@benholliday #govdesign
Building a user centred
design community
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@benholliday #govdesign
@benholliday #govdesign
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@benholliday #govdesign
Everything we do is about
changing lives by providing
security, extending opportunity
and giving people in our
society the support they need
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@benholliday #govdesign
This is still the real challenge:
A government that delivers
services in order to organise
itself around the needs
of its users
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@benholliday #govdesign
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@benholliday #govdesign
UK’s largest public service
department
Design team of 40+ people
specialising in service design,
interaction design, content
design and front end
development
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@benholliday #govdesign
Building the design community
benholliday.com/building-a-design-community
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@benholliday #govdesign
1. Make sure everyone can talk
to each other
2. Give everyone the opportunity
to meet face-to-face
3. Encourage everyone to work
in the open
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@benholliday #govdesign
Everyone should be able to
talk about their work.
This gives visibility to everything that
we’re working on, and encourages
collaboration
benholliday.com/building-a-design-community
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@benholliday #govdesign
@benholliday #govdesign
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Policy and service design
openpolicy.blog.gov.uk/bringing-together-policy-and-digital-design-teams
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@benholliday #govdesign
Does your organisation
have design leadership?
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@benholliday #govdesign
The only way for you
to lead is by example
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@benholliday #govdesign
Change happens as a
result of collective,
small, actions
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@benholliday #govdesign
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@benholliday #govdesign
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5 things
to get started
@benholliday #govdesign
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@benholliday #govdesign
Be deliberate with
your language
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@benholliday #govdesign
@benholliday #govdesign
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@benholliday #govdesign
The goal should be to remove
anything, including language, that
creates barriers when working on
a public service
benholliday.com/the-problem-with-customer
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@benholliday #govdesign
Adjust the focus
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@benholliday #govdesign
Framing the problem is a
process of reduction.
Starting conversations.
Creating understanding
and opportunities.
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@benholliday #govdesign
Take small risks
every day
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@benholliday #govdesign
The secret to getting things
done: being pragmatic (you
can’t win every battle today),
and optimistic (everything is
worth fighting for)
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@benholliday #govdesign
Cows on the path.
Not just paving the cow paths
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@benholliday #govdesign
Design at its best frames
the unusual and celebrates
diversity. Its mistakes make
it human. It’s made up of
complex emotions
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@benholliday #govdesign
… creative organisations prioritise
rituals of doing; the least creative
organisations prioritise rituals of
saying, the most common of
which is the meeting
Kevin Ashton (How to Fly a Horse)
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@benholliday #govdesign
Collaborate
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@benholliday #govdesign
If you care about design:
Don’t worry about who
gets the credit
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@benholliday #govdesign
…move from ‘everyone
wants to solve the problem’
to ‘everyone wants the
problem to be solved’
benholliday.com/everyone-wants-to-solve-the-problem
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@benholliday #govdesign
Learn to enjoy the size
of the problem
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@benholliday #govdesign
@benholliday #govdesign
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@benholliday #govdesign
…the more seriously we
take things the more
ridged or unimaginative
our work can become
benholliday.com/learning-to-enjoy-the-size-of-the-problem
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@benholliday #govdesign
Push hard for
design leadership,
starting with yourself
@benholliday #govdesign