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

  • The problem: There is a lack of infrastructure to support researchers and designers to plan and conduct research in the public service.
  • Why it matters: We look to streamline processes to reduce the amount of time it takes to set up for research activities.
  • The solution: We set up a Research and Design Operations team dedicated to manoeuvring the massive ecosystem at Service Canada.

As a researcher, I have always been grateful to be surrounded by colleagues I could learn from and grow with as we navigated the endless red tape that exists in government. In general, most people working in the same field would share the common feeling surrounding research and design in public service. It is exciting and about time that we are using the methodologies and approaches for our policy, programmes, services and processes. But, there was very little red tape removed by our system in the process of interesting new ways of working.

Employees like you and I have been part of the journey of manoeuvring the status quo to generate insights and solutions for all the challenges we are to explore. Research and design practitioners are continuously asked to not only plan but also conduct, analyse and report on their work within a government context. They are also asked to navigate the multiple processes and build relationships from scratch internally with partners. Privacy, legal, accessibility, communications, IT security and procurement are added to the to-do list for project teams.

We have found that these six areas are foundational to the development of products, partnerships within the organisation, senior management buy-in and long-term ability to deliver.

Usually, project teams do not have designated employees who navigate the system while others plan the research and design activities. It is exhausting and most of the time, employees tend to leave a project team during or shortly after the completion of the research because of burnout. I have been a victim and quite possibly a perpetrator in this vicious cycle. Practitioners are unable to ask for what they need because there is immense gratitude for allowing them to do the work in this way in the first place. I know this is not everyone’s experience in public service but it has been mine and the experience of many others. While I could dwell on the challenges and issues that exist within our system to conduct research and design activities, I would rather share the experience of setting up a Research and Design Operations (R&DOps) team at Service Canada.

What is the raison-d’être for R&DOps?

The R&DOps team supports product and service teams with planning, conducting and reporting on research activities, as well as support in applying quality research practices and protocols within our Department. Our team has helped mature the research and design practice to enable the delivery of equitable, inclusive and user-focused products and services through inclusive design, research participant recruitment and management and the establishment of research frameworks. 

We have six areas of focus that we have evolved over the past several months.

Governance & Enablement: Support product teams to conduct research that is safe, trauma-informed, accessible, legal and ethical by creating processes, guidelines and standards for consent, privacy and information storage. We also support setting up meaningful partnerships and relationships internally and externally.

Competency & People: Enable and educate researchers and designers through standardised plans, guides, templates and training. Measure performance across various product/project delivery. Involve subject-matter experts to ensure the organisation is enabled to understand the research topics.

Tools: Equip staff with the latest tools and resources to maintain high research and design integrity. We also provide structural and content guidance to support the use of tools.

Knowledge Management: Along with the governance pillar, knowledge management involves the processes and platforms for collecting, interpreting and sharing research insights. We focus on standardising the process for DECD and scale to integrate other departmental research.

Advocacy: Support product teams to share, socialise and amplify the value of user research throughout the department and the rest of the public service.

Recruitment Support: Identify and establish a recruitment process for both internal and external users. To maximise a holistic view of the entire service delivery model, we support participant management activities including recruitment, screening and scheduling for internal participants and add compensation for external participants.

In theory, it sounds like a foundational framework that staff and partners can lean on for all work that needs to be done. In practice, we work alongside our researchers to adapt to real work scenarios and the speed at which they are asked to deliver. We have found that these six areas are foundational to the development of products, partnerships within the organisation, senior management buy-in and long-term ability to deliver. We see the return on investment already at play with some of our successes such as the use of social media recruitment for usability testing and our ability to pay participants directly.

Finding our way being new in a restructured organisation

We dealt with a major re-org.

Back in January 2022, a change in leadership brought on the discussion of a re-org. Like most new organisations, there is a need to re-evaluate and iterate on the version that was initially set up. Our leadership team and staff learned many lessons over the course of years and needed to re-examine the effectiveness of our teams to deliver digital products and better service to Canadians. By the end of March, people shifted under new or modified leadership. While this re-organisation allowed us to be better placed to perform our roles and responsibilities, it came with arrivals and departures and many hard conversations with staff.

Change is hard even when it is good.

As a team of 70 employees working virtually, it can be difficult to create a bond among colleagues. Each director and manager had to dedicate time to building their own teams and working horizontally to promote collaboration. This is hard to do even in person. With time, our teams have adapted to the re-org and embraced our mission and vision. Our leadership team continues to work together to evolve our processes and culture into an environment where employees want to come to learn and grow with us. Change is hard even when it is good.

Our R&DOps team was shifted in the organisation and as the manager with a need for staff, it was tough to recruit and hire in a timely manner. Luckily, we have been able to onboard knowledgeable and empathetic employees who are driven by the mandate to create a one-stop shop for all things research and design. Building new relationships with colleagues when you are new can be tough but as a team, we explored different ways of communicating and collaborating. We have not found our perfect recipes yet but we are getting there. We are working as an R&DOps team to hone our own personal communication skills and collaborate with product teams by meeting them where they are at. Every team is on a different journey but we are adapting.

We are the new kids on the block.

There is something inspiring and exciting about setting up a new team, with new parameters and ways of doing. I know as a manager; I was delighted to be able to bring together a team. With the support of our leadership team, I was able to bring in a Design Lead and a Research Lead before the end of the calendar year and we will be growing in early 2023. Fresh perspectives, new ideas and knowledge came flooding into R&DOps and DECD. While there was a lot of excitement, we were still the new kids on the block. We needed to figure out how the machine worked, who we need to partner with and establish research and design foundations all our practitioners would embrace.

Our leadership team was very supportive and for the most part, our colleagues working on the product teams were welcoming. Product teams had been working and operating the same way for two years and we were coming in to build something new. We wanted our research and design colleagues to be able to plan, conduct and report on their own plans. Undoing and unlearning is the hardest part of bringing about something new. R&DOps navigated the ups and downs with colleagues by immersing ourselves in the work alongside product teams. We wanted to know what the needs and challenges were to ensure our support was relevant and helpful. From April 2022 until December 2022, the relationships we have built with product teams are growing stronger and we know that there are a lot of exciting milestones we will get to experience together moving into the new year. Like every other relationship, there are ups and downs, pushes and pulls. In the end, our united mission to better serve Canadians guides our efforts and work.

Over the next few months, I will be sharing various tips, tricks and stories about our shop. I am incredibly proud of the team we are building here at DECD. We have come a long way as a team of one to five. I hope this inspires you to pursue setting up your very own R&DOps. Your practitioners and project teams will thank you for it.

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