Designing Public Services goes Down Under
by Jonathan Yeates
Since FutureGov opened shop in Australia in 2015, our teams in Sydney and Melbourne have met some amazing people, worked on some incredible projects, and learnt a great deal.
And so after seeing FutureGov UK’s work on Designing Public Services for the Digital Age, their recent series of events dedicated to digital transformation, we knew it was time to share our work in the Southern Hemisphere too — how we’ve brought FutureGov’s methodology to public services across Australia.
Once we announced that Designing Public Services was coming Down Under, we were overwhelmed with interest — not just from the 241 people who registered to attend, but also from people wanting to share their own stories of transformation. In the end, we had 30 people speak from a whole host of different organisations: the Digital Transformation Agency, the Department of Justice and Regulation Victoria, the Department of Family and Community Services NSW, and more.
Here’s a wrap-up of what went on when “Designing Public Services” came to Sydney.
We started off with the same message we shared in the UK: it’s time to build the business case for public services designed around citizens and built for the digital age. (If you don’t know what we’re talking about, check out this blog post from last summer.)
Then, through a series of keynotes, lightning talks and open discussions, we shared some real-life examples of how digital and design should be at the heart of the transformation the public sector needs. Our speakers came from across all three tiers — state, local and Commonwealth governments — of the Australian public sector.
For example, we heard from the team at ChildStory, who spoke candidly about the lessons they have learnt through implementing Patchwork throughout New South Wales.
- 80% of the work that matters is supporting people on the ground. Listen, help, and prepare to get muddy.
- Lower barriers to entry and remove all excuses. Don’t let anyone use investment, security, licensing, or anything else as a reason not to get on board.
- Get your product into the right hands and then let go of it — let people discover how they want to use it. This can be hard, but it’s what needs to happen.
The Digital Transformation Office shared the approaches they used to build their Digital Marketplace platform, as well as some principles to live by if you’re using agile methodologies yourself.
- Start with user need, and then build your team around that.
- What’s enough to know if something has potential? Less than you think. So build less and ship more — so you can learn more.
- Problems will emerge. They occur every day. So ensure you have the feedback loops and agility to be able to respond.
Local Government NSW told us about the challenges the local government sector faces, as well as their plans to overcome them.
- Recent changes to council structures (42 councils “amalgamating” into 19) mean teams are merging, targets are changing, and programmes are having to scale quickly.
- The news isn’t all bad: there’s now greater opportunity for service harmonisation and community engagement than before.
- Shared visions and sustained political buy-in will be key to making these new councils sustainable.
A special fireside chat between Dominic Campbell (@dominiccampbell), Kara DeFrias (@californiakara) and Chris Vein (@veinesque) provided a special insight into the role digital and design has played in the the White House.
- You don’t need a business case for a discovery sprint. A discovery sprint is your business case.
- The “secret sauce” is finding the policy people who get it and partnering with them.
- Don’t just disrupt legacy tech. Disrupt the legacy system that supports it.
Facilitated table chats hosted by representatives from Patchwork NSW, Aunty’s House, Global Infrastructure Hub, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, and more took us through rounds of debate, support, and lessons learned from across the public, private, and charity sectors.
And finally, William Murphy — the executive director of the Premier’s Implementation Unit for the Department of Premier and Cabinet — sent the audience off ready to fight.
The FutureGov team was inspired by the honesty and candour we saw throughout the day. Good design is about humility, working openly in collaboration and asking the right questions rather than pretending to know the answers, and what we saw in Sydney and Melbourne — people’s willingness to come forward and tell their story, the good and the not so good, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, and the fights they’re still fighting — was everything we could’ve hoped for.
Designing Public Services for the Digital Age will be back in 2017. If you’d like to learn more about what we’re talking about here, or if you’d like us to notify you of future events, email us at hello@wearefuturegov.com.
