The public sector faces mounting pressure to deliver exceptional citizen services while navigating complex challenges, including budget limitations and evolving user expectations. Traditional project-based approaches, with their fixed timelines and pre-determined deliverables, often fall short of achieving truly transformative outcomes.
This blog champions a shift toward a human-centered, End-to-End Service Ownership approach to delivering citizen services; prioritizing continuous improvement, measurable outcomes aligned with government missions, and a deep understanding of citizen needs.
I’ll explore the limitations of project-based methods, the principles of a human-centered service delivery model, practical implementation steps, and the potential benefits for the public sector.
The Limitations of Project and Program Based Delivery
Traditional Waterfall Project and program-based approaches, while suitable for certain time-bound initiatives, can create silos and impede the ongoing evolution and iteration of services. Their limitations include:
- Fixed Scope vs. Evolving Needs: Traditional Projects operate within predefined scopes, hindering adaptation to changing citizen needs or technological advancements. For example, a project to digitize a benefit application form might struggle to incorporate user feedback gathered after launch if its scope and budget are fixed. This inflexibility can result in suboptimal user experiences and wasted resources.
- Fragmented User Journeys: Individual projects or programs typically exist within delivery silos that rarely consider the holistic citizen journey; especially when that journey interacts with multiple services and channels. A citizen needing to update their address or name for example, will have to interact with various government departments, experiencing inconsistent design, duplicated data entry, and a frustrating overall journey.
- Emphasis on Delivery Over Value: The focus on meeting deadlines and budget constraints can overshadow the actual value delivered to citizens. A project might be considered successful based on on-time or within cost delivery, even if the resulting service doesn’t effectively address the user’s needs or achieve its intended policy outcomes.
How a Human Centered Service Ownership approach can help drive improvement
The concept of a Service Owner is growing in Government Department circles; while the term itself is nothing new; having been part of the DDaT model from the start; more and more departments like DWP, HMRC and the Home Office are now recognising the potential benefits of introducing more empowered/senior versions of the role.
A human-centered, Service Ownership approach prioritises the continuous improvement and evolution of a service throughout its lifecycle; responsible for the customer journey end-to-end. Key principles include:
- User-Centered Design: By taking a human centered approach, Services are centered around the users’ needs and requirements. This encourages the breaking down of existing organisational silos based on a deep understanding of citizen needs, pain points, and motivations through continuous user research. Services should be intuitive, accessible, and tailored to the specific requirements of their users.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Leveraging data and analytics to track performance, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate impact is essential. For example, analyzing user interactions with a digital service can reveal pain points and inform iterative improvements needed within the contact center or departmental guidance. Service Owners are supported by multidisciplinary teams that bring together teams from across departmental boundaries that are empowered to drive through required changes.
- Empowered to Iterate: By embracing agile methodologies not just for digital delivery; but for the continuous improvement of all elements of Service Delivery; supported by an agile funding and governance model; allows for an improved, more join-up experience for users.
- Cross-Functional Teams: Continuous collaboration between product managers, designers, developers, policy experts, operational teams and service owners is crucial for a holistic approach to service design and delivery. By bringing together multidisciplinary teams that oversee the delivery of the service-end-to-end allows better collaboration, breaking down silos and fosters a shared understanding of citizen needs and mission goals that allows for continuous improvements throughout the lifecycle of the Service.
- Outcome Focus and Accountability: Clearly defined, measurable outcomes aligned with the government’s Five Missions should guide service development. Service owners, accountable to Senior Responsible Owners (SROs), ensure the end-to-end delivery of these outcomes and own the service vision, roadmap, and strategy. This accountability is vital for driving continuous improvement and ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
Practical Steps to Implement a Human-Centered Service Ownership model
Transitioning to a human-centered, service ownership model requires a cultural shift and a structured approach:
- Identify and Define Services: Clearly define the scope and purpose of each service, focusing on the citizen’s needs it addresses and its alignment with the overall government’s Five Missions.
- Establish Service Ownership: Appoint dedicated Service Owners responsible for the overall success and outcome delivery of each service, supported by empowered Product Managers focused on individual product development within the service.
- Empower Cross-Functional Teams: Assemble diverse teams with the necessary skills and expertise, empowering them to work collaboratively and iteratively.
- Embrace Agile and Lean Principles: Adopt agile methodologies to facilitate flexible development, continuous improvement, and rapid responses to changing needs.
- Prioritize User Research and Feedback: Conduct regular user research throughout the service lifecycle to understand evolving needs, gather feedback, and inform ongoing improvements.
- Define Measurable Outcomes: Establish clear, measurable outcomes tied to government missions and track progress regularly to demonstrate impact and ensure accountability.
- Foster a Culture of Continuous Improvement: Encourage experimentation, learning, and adaptation throughout the service lifecycle. This includes a willingness to iterate, pivot, and retire services when necessary.
- Invest in Training and Development: Provide appropriate training and support to equip staff with the skills and knowledge necessary for a human-centered, product-centric approach.
- Align project and programme governance into the Service Ownership delivery model: within Large Government Departments, delivery is a complex beast and there is a need to monitor and support large change initiatives effectively. Project and Programme methodologies do bring a level of rigour and support that is essential when delivering large change initiatives; however, where that change is part of enabling or modernising a service, the relationship betwen the project or programme and the service Owner needs to be clearly definined; with realistic expectactions and accountability’s.
- Build Capability in a sustainable way: When Government first starting ‘Doing Agile’ us early Product Managers effectively got given a 3-day agile course and asked at the end “who’s the Product Manager, congratulations you’re responsible for making the decision” and that was it. Great Service Owners, if we’re not careful, will be akin to unicorns, with an almost unique set of skills all held within one person. For those individuals identified as our Service Owners, we need to carefully consider what skills and capability we need for day one; and how we can support and up-skill the role over time to build the capability we need for effective Service Ownership and delivery in the Public Sector.
Benefits for the Public Sector
Implementing a Service Ownership model that centers on the customer experience offers significant benefits:
- Improved Citizen Experience: User-centered design results in more intuitive, accessible, and effective services that meet real citizen needs, increasing satisfaction and trust in government.
- Increased Efficiency and Cost Savings: Avoiding duplication of effort, optimizing resource allocation, and focusing on continuous improvement leads to greater efficiency and reduced long-term costs.
- Better Alignment with Mission Objectives: Outcome-focused service development ensures that digital initiatives directly contribute to achieving strategic government goals.
- Enhanced Transparency and Accountability: Clear lines of ownership, data-driven decision making, and measurable outcomes enhance transparency and enable greater accountability for service delivery.
- Greater Agility and Responsiveness: Iterative development and cross-functional collaboration allow for faster adaptation to changing citizen needs and policy priorities.
Examples of End-to-End Service Delivery within Government
Over the last decade the UK Government has delivered services like GOV.UK One Login and Universal Credit that have taken a more holistic approach. While Services like One Login demonstrates the potential value for both citizens and Government for integrated services, however it’s also important to acknowledge delivery of these benefits isn’t straight-forward or without challenges.
Early work on Universal Credit by DWP approached the delivery of the program more like a technology change initiative; and while the original teams carried out robust user research, iterative development, and focused on citizen needs from the outset; there were clear silos between policy teams, digital delivery teams and operational teams that hindered alignment.
Following a program reset, DWP in implementing a human-centered End-to-End Service approach; developing a directional design for the Service that brought together policy/operations and digital delivery experts into cross-functional workstreams focused on Outcome Delivery under someone who would today be considered a Service Owner.
This experience shows us how important the join-up between Organisational Design and Delivery implementation is, constantly allowing for the iteration and adaptation of the design approach based on the realities of delivery; and demonstrates both the potential and complexities of end-to-end service transformation.
Conclusion
Implementing human-centered, end-to-end service ownership within government requires a significant cultural shift, not just a continued investment in skills and resources, and a commitment to continuous improvement; but a willingness to break down oraganisational silos and change ways of working to bring together truly cross-functional multidisciplinary teams under a Service Owner who is empowered to make decisions that improve the customers experience across the end-to-end service.
However, the potential benefits—improved citizen experiences, increased efficiency, better alignment with government missions, and enhanced accountability—make this transformation a crucial priority for the public sector. By embracing this approach, the government can deliver on its fundamental mission to serve citizens effectively and efficiently.