ServDes 2016

1. Towards sustainable impact after University-
Government design projects:
The cases of worker services in Singapore

2. Good Afternoon!
Yvonne Yeo,
PhD Candidate
Lee Jung-Joo,
Assistant Professor
Chew Jia Ying,
Design Researcher

3. Towards sustainable impact after University-
Government design projects:
The cases of worker services in Singapore

4. Aim of Paper
1. How may we help the Ministry to develop design capabilities?
2. What are the opportunities and challenges of creating
sustainable impacts after collaborations?

5. Efforts to adopt design in the Service Sector
Singapore by Design
§ The SG government has always been open to innovations and adopts good
practices and models from abroad.
§ Embeds design in the training curriculum for Civil Service College.
§ Increases in design project collaborations between government agencies and
external design experts.
To expand the role of design in the SG government:

6. The Ministry’s efforts to adopt design
§ The Ministry is recognised internationally for its use of design and
behavioural insights to improve service experiences.
§ In 2013, it established a Unit that combines Behavioural Insights & Design.
§ Sent its officers to the Stanford D-School for Design Thinking workshops.
§ Launched design-collaboration projects by engaging external design
expertise (Like IDEO and local design universities etc).
§ Since 2014, started to hire designers and design student interns.
(Photo courtesy: The Ministry)

7. “We want to develop a culture of testing and experimentation in the
Ministry where officers seek to understand customers and do rapid
prototyping… We have also conducted many workshops to build
capabilities in understanding customer motivation and behaviour…”
Assistant Director of the Unit, 2014
Experience prototyping with staffs and customers
(Photo courtesy: The Ministry)
The Ministry’s efforts to listen to its
Customers

8. Observations of
Singapore University and
Ministry Collaborative Design
Projects

9. Services (Interactions, Touch-points)
Organisational Culture
A series of design projects (3 projects since 2014 - present)
Student internship for implementations
Follow-up interviews for measuring impacts (Design capability)
Behavioral Design projects & workshops
Sharing of cases and impacts
Skills, Process, Mindsets
Sustainable impacts following
collaborative projects

10. Projects Retrospective Research
§ Conducted three sessions of in-depths interviews
§ Interviewed two Ministry’s officers
§ Interviewed seven design students who had participated
in both the design projects and student internships

11. Key Themes of Follow-up Interviews
Two different sets of questions were asked to the two Ministry’s officers
and seven design students to investigate:
What are the
impacts of design
collaboration
projects?
How to make
the impact
sustainable?
What are the
organization’s
challenges and
opportunities?
What are the
after-life of
project
outcomes?

12. An organization in transition
Challenges and opportunities in adopting design

13. Challenges in Adopting Design
The Ministry officers have different understanding on the role of
design and what designers actually do.
1. An organization in knowledge transition
“Design is definitely very important, because a simple little information, that we sent
to customers may trigger a larger response from customers if design of a letter is
not done properly...”
Middle management staff from frontline service operations department

14. Challenges in Adopting Design
A lack of resources and investments away from daily work.
2. Lack of senior management support
“If high management can give us the assurance, actually it’s ok maybe three days
we will be focusing on core jobs but two days will be solely (dedicated to) whatever
we need to do with design thinking, like attend workshop, eLearning rather than
double hats at the same time during the week.”
Frontline staff from the Ministry service centre

15. Challenges in Adopting Design
Regular job rotations and a lack of knowledge transfer platform
resulted in ineffective communications between teams.
3. Inconsistency in project ownership
“The implementation and solutions may be taken care by different teams… so there
may be some gaps, because the people who are involved in the implementation
may not understand the background and why these changes are needed”
Middle management staff from frontline service operations department

16. Challenges in Adopting Design
Officers are entrenched in their current problem-solving
processes, and unwilling to step out of comfort zone.
4. Dilemma experienced by frontline staffs
“We are too involved in our daily operations, very hard for us to think outside the
box... when we do these projects, we maybe sticking to our usual thinking…”
Frontline staff from the Ministry service centre

17. Opportunities in Adopting Design
Many individuals with relevant
knowledge, skills as well as
personal interest to promote
design within their teams and
departments.
More investments in resources
after increasing in engagements
of external design experts and
reflective activities after project
collaborations.
Identify internal design
ambassadors
A monthly Community of
Practice sharing platform
where cross functional teams
come together to discuss
issues and share resources.
A regular sharing platform
A 6 months long Behavioural
Design Programme to equip
the officers with research
methods and design tools
that are relevant to their daily
work.
Staff-initiated design
projects
Senior management support

18. At a glance
Different understanding on the
role of design
Entrenched in current
problem-solving processes
Lack of senior management
support
Inconsistency in project
ownership
Challenges Opportunities
Organisational
Culture
Skills, Process,
Mindsets
Skills, Process,
Mindsets
Organisational
Culture
A monthly Community of
Practice sharing platform
Six months long Behavioural
Design Programme
Active success case sharing
and reflective activities
Conditions
Identify design ambassadors
to share knowledge and
motivations

19. The Current Level of Design in the Ministry
The Ministry in adopting design is located between
‘Design for discrete problems’ and ‘Design as capabilities’.
The Public Sector Design Ladder (Design for Public Good Report, 2012)

20. Continual Efforts to Adopt Design
Though the Ministry is currently in transition, it has great interest to embed design
for human-centred services and policies.
We plan to work with more Ministry officers from different levels and departments:
• More collaborative design projects tackling real-life issues.
• Co-create educational programme to equip the Ministry’s officers with design
methods and tools.
• Organise reflective activities after projects like follow-up interviews or workshops.
• Develop a conversational tool to help the Ministry investigate their design
readiness.

21. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find us at:
yvonneym@u.nus.edu.sg
jiaying.chew@nus.edu.sg