- Agile innovation Piloted a novel approach with agile service innovation sprints, driving rapid cycles between observing, validating, and co-designing, achieving substantial results within swift two-week checkpoints.
- Design for resistance Engineered a successful digital transformation amidst fears of resistance and non-adoption by a team of inspectors who were all seniors, ensuring solutions were not only acceptable but also welcomed by the end-users.
- Influence through insights Identified and resolved inefficiencies in user journeys, tackling issues like paperwork overload and asynchronous tasks, whilst considering the diverse working contexts of inspectors.
The challenge
Navigating through skepticism and anticipated resistance from the Department of Social Protection’s over-sixty inspector team, the challenge was to facilitate a digital transformation that not only would be adopted but also did not incur prohibitive costs or extensive training times due to the demographic’s presumable digital reluctance.
My role
As the Service Design Director, I orchestrated the strategy, solution framing, and leadership of the engagement, steering a team of analysts and UX researchers, whilst also involving myself deeply in design, user shadowing, and workshop facilitation.
How I did it
Using a novel “cultural probe” design tool and immersing myself and my team in the user’s environments, we generated insights that were not only deeply relevant but also pre-approved by users, paving the way for smoother adoption of the resultant services. Hands-on co-design sessions and continuous “show and tell” reviews ensured the civil servants were actively involved, easing initial hesitancies and fostering a conducive environment for change and innovation.
The project in a bit more detail
This is an important project for me as it’s the first time I defined, sold and delivered a new kind of strategic design consultancy engagement, agile innovation sprints.
The challenge from the Irish Department for Social Protection was that the team of inspectors were all over sixty, set in their ways, and would not tolerate a digital transformation. The fear was not only would the team simply refuse to use any new services but even if they did, the cost and time to train the workforce would be prohibitive.
My delivery
Experience director. I framed the solution, defined our strategy and led the engagement. I engaged a team of two business analysts and three UX researchers and acted as a designer, shadowing workers, running interviews, creating workshop assets (including inventing new tools like “which one is true”) participating in codesign and presenting our findings to the department’s leadership.
Activities
- Define agency proposition and approach
- Stakeholder management
- Shadowing (day in the life study)
- Validation and codesign workshops
- Creative direction (for finished UI)
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