Design Principle 10 – We will work to make things simpler
Studio Notes | Short Reads
This post is the last in 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.
How many times, when accessing public services, have we individually or collectively thrown our hands up at a task or necessary step which seems convoluted, confusing, or downright worrying even before it starts?
Design Principle 10 states a key goal of design in the service of public outcomes – to make things simpler.
For too long information has been inaccessible, language confusing, forms complicated, processes Kafkaesque. For too long we have been asked for the same information again and again. For too long the services that we rely upon have been hamstrung by processes and touchpoints which make life difficult not just for those using or accessing the service, but for those working in it too.
But “simpler” is a subjective term. What’s simpler for one person, for example applying for a social welfare payment using a mobile phone, might be more complicated for someone else.
For this reason, designers must be acutely aware of diversity among service users, and of the multiple channels which require design, and simplification, for people with different needs.
“Simpler” should also, in harmony with Principle 4 – We Will Design for Trust, mean that things are transparent. Sometimes “simple” design, particularly in digital services, can have the unintended consequence that aspects of a service which experience lower demand can become less accessible, or worse still, inaccessible.
This extends to the potential for “dark patterns” where the design, while seeming simple, can force a service user into pathways that are not satisfactory. A very common example is the airline website that makes it much more difficult for you to decline costly travel insurance when booking a ticket.
Working to make things simpler should be a universal principle, not just applied to the very common paths through public services that most of us encounter from day to day.
Applying All of the Design Principles
Designing to make things simpler means pro-actively applying all the previous design principles and then constantly measuring the results. Both qualitative and quantitative data are required – conversations with users and representative groups, complemented by data from things like surveys and analytics.
It is vital to combine these, because while quantified data tells us what’s happening, only qualitative data can shine a light on why things are happening that way.
We need to measure a baseline for the services we are working in – set down an understanding of the challenges people face, and of the cost of those challenges – be that in time, financial cost, poorer outcomes, or other elements like waiting lists or backlogs.
It means testing, changing, testing, changing, and testing again. It means relentlessly pursuing better, and simpler user journeys. Services are never finished. It includes those delivering services – the public servants that rely on systems to support their work. They deserve that their work be made simpler, easier, more efficient, too.
Even technology procurement needs to change. Gone are “stage gate” deployments and “waterfall” processes, a future of better public services can only be driven by continuous discovery, and responsive service design.
The design approach is uniquely placed to help simplify public services because it merges a deep understanding of the systems and policies, with the needs of the people who use and deliver a service.
Design helps challenge assumptions, works with evidence, it allows creative and innovative ideas be put forward, and it rapidly tests those ideas to make sure they work well for the people who will use them.
It also persists – it doesn’t “end”, because services don’t end. When something changes, or a new possibility emerges, designers work to ensure simplicity is maintained.
And this simplicity boils down to better public outcomes, greater efficiency, and better value for money.
So what does this look like?
In our work on the HSE Health App, even before it launched, we and the team at HSE Digital had spoken to more than 290 people and engaged over 400 others via various alternative channels. We worked to ensure that diverse input and feedback was captured to inform the design of every aspect of this new digital window on healthcare in Ireland.
We spoke with and worked with women using maternity services, disabled people, people entitled to things like the Drug Payment Scheme or GP Visit card, people undergoing follow up after cancer treatment, minority groups, staff within hospitals and community services – the list goes on.
This approach is known as “Continuous Product Discovery” in the world of “digital products” (which are all services, when you look closely). It means that ahead of new services being integrated into the digital app, our team works with the HSE Digital team to understand what aspects of that service might integrate well, and how to integrate those services simply – in a way that people can understand.
Doing this work ahead of software and technology development means that learnings can be applied, and changes can be made before cost is incurred building technology solutions.
It also ensures the experience that is eventually delivered is likely to be more effective in achieving the outcomes that service users are seeking.
So how might we get started?
For almost all of the principles in this series we have outlined an easy way to get started on the first steps. This final principle is a little different… because it speaks to an outcome that should be achieved.
In complex public services we can argue for something small, like more testing (Principle 9) or more research (Principle 6), but for this final principle there are no shortcuts.
Public services need to invest. Resources must be allocated, either for designers on staff or for design services. Money should be reallocated within massive technology budgets (much of which is often wasted*) and invested in a design approach. This reduces risk, enhances outcomes, creates efficiencies – and avoids later overspend on expensive technology adjustments.
If public servants are to do this work, there need to be designers in public service roles. There is a commitment to this in the two year Action Plan for Designing Better Public Services, which was published in December 2023.
Ireland’s public services need hundreds, if not thousands of designers, and we need them at senior grades – because knowing how to scope design, and what good design looks like, is essential. We cannot outsource this change wholesale to management consultancies.
So in order to get started, look to your next “transformation” project, or procurement of a new technology service or platform. Look to the next opening of a new public office, or clinic, or hospital. Then look at the budget and ask – how can we invest in design, simplify delivery, design better public services, and save money in the long-term?
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* “One analysis suggests that an estimated US$3 trillion was spent during the first decade of the twenty-first century on government information systems, yet 60% to 80% of e-government projects failed in some way, resulting in massive wastage of financial, human and political resources, and an inability to deliver the potential benefits.” – Digitizing Government, Brown, Fishenden, Thompson, 2014, pg 5.
