2. Understand the problem (system)
This principle relates to the need to understand the full-complexities of the 'problem' that we are trying to solve through the development of a service, before we jump to designing solutions. This approach allows us confidence that the service we design will deliver the outcomes, including the environmental outcomes, that it seeks to deliver.
Key Disciplines
User-centred Design, Policy
2a. Apply systems thinking to map the whole problem space
We need to understand the problem space that we are intervening in as a system, in terms of not just the end user and providing organisation but the wider economic, social and environmental context. This may occur through focused research activity in the early stages of a project and learning can and should continue through the lifecycle phases as prototypes are developed and iterated.
Lifecycle phases
Actions
(i) Map the system
Systems mapping can be qualitative, and enable us to identify the environmental imapcts we need to measure, but also modelling to allow quantification of the impacts of intervention. (See Measurement).
We should aim to identify not just the 'leverage points', where we intervene in order to achieve the desired outcomes but also identify where there could be unintended consequences and knock-on effects.
Note: Understanding the 'system' of the problem space in detail may be of particular importance when our service aims for broader environmental outcomes that relate to behaviours and behaviour change, rather than just delivering an efficient service. See Principle 1.
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An Introduction to Systems Thinking for Civil Servants, Government Office for Science, UK Gov
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Blog on Systems Thinking, Cabinet Office
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Systems Thinking for Policymaking Public Policy Design Blog
2b. Identify which interventions may be most appropriate to achieve policy intent
A digital service may be one of a range of interventions which can be taken to realise policy intent. Delivery teams need to ensure they understand the policy intent and how a service may be combined with other interventions.
Lifecycle phases
Actions
(i) Understand policy intent
Service teams may have the opportunity to work with policy professionals to design a range of policy options so that ministers can make more informed decisions about which one to follow. Your role may involve highlighting unintended consequences and risks and showing how a particular policy might or might not work.
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Understanding and meeting policy intent, Service Manual
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Policy Design, Public Policy Design Blog
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Meeting Policy Intent and User Needs at the same time, DFE Digital Blog
The advantages of open policymaking
Open policy making helps civil servants create and deliver policy based on evidence, participation and experimentation, drawing on diverse perspectives through collaborative methods and iterating policy to meet complex and evolving user needs. It empowers real world problem-solving, accountability, and 'socially grounded decision making'.
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Open Policy Blog, GOV.UK
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Tools for Climate Policymaking, Open Policy Blog
(ii) Consider the full range of possible interventions
Consider which of the full-range of possible interventions government can make will best deliver the policy goals. Developing a new digital service may be one option from a range of possible levers or interventions that government can make, and often government is most effective when it pulls a few different complementary levers or styles of action in combination.
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Government as a System Toolkit, Policy Lab
Consider when/if face-to-face human interaction maybe be more effective, or needed alongside digital services, in order to deliver desired policy outcomes
Digitising service touchpoints may (often) save energy, resources and associated environmental impacts, but there may be moments in a service journey when users may really value or need face-to-face interactions. These may be particularly important for services intended to shift behaviours (rather than those that are purely transactional), for example farmers signing up for new farming subsidies. For these types of services, human interactions can be an important way for keeping people engaged in the service journey, particularly where earning trust is critical to service delivery. Robust social and user research (including ethnography) can help you better understand when digital and human touchpoints will be most effective in service delivery.
Having these user needs in mind from the start helps to ensure designing for offline interactions is not neglected in favour of the digital touchpoints.
2c. Make research on users and wider social, economic and environmental factors open and shared
If user research is visible and accessible by all relevant stakeholders across projects and programmes, this can help ensure that research is not unnecessarily repeated, thereby saving the environmental impacts associated with it.