Earth to Washington: Your user experience is your policy

What our elected officials don’t get about healthcare.gov

Large companies have learned the hard way that in today’s digital world, your user experience is your brand. Now it’s time for Washington to learn a similar lesson.

Most critiques of the healthcare.gov roll-out have focused on faulty process as the culprit. Their consensus: government needs to embrace open-source, agile development.

“Put charitably, the rollout of healthcare.gov has been a mess. Millward Brown Digital, a consulting firm, reports that a mere 1 percent of the 3.7 million people who tried to register on the federal exchange in the first week actually managed to enroll. Even if the problems are fixed, the debacle makes clear that it’s time for the government to change the way it ships code.”

But the problems with the Affordable Care Act’s signature platform go far beyond process. They are a result of Washington’s definition of written legislation as policy’s end game, rather than product.

Think of when we celebrate policy changes — it’s typically at the bill signing, as the cameras flash and the historic pens are handed out. From a product manager’s perspective, that’s the equivalent of throwing yourself a launch party after writing the technical requirements.

The uncomfortable truth facing Washington — Congress and the executive branch — is that your user experience is your policy. The man hours behind the thousands of pages stipulating the Affordable Care Act’s rules and regulations could all be for naught if healthcare.gov fails to translate that legislative complexity into specific tasks that individual users need to accomplish.

For an example of how policy as product can work effectively, take a look at New York City, where I’ve lived for nearly a decade. One of the city’s signature “products” is 311, which now exists as a call center, a text-messaging service, a website, and an app. As a citizen, 311 is how I “experience” the city’s rules and regulations related to tenant rights, alternate side parking, and noise complaints. I’ve never read the legislation governing those policies, and I have no need to — because the product works. At the end of the day, I’d rather have imperfect policies made transparent by good UX than perfect policies muffled and distorted by poor UX. The former makes it easier for me to speak up and take action.

Last week approval ratings for Congress hit a new low — 12 percent, the worst rating in 40 years. Clearly, it’s time for Washington to embrace change in a big way. My recommendation: opt for product designers over lawyers, and mockups over memos. If you can solve for product, and deliver simple, intuitive solutions to constituents, support for policy and brand should follow.