embedding design | snook & cork county council
TRANSCRIPT
Embedding DesignIreland’s first public sector innovation centre and the journey to develop design capabilities
Public sector = No design
Mapping policy to delivery from Scottish Government (2007-2010)
2000s onwards we saw a proliferation of early public sector design models emerging that focused on building in-house capabilities
Ireland’s First Public Sector Service Innovation Centre
Cork County Council
“The senior team at Cork County
Council wanted to improve
customer and staff outcomes
county-wide and set up a centre
to use and showcase service
design approaches.
With a council in the process of
‘going digital’ we saw an
opportunity to ensure services
were led by user needs.”
James Fogarty, Deputy Chief Executive
Focus on council
Customer Service Transformation
Develop their design capability
Building a user-centered council for citizens and staff
Designing services not forms.
Moving from a lift and shift attitude.
Housing Representations
Elected Members
Housing Department
Live training project
250Reps a month
15 minutes to process each one
5 Hours to process the
reps daily
3Day acknowledgement
KPI with a 10 day response time
wasn’t being met
The situation was ….
Stakeholder
and journey
mapping
Session
User
Research
and
Interviews
Persona
Development
and user
need
Blueprinting
user stories
High level
prototyping
of the service
Co-designing
detail of the
form and
service
Usability
testing and
research
Review
Meetings
Discovery
Alpha
Discovery Workshop
We had to compromise
For this project we couldn’t speak to the citizen to see why they were engaging the elected members on their behalf.
Research:User interviewsShadowing StaffObservation
We interviewed users - local and national elected members, analysed how staff ran the service and the existing data we had been collecting
It seemed really rather complicated...
Customers meet
directly with Public
Rep or with staff in
their office.
Liaise with reps
one to one, over
phone/email to
offer advise and
answer and
questions
Email confirmation
15 mins per
application
Scanning
paperwork
System very slow.
Checks info
available
Norma emails user
to advise query is
waiting for them to
answer. Chases
user to answer.
Further information
sought through Norma
or system updated
Not everyone updates
system
Councillor gets
acknowledged for
work done
Norma checks
data on CCS and
ihouse
Email,
Post,
Face to Face
Clinics/Office
Phone
Post
Face to Face
Telephone
Face to Face
Emaill
PostCCS System
Scanning documentation
CCS System
Internal Post
Excel Spreadsheets
iHouse
Phone Email Email
Post
Clinics/Office
Phone
Post
Face to Face
ST
AG
ES
TO
RY
BO
RA
DF
EE
LIN
GT
OU
CH
PO
INT
INT
ER
AC
TIO
N
Local Rep meets
ConstituentLocal Rep
Contacts CCC
Norma confirm
receipt.
Norma inputs
data into
System
CCC forwards
query to relevant
dept
Dept answers query,
looks for further
information &
updates system
Dept advises
Norma of updatesCCC advises
local rep of
updates
Local Rep contacts
constituent
“It is time consuming to document, scan and upload original correspondence onto CCS system takes approx. 15 mins. Excluding the time involved chasing staff for answers, sending confirmation and other correspondences”
- Norma, Housing Department
Lack of clarity on what information is actually needed and useful to submit a representation
● Elected representatives send in everything they think is relevant
● Photos are not required by Council staff
● Lack of clarity around what is and is not required to process a representation
TD’s (which is the Government elected member) make a higher amount of representations than local councillors
Councillors (Local Elected Members) can ‘shine a light’ on individual cases of citizens
The Re-design
Standardising data collection
Document to support elected members
Developed a workflow for housing staff
Re-designing the service:
Great engagement from elected members and staff
● Ran prototyping workshops to design what information is needed
● Breaking down the content● Co-designing the needs across different users
Language was important
Senior management recognised how important the language was when we walked through the service visually in the co-design workshop
Usability Testing:
Testing our design with elected members
Usability testing on the YourCouncil.ie (Firmstep platform) allowed us to quickly test our designs and find out what worked and what didn’t before going live
Prototyping straight into live
Prototyping on our customer experience platform allowed us to tweak continuously and then go immediately live
Processing Reps
The processing of documents by housing policy reduced from 15 minutes to less than 2 minutes per rep. In most cases elected members are submitting relevant documents.
This means roughly a week of time saved per administrative staff member per month.
86% Decrease in time spent processing
Instant Response
The reps are getting instant acknowledgements – they were previously waiting weeks despite having a KPI of 3 days.
Nearly 75% of responses can be answered straightaway once they’re in the system.
100%Decrease in time spent waiting for
acknowledgement
Data Dashboard
A Dashboard is now always available which saves ½ day a month (6 days a year) in preparing a report for the Development Committee ½
Day a month saving in preparing data
€1Saving on every acknowledgement
and response
Cost Savings in postage
There is a cost saving in postage of €1 per acknowledgment and response.
This is a saving duplicated for the council and the elected members.
We think this is roughly €12,000 a year in savings for the council and elected members
Cost Savings in staff
We’ve cleared the backlog so much so that the staff member we had been working with has been freed up to work on other projects and initiatives two days a week. 2
Days a week for staff members now free
The real value of the service emerged through this work
Reps are service co-producers in supporting some of the most vulnerable and marginalised in our communities.
We’ve hooked housing
Our short intervention created an appetite for more Service Design. We’re now looking at repairs, enquiries and grants.
Learning Lunches
Winning Hearts and Minds
“For me, the greatest part of the process had to be changing people’s mind-sets. Initially we weren’t given the go-ahead to work with elected members. After taking senior management in housing through the process, they got onboard, organised information and training workshops. I skipped back to the office”
Karen Fitzgerald, Customer Service Transformation Team
Where now?
Multiple projects underway using Service Design approaches
From library services to flood risk, planning to environmental reporting
We’re now collecting and analysing data on what works
We can follow transactions by service users to continuously tweak our services and we are in control.
Data is our new material.
We’re creating the business case to feed upstream.
We’re analysing our performance against Government digital standards, and producing reports contrasting service performance and maintenance possibility pre and post design.
Where now?
Wider strategy for embedding design
Taking a holistic approach to developing the capability inside the organisation
Building design capabilities
We’ve been focusing on building the capabilities of organisations whilst we deliver live projects
Making Service Design stick
What we learned from the reality of delivering new services through to live
Dormant
Unconscious
incompetence
The organisation doesn't
recognise it isn't performing or
where weaknesses lie.
Design deficit
No resource for design or
literacy to recognise the value
Starting Block
Conscious
incompetence
The organisation are making
the first steps to improve and
are at the planning stage of
how to do this.
Clean Slate
Solo lead or one design expert,
often organisation will be
smothering this person to a
clear goal to scale or build a
team
Sprinting
Active Unconscious
Incompetence
Have started trying to improve,
but are doing more harm than
good through unfocused
efforts.
Lift and Shift
Small team focusing on user-
centred approaches and
service improvement to a
dedicated team offering a
UX/CX service across the
business
Stretching
Conscious
incompetence
The organisation are making
active positive improvements
and have a scalable plan in
place to develop their
capabilities.
Design as a service
Small UX/CX team working on
products and services offering
skills across departments and
teams to a solidified and
scalable model for growing
capability org wide
Running
Unconscious
competence
The organisation have scaled
their approach across
departments and teams with
competence growing in
improving products and
services and building a
sustainable approach.
Embedded Design
literacy
Larger UX/CX centralised team
working on products and
services and other
departments start using
embedded designers, work
across multiple groups full
time. Non designer move to
design literate in the business.
Moving to non designers
becoming design fluid.
Pacing
Conscious
competence
The organisation are using
user-centred approaches
across all areas of the
organisation and literacy is
high across all teams.
User-centred organisation
Design is alive and living
across all processes internal to
the business. The end users
are always considered and
projects are delayed if the
design isn't delightful.
Consistent conscious act of
ensuring the sustainability of
the user-centred approach
across the whole organisation.
Learn
ing
Sty
le
Typ
ical
Ap
pro
ach
Desig
n
Cap
acit
y
A centralised team can begin as agitators and influence others
The CST team in this context are agitators, spreading the approach
Don’t make assumptions and map the dark matter
Don’t always think people don’t want to do this or it can’t be done, be strategic in understanding the dark matter and find ways around barriers
The projects need to land
We need ownership through service managers or product owners to ‘own’ the service. Find who these owners are.
Find the right people for the job
If Senior Management Team put people onto projects, they have to be the ‘right’ people for the job. Find the people who really want to make change happen.
Build and grow external networks
Look at your development pipeline of talent and building the network to bring them in-house/work alongside you
Build a consistent playbook
Playbooks are great but don’t focus too much on the tools. Build the playbook as you deliver services.
Speak the right language
Speak in the terms and terminology that people feel comfortable with.
Don’t complicate it, keep it simple.
Don’t ‘be the agency’.
Help build the capacity in the organisation in their language, their tools on their terms.
Support from both ends
You need senior level buy-in but nurture a grassroots agenda to grow the movement
Have a strategy that looks ahead
Map your service needs and what citizens need to do to prioritise your resource
Build the sustainable design products
Recognise the central team, in time, will need to refocus their effort on building scalable products for design
Communication matters
Get communication capacity onside to support the message of what you’re trying to do
Use live projects to train
They highlight the actual reality of scoping, designing and delivering a live service
Work live and learn as you go
Let people have the space and time to learn as they go
Build live in the platforms you will go live
Impact over ‘case study’
Don’t get obsessed with service design to ‘show the process’.
Show the impact.
This may seem small, but this is only 1 of 600 services, and a snapshot of what Service Republic will do.
The reality of delivering services in local government is tough but this start has been transformational for us.
Gracias!www.yourcouncil.ie@servicerepublic @wearesnook