Design Principle 03 – We Will Design Services Together
Studio Notes | Short Reads
This post is part of a series exploring the Design Principles for Government in Ireland. If you’d like to start from the beginning, check out our introductory post here.
Often, when we invoke the word “design”, the first thing that comes to mind is a “designer” stereotype – a chin-stroking caricature of someone who has spent a long-time crafting things – they know what’s best. Like a lot of stereotypes, there’s a grain of truth in this image, but when it comes to designing services this is not the kind of designer we need.
Designing together, or “co-design”, is necessary when working to deliver complex services because there is no one person who completely understands how that service works. Instead, there are perhaps tens, or even hundreds of people involved, and each of them know a little about the part of the service they deliver.
And in some cases they never speak to one another. Ever.
Designing together means more joined-up thinking and fewer “top-down” initiatives, which are often based on assumptions as to how things work. Perhaps most importantly, designing services together means everyone feels ownership, and pride in what they’re delivering – because everyone’s been part of the process.
We’re accustomed to some types of co-design in things like urban planning. It’s not unusual for residents of a neighbourhood, or local businesses, to be involved in meetings with planners and other city officials if a big change is coming.
Elements of co-design are also found in policing – when members of a Community Policing Team engage with local community representatives, clubs and schools.
The goal of designing together is the same – to hear people’s perspectives and ideas in order to enhance outcomes. This is not to be confused with “consultation”, because co-design goes further than that – facilitating the generation, development and testing of ideas with the right groups of people.
That’s why it’s so important in organisations – because whole communities of people, serve or are served by large and complex service organisations. If a public service, for example, is undergoing digital transformation, it is vital to involve a wide range of stakeholders from I.T. professionals to the staff delivering the service, perhaps there are admin or processing teams behind the scenes… and of course there are the service users themselves.
It’s vital that co-design doesn’t become a box checking exercise – superficial feedback sessions which do not genuinely shape service outcomes just waste peoples time and actually harm trust in any new initiative for change. Proper facilitation, documentation and feedback loops are key… let people know when their good ideas are being brought forward, let them know if ideas are not being brought forward and why.
Back in 2021 we helped the Department of Justice in Ireland co-design an innovation strategy for the justice sector – a sector which included almost 30 different agencies and bodies.
Our efforts to involve a wide range of stakeholders included a series of 1:1 interviews with senior stakeholders from across the sector, but also a total of 6 online workshops – totalling engagement at 109 stakeholders, with 21 agencies and bodies participating.
Rich and valuable feedback from everyone involved was captured on virtual whiteboards, themes and ideas were identified and a strategy was developed – but – the co-design didn’t end there… a panel was formed of willing participants who worked with our team during the process of writing, and iterating the strategy itself.
This kind of engagement works, not just in complex services, but in strategy too – because it gathers good ideas and real-world perspectives, but it also gives people the feeling they’ve been heard, and so the outcomes will be relevant to them.
Designing together can be as simple as that – bring people in early, listen, and involve them throughout your design process, transformation project, or strategy development. Test the ideas they provide, get feedback, and iterate.
One fantastic tool to help get started can be to “Map” a service from the outset. This means to draw a picture, literally a picture, of how a service works… how information flows, who’s involved, what technology systems are involved, and more. This then serves to align your stakeholders – so that everyone has the same picture of how things work… that’s a great place to start from!