service design in the federal space

Summary: A data collecting federal agency came to Fjord DC asking us to improve their external partners’ user experience. Through a series of user interviews and co-creation workshops we found that in addition to the need for improved user experience, partners needed to understand why they should participate. Over 12 weeks we designed a phased comprehensive approach to accomplish improved partner participation. We researched and defined market drivers and user expectations to position our client for sustainable growth. We crafted a portable booklet and a narrative framework for our client to establish Congressional, Agency, and user buy-in.

Challenge: Improve partner participation through user experience design and transparency.

My Role: As a Business Designer I built out archetypes and guiding principles as frameworks for the client moving forward. I assessed and prioritized concepts based on impact, level of effort, and risk to deliver a cohesive phased strategy. Additionally, I aided in the creation of the wireframes and booklet content.

Team Structure: Service Design Lead, Business Designer (me), Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Project Manager

Our Process

I began with comparative market analysis to define what markets aligned with the agency’s work and who in that market were potential partners or ruckus makers. We then held 27 ethnographic interviews to better understand the nature of the partnership, the necessary process, and the pain points and motivations. Through those interviews we collected key insights, quotes, needs, and issues. We synthesized all this information into pain point themes to better understand underlying issues with transparency, motivation, efficiency, adaptability, and education. Then we reworked all the information to find patterns and user behaviors. We discovered 7 archetypes that we developed further with key characteristics and drivers. We held a co-working design session to verify our findings with our client and to push forward into a defined future state together. We prioritized critical concepts and assessed risk, impact, and level of effort to identify feasibility and potential implementation phase. We chose our most impactful opportunity to demo.

Framing the partners

Among the partners, we found critical distinctions around available resources, population size, and number of lower jurisdictions. These factors played heavily into the likelihood of participation. We decided to align these to archetypes so that our client could better understand users’ needs and the “why’s” behind their behaviors.

Delivering opportunities

Within our project booklet we grouped 70 strategic opportunities by implementation packages: defined by our overarching themes with determined level of effort, impact, and individual phase. We wanted the deliverable to be easily carried, easily digested, and easily discussed as we knew our client would need to socialize the strategy to the larger Agency and Congress.

designing the next steps

The Partner Portal, our most significant solution, accommodated for the variety of data points with which our client and their partners work regularly. We maximized ease with an API link, notifications for transparency, and maps of the surrounding areas to further motivate participation. Additionally, we implemented a learning center to share best practices and create a space for mentorship and connections.