Digital modernization with human centered design enables policy implementation

Challenge

Delivering digital experiences is central to improving the public’s interaction with government services. An important recent policy related to government digital services was passed, which provided guidance for federal web practitioners on how to improve digital experience. This policy spans topics from accessibility to brand identity, plain language, cybersecurity, and customer experience (CX).¹ The implementation of this policy had significant implications for federal agencies and had quick deadlines for them to respond to.

A program within a large federal agency was called upon to play a crucial role in creating resources to support the policy leads at other agencies in implementing the policy requirements. These policy leads come from a range of backgrounds with widely differing skill sets and have often received limited or no training on digital services. The program engaged Guidehouse to support the following tasks:

• Develop resources to assist federal web practitioners in implementing policies
• Establish the program as a thought leader on federal digital services and modernization
• Foster relationships with the policy leads across the government

 

Approach

Guidehouse utilized design thinking (a creative approach to problem-solving and innovation) coupled with a human-centered design (HCD) mindset to approach the challenge. As seen in the diagram below, the team implemented the following design phases: Research, Define, Ideate, and Design.

The first step in the design process, Research, was to understand the issues policy implementers faced through user research. The team conducted more than 20 one-on-one interviews with digital experience leaders across 24 agencies, released a satisfaction survey to about 7,500 federal employees, and conducted a content audit of the website and a quantitative analysis of topic page traffic.

The next steps, Define and Ideate, were to determine the team’s strategy and approach. Over an eight-week series of immersion strategy workshops, Guidehouse and key stakeholders analyzed and synthesized all user research, identified impactful opportunity areas, created frameworks to visualize research (such as user personas), and facilitated brainstorms on how best to respond to the memo and create resources for digital and web practitioners across the federal government.

The final step in this process, Design, was to provide strategic recommendations for how the program could support this digital policy implementation. These recommendations included: identifying and developing case studies/success stories, becoming a central hub for resources related to this policy, and understanding the challenges of policy makers across government through continued user research.

In parallel, the team completed a series of additional ad-hoc tasks across the program to improve its operations. This included developing a content crosswalk of more than 100 webpages from the program's site to the new policy to create a curriculum for federal web practitioners and policy implementors. This cross reference will be used to improve the findability of resources on the program’s website. We also developed an annual program roadmap with quarterly action plans that laid out the program’s main objectives.

 

Impact

Guidehouse’s implemented solutions helped the program address the policy’s requirements. The program’s website has become a vital resource for policy implementers across all government and demonstrates the program’s thought leadership in delivering digital experiences.

Both online and offline, relationships are key to effective policy implementation. Pairing subject matter expertise with a multidisciplinary and HCD mindset, Guidehouse helped the program develop and enhance relationships with policy leaders across the federal government.