Four non-negotiables for public service UX

This article is written by Jessica Zéroual, Manager for Research and Design Operations at Service Canada.

• The problem: User research (UX) practitioners are responsible for navigating departmental rules and policies to plan and conduct activities with users. In general, there is no seamless process for staff to set up for research activities efficiently and consistently. Often people don’t know where to start and what is most important to set up to conduct UX in the public service.
• Why it matters: We are consistently duplicating efforts and dealing with ever-changing rules and policies around key infrastructure components to set up for research.
• The solution: Leveraging the four non-negotiables for setting up to conduct UX offered by a Research and Design (R&D) manager in the public service to get your team started on building your own infrastructure within your organisation.

Over the past year, my Research and Design Operations (R&DOps) team has been navigating departmental rules and policies around conducting research and design activities with citizens. To hear more about our challenges early on or a case study example, check out my two recent articles: ‘Revealed: the truth about setting up R&D operations in the public service’ and ‘Testing out new ways for citizen engagement in product development’.

Conducting UX is already a massive undertaking. Don’t let yourself be delayed by the machine and its rules and regs.

In this article, I want to focus on four key elements to keep in mind as you set up your team to plan and conduct UX. It can be overwhelming to think about everything that is needed to get into the field and talk with external users. This is not prescriptive and only derives from my team’s experience navigating the massive government ecosystem.

Time

Before you decide that talking to users is the way forward, I recommend looking at your timelines. It is fair to say that UX is an investment, because you are factoring in planning, conducting, analysing and reporting primary research after spending time conducting secondary research. You want to factor in time to do your work within a time frame that helps the organisation get insight from users for decision-making purposes. You also want to honour the amount of time it takes to build relationships and trust with the community. You want to avoid this being a box-checking exercise. I encourage you to have an open and honest conversation with your leadership every time you want to consider engaging users. Sometimes you have enough time to go far and wide and explore an elaborate UX plan. Other times, you must be narrower and to the point with your research activity. Understanding the amount of time you need to conduct your UX will allow you to get everyone on your team on the same page, and reduce the possibility of not meeting a deadline or souring relationships with stakeholders and partners.

Rules and regs

Some of our most important relationships within our department have been with privacy, legal, security, finance and procurement. A year ago, we set out to build relationships with working-level staff after senior management buy-in to build more collaborative relationships between our groups. In doing so, we were able to develop key documents for our staff that map out the steps to conduct UX, and also identify which groups within the organisation might be involved at each step. We have been able to create useful tools for our researchers and designers that simplify the language and process around these complex and sometimes cumbersome policies, rules and regulations.

Conducting UX is already a massive undertaking. Don’t let yourself be delayed by the machine and its rules and regs. Build relationships, learn about the process and simplify for all those around you to benefit from in their work.

User compensation

Do we have to pay people for engaging with us in UX? I often get this question from colleagues in the public service. I think there are many questions around government UX but when it comes to compensating people for their time, I am very fixed on my answer. Whether you are spending 30 minutes or three hours with someone, adequate remuneration is imperative, so make sure you plan your budget to account for compensation. Furthermore, consider adding a travel budget for those participants who might need to take the bus or a taxi to meet you in person. This is especially important if you are trying to reach segments of the population that have been historically marginalised and underserved.

Partners & stakeholders

Building relationships and collaborating with stakeholders and partners can make or break your project endeavours. Leveraging stakeholder mapping tools to identify internal and external stakeholders contributes to building your team’s narrative around a specific UX project. You want to understand who might be directly and indirectly impacted by the research to get endorsement, support, or additional resources from those parties. Key points to keep in mind include:

• Map out a plan for your various stakeholders and partners to understand their role as it relates to your research.
• Some will need to be engaged more frequently than others based on their role and influence during the process or in the decision-making process. Determine the frequency and cadence for each stakeholder.
• Establish the best form of communication for your stakeholders and partners to stay informed and engaged throughout the project.

Food for thought

As you can see, these four themes are crosscutting. They aren’t meant to be stand-alone items. When it comes to government UX, it is not about wanting to do it, it is about having all of these key elements working together to build a solid infrastructure for UX practitioners to use on more than one occasion. It is about opening doors for others in the organisation to do it. And it is about engaging meaningfully with citizens using approaches that build bridges between government entities and communities.

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