The Policy Lab worked with Civil Service Learning to understand what they would want to get from education on service design.

1. User-centred
Design
Civil Service Learning workshop
02.06.2015

2. The
Session
On the 2nd
June 2015 the Policy Lab and the Government Digital
Service led a workshop organised by Civil Service Learning to
help co-design and develop a specification for a user-centred
design (UCD) course as part of the Civil Service Learning offer
from April 2016.
During the session the Lab outlined some early thinking on what
this offer might look like and then worked to revise and define it,
bringing in user perspectives, exchanging knowledge and
generating ideas.
A mix of learners and training experts worked collaboratively to
develop 6 pen portraits of potential users, create over 40 ideas
and come up with 12 definitions for user-centred design. This
summary provides a snapshot of the session.

3. Creating pen
portraits

4. Pen portrait
Niall and Linda
Niall is a COO and Linda is a Chief of
Staff. They are preparing for a spending
review and want to work out how to
achieve cost reductions while delivering
a business that is responsive to user
needs. They have technical
qualifications, supplemented by an MBA
for Niall and a background in education
and customer service for Linda.
Both have a limited awareness of UCD
and not much spare time so are unlikely
to be willing to get into the detail before
a short, compelling exposure to gain an
understanding of what it is and why they
should/need to use it.

5. Ideally, after the course Niall would like to:
•Be in a position to manage change more effectively
•Know how to commission UCD projects
•Articulate what UCD is, why use it and be able to inspire others.
For Linda, who will do much of the planning, it will be key to:
•Be able to operationalise UCD – how best to apply it and when/where/to what problem -
and understand the resources involved
•Know how to manage UCD alongside other approaches
•Ensure the use and take up of UCD approaches more widely.
For them UCD is…
“A way of generating and using a clear picture of the person at the end of your line… and
ensuring that the changes we make and the services we provide work for our customers”.
Pen portrait
Niall and Linda

6. Pen portrait
Susan
Susan is an operations person responsible for
ensuring that performance is maintained against
KPI’s through periods of change and is currently
working on maintaining levels of service whilst
moving through the Legal Aid Agency reforms
and workplace transformation.
She is quite confident using social media and e-
learning, although mobile apps might be trickier.
She is motivated to learn in order to further
develop her skills and is particularly interested in
understanding what UCD is, why she needs it
and what are the techniques that can help her
apply it in her day job, especially where it comes
to problem-solving and change management.
She tends to learn best through concrete
experience and active experimentation.

7. Pen portrait
Susan
Ideally, after the course she would like to:
•Be in a position to better identify where individuals are on a change curve and
support them
•Motivate the staff and team, and develop them effectively through periods of change
•Deliver key messages and inspire others
For her UCD is…
“The way we design and apply the tools we need to manage change and engage staff
in the process.”

8. Pen portrait
Sarah
Sarah is a stats officer at the
Department of Health (HEO/SEO level)
and is currently working on developing
more effective, evidence-based policies.
She is a maths grad and previously
worked for an NGO.
She is relatively confident with social
media and mobile apps but more so with
e-learning. Her main goals would be to
get a broad understanding of UCD and
how to uncover user needs.

9. Pen portrait
Sarah
Ideally, after the course she would like to:
•Know how to ask the right questions of users and gain confidence in doing this
•Understand user behaviour and know if her stats are usable
•Build better relationships with policy colleagues
•Be more efficient at her job
•Be able to transfer knowledge to colleagues
For her UCD is…
“A methodology to find out what a problem actually is, rather than what you think it
might be, from your users’ perspective.”

10. Pen portrait
Jenny
Jenny is a work coach at DWP. Her role is
in delivery and cost service and she is
currently working on helping customers into
work in order to improve their lives. She
previously worked at a contact centre and
is quite confident on e-learning and mobile
apps but less accustomed to using social
media for work.
She wants to learn about UCD in order to
improve her confidence in the judgements
she is making, help her in handling
customer conversations and create more
ideas for improvements to services. Her
main motivations for learning are to do
what is best for the customers and to grow
in her role; she tends to learn best through
concrete experience and reflective
observation.

11. Pen portrait
Jenny
Ideally, after the course she would like to be able to:
•See the bigger picture
•Improve staff morale and engagement
•Lead for the department in serving customers
•Improve customer service and outcomes
•Save money
•Build relationships, network, share experiences and good practice
For her UCD is…
“A process where design teams go about understanding users, their environments and
their goals and use that information to design better stuff… walking in your customers’
shoes”.

12. Pen portrait
Derek
Derek is a social researcher in a policy team at
the Department of Energy and Climate Change
and he is currently working to apply research in
the development of policies to help
householders move to low carbon heating, e.g.
heat pumps.
He wants to know what UCD is, why it is relevant
to his work and what specific techniques he can
use to apply customer insights in the
development of usable policies. He is also
interested in collaborative engagement
approaches. His main learning motivation is, as
a social researcher, to see policy built on
insights and he learns best through concrete
experience and active experimentation.

13. Pen portrait
Derek
Ideally, after the course he would like to:
•Know the role that user-centred design has
•Be able to sense-check policies from user perspective; will they be easy to use?
•Having techniques that feel more robust and knowing when to apply them
•Know when UCD doesn’t apply or when to stop using it because it’s enough
•
For him UCD is…
“Not just a mind-set and approach to designing policies but a set of tools we know
how to apply and when”.

14. Other definitions of
UCD….
“A process to create a service or product that understands and responds to
individuals’ needs”.
“Designing things with a focus on users”.
“Creating things that reflect the wants and needs of people who use them.”
“Finding out who your user is and what their latent needs are and converting this
into insight.”
“How we design government services that actually meet user needs while delivery
policy outcomes.”

15. Thank you, please keep in
touch.
Feel free to leave feedback
via email or twitter:
Beatrice.andrews@cabinet
office.gov.uk
@policyLabUK