How did we get here?
In 2004 the government web went from a loosely coordinated collection of websites...
to something a bit simpler...
Directgov
Business Link
A tremendous achievement, which brought enormous benefits, but it’s time to move on again
Directgov
Business Link
The web is now mainstream
Users expect high quality service experiences
And businesses know how to deliver them
We’ve gone from this...
directgov
businesslink
Directgov
Business Link
...to a single domain
Mainstream Users & Needs
Specialist Users & Needs
GOV.UK
Focused on user needs,
not government needs
SimplerClearerFaster…….
SimplerClearerFaster…….
…..and loads cheaper
£50 million Estimated saving per year by replacing Directgov, BusinessLink, departmental sites and related organisation sites with GOV.UK
E.g.
Online: 22p
Phone: £4.11
Post: £6.62
Digital by default
20 x cheaper than phone, 30 x cheaper than post
50 x cheaper than face-to-face
Focussed on tasks, getting to the “quick do”
We’re optimising for the common case but not ignoring the edge case
What does this mean for local government?
There are 134 journeys from GOV.UK to local government
We need your help tomake those journeysas good as possible
But equally importantly, thereare things you can copy that we have learnt along the way
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual
GOV.UK puts user needs at the heart of content
design
But what is a user need?
Defining the user need
“As a _______ I want to ________
so that I can ________”
Defining the user need
“As a self-employed person
I want to file my tax return
so that I can avoid nasty fines.”
Who’s the audience?
What’s the action?
Why do they want to do it?
What’s the evidence of
need?
Holiday entitlement
Annual leave
Holiday entitlement search
User journeys should be: •short
•simple •specific
Users won’t read your content - so don’t make
them!
User journeys should:
•be written in language used by real people
•while taking account of language used by government
Now it’s time for all of you to put your customer hats on…