The document discusses the evolution of service design within the UK government. It notes that service design has gone through three phases: 1) legitimacy, 2) definition, and 3) delivery. It then suggests that a fourth phase is needed: scale and sustainability. The document advocates for standardizing rather than centralizing design approaches across government departments. It also provides tips for designing government services, such as enabling collaboration between departments and designing for constant change.

1. Louise Downe
Director of Design & Standards
Government Digital Service
@LouiseDowne

2. 10 years of
SDN Global

3. GDSGDS
A lot has changed
@Louisedowne

4. Service design has
gone through 3
phases

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1. Legitimacy
2.
@Louisedowne

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1. Legitimacy
2. Definition
3.
@Louisedowne

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1. Legitimacy
2. Definition
3. Delivery
@Louisedowne

8. Tip:
Don’t bother with 1 & 2

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But i’m not here to talk about that
@Louisedowne

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What happens after phase 3?
@Louisedowne

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‘The reconditioning and
re-designing public utility
services’
Design Research Unit
@Louisedowne

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17. The world isn’t
going to stop for us

18. The pace of technology
has outstripped the speed
of design

19. GDSGDS@Louisedowne

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3 days to build a kitchen
2 months to get planning
permission

21. We live in a world where
tiny decisions affect
millions of people

22. GDSGDS@Louisedowne

23. GDSGDS@Louisedowne
2% of flights
400K people

24. Service design isn’t just
about the capacity of one
designer to design a
service

25. Service design needs to
focus on the ability of an
organisation to deliver and
maintain a service over
time

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1. Legitimacy
2. Definition
3. Delivery
4. Scale and sustainability
@Louisedowne

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Government is the oldest and largest
service provider in the UK
@Louisedowne

28. GDS helps
government to work
better for users

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“Government isn’t meeting the
needs of users”
@Louisedowne

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£3.5 billion saved
@Louisedowne

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€3.9 billion saved
@Louisedowne

37. We still have a long
way to go

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You can’t buy a house without
paying someone to help you
@Louisedowne

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A licence can cost more to
administer than the fine you
get if you don’t have it
@Louisedowne

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You can be stopped up to 14 times
by different people at the UK border
if you’re importing something
@Louisedowne

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20% of UK GDP
is spent on public services
@Louisedowne

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80% of the cost of government
is spent on services
@Louisedowne

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60% of that cost is spent on calls
and casework
@Louisedowne

44. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences
Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR)
Registrations for Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN)/connect access
(MEMBERS)
Request for a further search under section 17(6) or payment for a
supplementary certificate under section 17(8)/Request for search
(F9/F9A)
Employer Ownership Pilot (EOP)
Well Operations Notification System (WONS): consents and
notifications
Charity Letter Forwarding Service
@louisedowne GDS@Louisedowne

45. GDS

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Google is the home page to
your service
@Louisedowne

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#GOOGLEFAIL
@Louisedowne

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Our services weren’t designed
for the internet
@Louisedowne

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Our government wasn’t designed
for the internet
@Louisedowne

50. GDSGDS@Louisedowne

51. HMRC
DWP
HO
FO
DH
MOJ
DfT
DfE
DCLG
BEIS
DEF
GDS@Louisedowne

52. Policy Strategy
Operations
Digital TechnologyData
Evidence
GDS@Louisedowne

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Develop a medical condition
and stop working
3 departments
@Louisedowne

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Import or export something
4 departments
@Louisedowne

55. GDSGDS
Start a business
9 departments
@Louisedowne

56. GDS
Services will shape
government, not the
other way around

57. Transformation is
never ‘done’

58. Design for
constant change

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10 things to think about
@Louisedowne

61. 1.
Hire designers and
build communities

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10 heads of design
800 designers across government
@Louisedowne

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+ 2,000 content designers
+ 700 user researchers
@Louisedowne

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Change picture

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67. 2.
Standardise
don’t centralise

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69. GDS

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73. 3.
Enable the network

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78. 4.
Design something
the future can
design

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81. 5.
Get your hands dirty

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83. 6.
Design it forward

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87. 7.
Understand how
well you’re doing

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89. 8.
Enable people to
work together

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+ 2,000 content designers
+ 700 user researchers
+ 600 designers

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3300 people in user centred design
500,000 civil servants

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0.66% of the civil service

94. POLICY
CYCLE
DELIVERY
CYCLE
GDS

95. 9.
Create alternative
structures of power

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100. 10.
Be critical

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Technology shows you what
can be done
Design shows you what
should be done

103. Government is
hiring designers

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https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/comm
unities/design-community
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/comm
unities/user-research-community
louise.downe@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk

105. GDSGDS

106. Thanks!
Louise Downe
Government Digital Service
@LouiseDowne