like the future of government service delivery arrived ahead of schedule.
Some numbers at a glance:
Data, data, data
- 2,750+ data sets available at data.ontario.ca
- 18 COVID-specific open data sets released
- 300+ daily dashboards created to support the province in responding to COVID-19
Website metrics
- Resolved over 2,300 commits to our master branches of Ontario.ca
- 170M visits to Ontario.ca (up 105% from 2019)
- 29.4M visits to covid-19.ontario.ca
- 5.8M downloads of the COVID Alert app
- 5.2M COVID-19 online self-assessments completed
- 1.9M COVID-19 online school screenings completed
- 330K COVID-19 online courthouse screenings completed
Putting users first
- 16 prototyping projects
- 250+ user research sessions
- 68 digital-first assessments to support public service teams in designing great online services
- 23 multi-year planning business cases reviewed to ensure the best value for technology investments
- Processed 1 million more licence plate stickers through making lean service improvements, in partnership with the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services
- Created a new digital and data directive to guide teams in meeting common digital service and open data standards
Training, virtually
- 46 digital training sessions delivered
- 9 digital maturity workshops to help teams understand how to establish and measure KPIs for digital products and services
- 31 Lean White Belt training sessions and 6 lean clinics
- 6,300+ staff trained
Kudos
- Won an Amethyst Award — the province’s highest public service honour — for the creation of the 2019 Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act, Canada’s first digital services and open data law
At the Ontario Digital Service, in particular, it has been incredible to see the speed at which skilled, multidisciplinary product teams can deliver when given clear mandates and access to stakeholders, collaborators, and the data they need. Seeing our team deliver accessible, user-centred digital services at the speed of need reinforces the value of starting with users and delivering together.
As they say, it takes a village to deliver a great online experience. Big kudos to every public servant who has worked tirelessly and given their time and expertise to support our fellow humans during a year that re-defined everything — from where we work to how we live.
Here’s to a future full of even greater collaboration, more flexible ways of working, stretching beyond the usual boundaries, and a public sector equipped to respond effectively to the changing needs of the world around us.
Hillary Hartley, CDDO
Looking back on 2020, what moments stand out?
Honestly? Returning to work after being on parental leave for 15 months. It was awe-inspiring to see how much had been accomplished and heart-warming to connect with you all again. — Amy Swenson, Director of Platforms
Realizing that small wording changes have significant impact: thousands of Ontarians a month stopped calling to find out when their licence plate sticker would arrive, saving them time, worry and hassle. — Dara, Senior Manager, Product Chapter
Joining the Ontario Digital Service’s prototyping lab was definitely one of the highlights of my year. I’m grateful for meeting and getting to work with so many passionate and kind individuals at the ODS. From the late nights grinding to my teams and the empowering work we did made me smile every day. — Emily Louie, Product Designer and Developer Intern 2020
As the chair of the ODS People Board as well as a member of the Lean Office, my two best experiences of the year lay in each of these roles.
Firstly, in September, the People Board invited Deputy Minister Shawn Batise to our ODS weekly All-Hands meeting. He imparted a deeper understanding of our impact and responsibility of Indigenous awareness and significance. We learned that land acknowledgements are not just a corporate obligation, but a commitment to be mindful, deliberate and purposeful with our words and our actions.
Secondly, I reflect fondly on the series of chats I had weekly with my team. They were informal and energizing. As a result, I feel more connected to my teammates, possibly even more so than when we were meeting physically in the office. — Jennifer Hatvani, Project Coordinator, Lean Office
Many moments of self-growth and professional development. I got to experience working with both lean and talent teams this past year. In helping onboard dozens of new employees, helping new team members feel welcomed and supported as I was at my start was a meaningful experience. — Taimaa Jaloul, Talent co-op
Team camaraderie. I felt that I could connect or reach out to someone whenever I needed support, whether it be emotional or work-related. — Sangeeta Gill, Lean Office
What are you most proud of?
The depth of conversation we had with partners on the importance of centring our work around user needs was incredible. The ability to work closely with the UX team and leverage their user research insights with partners — which influenced almost-immediate product iterations despite extremely stressful times and short turnarounds — made all the difference. I’m incredibly proud of and grateful for my colleagues. — Sarah Brown, Senior Product Manager
My awesome team! With short notice and shorter deadlines, they were able to meet the demands to launch critical infrastructure in order to support the deluge of COVID projects, and they did this all with aplomb. I’m constantly amazed by their high quality of work and dedication to the task. — Amit Gundu, DevOps Team Lead
2020 truly tested the ODS’ model. We were able to rapidly redeploy many of our teams to support the important work of responding to the pandemic. It was awe-inspiring to see the resiliency of the teams and their willingness to pitch in and help out. They were truly champions of people-focused services that are essential to pandemic response. Multi-disciplinary, agile teams can do truly great things and this year the ODS’ teams did just that. — Katy Lalonde, Director, Digital Enterprise
I am proud of the work the digital training team did to onboard public servants in distributed work. I am also proud of the content design drop-ins we kicked off this year to build capacity in the Ontario Public Service. A total of 281 people attended the content drop-ins from September 24 to December 3, 2020.
I am also proud of Lyndsey’s work around ODS wellness initiatives. People who took part in the wellness sessions reported feeling reduced stress, isolation and reactivity. And they reported feeling increased empathy, ability to focus and emotional intelligence. She did a survey, created a wellness calendar and actively promoted self-care for staff, and participated in two Wellness AMAs with DM Hartley. All of this while working on COVID-19 priority projects.
In addition, we have supported the D8 migration through QA, writing a web publishing guide on D8 and training our partners on the new software; while supporting all the web editing work for COVID and other digital products. — Daphnee Nostrome, Manager, Content Chapter
The ‘can do’ attitude of the ODS never fails to amaze me. The culture here helps get people over the wire — whether it’s a drop into #discuss-pets channel, or knowing what’s going on. Thanks to Hillary Hartley for being such a trailblazer and to everyone who does their part each day to make this a great, and proud, place to work. — Rachel Kampus, ADM, Lean Office
Completing four projects by the end of my co-op term, and getting to do impactful work for my first internship in design, especially my work with the Ministry of Labour that I know will go a long way! — Shaahana Naufal, Product Design Co-op
2020 pushed the boundaries of collaboration, communication and coordination to a brand new level. For us, the ServiceOntario locations team, it gave us the opportunity to bring valuable information to the public. While it was hectic at times, our mighty team continuously pushed through making sure that not only the user’s experience was flawless but aimed at making the backend process as seamless and painless as possible for our internal users.
Every little thing that you see on the location pages from the words, the design, the functionality and the backend behaviour — they were all carefully handpicked by the team to create the best experience for our users. — Top 10 ServiceOntario Team
How to be digital in the Canadian public service boot camp — the fact that 5400 people across Canada think that digital transformation is important enough to learn more about. — Nikki Alabi, Co-Lead, Digital Training
DFA is a project where the entire ODS pitches in and the ODS spirit truly shines through. I am very proud of ODSers — as we changed gears to help teams course-correct, going beyond evaluating digital initiatives — we got loads of support from chapters across the ODS, especially Product and UX. — Namita Sharma, Lead, Digital First Assessments
What are you most looking forward to in 2021+?
2 or more opportunities to challenge ourselves
0 bugs :)
2 or more creative enhancements to make our solutions more accessible to all
1 team to drive the vision forward.
— Top 10 ServiceOntario Team
More growth opportunities! I’m empowered to do such important work with the ODS, that there are always many new challenges that deserve attention. Specifically I can’t wait to see where Digital Identity grows over the next year!. — Joel Schellenberger, Product Designer with the ODS Prototyping Lab
Helping Ontarians transition to a new, better normal where Covid is not a worry. — Neil Littlejohns, Senior Product Manager
I look forward with optimism because I know how hard public servants have worked in 2020. I’ve seen their complete devotion to service — how much they have given, the invisible sacrifices made, the joy felt in finding a way forward through a thorny challenge, so that people can be supported during a time that has tested us all. The big moments stand out, of course; we have travelled a journey of a million miles in 2020. But, along the way, it’s the little things that mattered most — the unexpected smile that said ‘keep going’, the virtual discussions that helped us see someone else’s experience through new eyes, the kind note from a colleague that came at just the right time. A lot will be written about 2020, in the annals of history. For me, seeing the awesome power of compassion, across public service teams, tells me: the future will be alright. — Tanya Coyle, Director, Engagement
Hugs. — Chris Irwin, Director, Lean Office
Stay in touch
Did you know we’re on Twitter? Follow us at @ONDigital / @NumeriqueON to stay up to date!
Stay safe
If you haven’t already done so, please visit the Apple App Store or the Google Play store to download COVID Alert today.
