Sarah Drummond Keynote | IRSPM | Edinburgh

Public Service DesignWe are Snook | @rufflemuffin @wearesnook
Public services by
design
Does Service Design have anything to offer to public service management?

What is it that you design?

Fashion?

Fashion?
Graphics?

Fashion?
Graphics?
Computers?

Fashion?
Graphics?
Computers?
Products?

Fashion?
Graphics?
Computers?
Products?
Services

Design is viewed in the public eye
as a highly specialised discipline
focused on the ‘form’ of things

Short lesson in design history
(A focused narrative)

The deconstruction of the artisan
Josiah Wedgwood was famous for
breaking down the factory line and
creating design patterns

"An industrial revolution, a
revolution which at the same time
changed the whole of civil society"
Friedrich Engels (the condition of the working class in England 1844)

Industrialisation
Design to prepare for the
manufacture line

First manufacturer to make the car
affordable.
Limiting to one model, T-Model.
Henry Ford, 1908

“The starting point of every artistic
creation must be the need, ability,
means and achievements of our
time”
Otto Wagner, 1894

The Wainwright building
Louis Sullian, A ‘Founding father of Modernism’

Form follows function 
Descriptive: beauty results from
purity of function; 
 
Prescriptive: aesthetic
considerations in design should be
secondary to functional
considerations.

Ornamentation is crime
Adolf Loos, 1913

The Bauhaus, a new curriculum for
design
Walter Groupius, 1919

First fitted kitchen to be as
compact and economical as
possible
Margarete Schutte Lihotzky, 1926

“Between two products equal in
price, function and quality, the one
with the most attractive exterior
will win”
Raymond Loewy, 1934

Sony, Vespa, and lets
not forget the war and
birth of the computer,
the Beveridge report.

Material drives innovation
Hille, Robin Day, 1963

Design Research Unit
"[a need for a] service equipped to advise
on all problems of design... addressing the
needs of "the State, Municipal Authorities,
Industry or Commerce." [anticipated a
post-war demand for] "the reconditioning
and re-designing public utility services"

Design Council
"to champion great design that
improves lives and makes things
better"
Mission statement, 1944

“Style never came into it.
We were driving toward
the absolute essence. We
were reducing the
appearance to make the
maximum sense at
minimum cost”
Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinnear, 1961

“There are professions more
harmful than industrial design but
only a very few of them”
Victor Papanek, 1971

RED studio
‘We design new public services, systems,
and products that address social and
economic problems. These problems are
increasingly complex and traditional public
services are ill-equipped to address them.’
RED 02 Transformation Paper 2006

SILK
‘To do policy differently’
An in-house innovation lab inside Kent
County Council, 2007 spearheaded by
Sophia Parker

We have
unconsciously
designed complex,
broken and hard to run
and use services

We accepted that things were
the way they are because
‘they’ve always been that way’

And our public services tend
to look like this

“I spend most of my working day typing and inputting
services plans, ﬁling, etc., all admin tasks.” 
 
The British Association of Social Workers and Social Workers Union

Administration costs us people
We have created systems that don’t solve problems.
They create more work, cost us more to run and take us
away from the frontline

20% of UK GDP is spent on public
services
80% of the cost of government is
spent on services
Louise Downe, Deputy Director for standards and services, British
Government

Public sector = No design
Mapping policy to delivery from Scottish Government (2007-2010)

Public Service DesignWe are Snook | @wearesnook @wearesnook
Government as a
platform
Building products and services whilst developing
capabilities across all Governent departments

Building GOV.UK
Took government services online,
saving in first 5 years £3.2 billion

Over the 20th century design shifts
from individual ‘specialist’ pursuit
to a team sport

Design is not a panacea but a helpful
process to safely test and build towards
the transformation of services

Public service management is the
team coach of design
How do we do this?

Public Service DesignWe are Snook | @rufflemuffin @wearesnookPresentation titleSpeaker name | @twitterhandle @wearesnook
We are an award-winning design
agency based in Glasgow & London,
helping organisations produce great
services by putting people first

We’re on a mission
to design a world that
works better* for people

• treat people fairly with respect and dignity at all times
• meets people on their terms, where they are, when they are in need
• are accessible to everyone
• strives to support people/organisations to be the best person they
can be
• makes people feel valued and that they can contribute to society
• invests in people to support them to live a positive life
• are efficient in the delivery of public value without harming
positive outcomes
• are inventive and open to new ways of delivering public value
• are built on platforms that enable the capacity to continuously
improve

We build design capacity and
make designful organisations
We believe the public realm is made up of
experiences that are delivered through services.
These services are the products of organisational
cultures and constructs, and we believe these
cultures can be consciously designed to achieve
better.

A transformation of value between
citizen and state
We want to support the transformation from treating
people as commodities and delivering them products,
to exploring through design how value in our public
realm can be co-created between institutions and
citizens.

Public RealmLiveable Places
Designing a world that works better for people
Health and wellbeing
Government as a platform
- Government Policy
- Local Government Services
- Civic Infrastructure
Communities`Housing
Education Transport
Accessibility
TechandData

Service Design
is the design
of services

We explore  
business processes  
in alignment with what
people experience

Helping someone to do the
thing they need to do

Every touchpoint,
interactions on
every channel

Front to back,
back to front,
inside and outside  
the organisation

Service design is mindset and
principles over a defined approach

Design is grounded  
by user research

Putting people first,
understanding what people
need not what they want

End users are staff too

Finding problems and
problem caring
Here’s my top five IT fix requests: 
 
1. Use standard usernames  
Each system appears to require its own type of login. My usernames include
hoggda80645, david.hogg. dhogg, hoggd, hoggd80927, DHOGG,
80927hoggd and david. Add to that inconsistent passwords (some requiring
uppercase, some not allowing uppercase, others needing punctuation). 
 
Solution: We need this to be standardised. The NHSnet email address is a
good place to start for a username or alternatively couldn’t we use the
registration number - GMC, NMC, HPCC? The username ‘gmc123456’ makes
a lot more sense.

Working visually
Communicating ideas
through form, interrogating
touchpoints

Thinking in user journeys,
to look at end-to-end
experiences from the
perspective of people

Design is everything
The function, the language,
the service name, the end
delivery 

Even the name
You don’t want a dead
badger

Testing and prototyping to
develop products and
services

Continuous Improvement,
constantly delivering
improvement, not just
delivering a new product

Building the capacity
of everyone to design

Ireland’s First Public Sector  
Service Innovation Centre
Cork County Council

“The senior team at Cork County
Council wanted to improve
customer and staff outcomes
county-wide and set up a centre
to use and showcase service
design approaches.
With a council in the process of
‘going digital’ we saw an
opportunity to ensure services
were led by user needs.”
James Fogarty, Deputy Chief Executive

Focus on council
Customer Service Transformation
Develop their design capability

Building a user-centered
council for citizens and staff

Designing services not
forms.
Moving from a lift and shift
attitude.

Housing Representations
Elected Members
Housing Department
Live training project

250
Reps a month
15 minutes to process
each one
5
Hours to process the
reps daily
3
Day acknowledgement
KPI with a  
10 day response time  
wasn’t being met
The situation was ….

Research: 
User interviews
Shadowing Staff
Observation
We interviewed users - local and
national elected members, analysed
how staff ran the service and the
existing data we had been collecting

It seemed really rather
complicated...

Customers meet
directly with Public
Rep or with staff in
their office.
Liaise with reps one
to one, over phone/
email to offer
advise and answer
and questions
Email confirmation
15 mins per
application
Scanning
paperwork
System very slow.
Checks info
available
Norma emails user
to advise query is
waiting for them to
answer. Chases
user to answer.
Further information
sought through Norma
or system updated
Not everyone updates
system
Councillor gets
acknowledged for
work done
Norma checks
data on CCS and
ihouse
Email,
Post,
Face to Face
Clinics/Office
Phone
Email
Post
Face to Face
Telephone
Email
Face to Face
Emaill
Post
CCS System
Scanning documentation
CCS System
Internal Post
Email
Excel Spreadsheets
iHouse
Phone Email Email
Post
Clinics/Office
Phone
Email
Post
Face to Face
STAGESTORYBORADFEELINGTOUCHPOINTINTERACTION
Local Rep meets
Constituent
Local Rep
Contacts CCC
Norma confirm
receipt.
Norma inputs
data into
System
CCC forwards
query to relevant
dept
Dept answers query,
looks for further
information &
updates system
Dept advises
Norma of updates
CCC advises
local rep of
updates
Local Rep contacts
constituent

“It is time consuming to document, scan and upload
original correspondence onto CCS system takes
approx. 15 mins. Excluding the time involved
chasing staff for answers, sending confirmation and
other correspondences”
- Norma, Housing Department

Lack of clarity on what
information is actually
needed and useful to
submit a representation 
Elected representatives send in everything they
think is relevant
Photos are not required by Council staff
Lack of clarity around what is  
and is not required to process a representation

TD’s (which is the Government elected
member) make a higher amount of
representations than local councillors
Councillors (Local Elected Members)
can ‘shine a light’ on individual cases
of citizens

The Re-design
Standardising data collection
Document to support elected members
Developed a workflow for housing staff

Re-designing the service: 
Great engagement from
elected members and staff 
Ran prototyping workshops to design what
information is needed
Breaking down the content
Co-designing the needs across different users

Language was important
Senior management recognised how
important the language was when
we walked through the service
visually in the co-design workshop

Usability Testing: 
Testing our design with
elected members
Usability testing on the YourCouncil.ie
(Firmstep platform) allowed us to
quickly test our designs and find out
what worked and what didn’t before
going live

Processing Reps
The processing of documents by
housing policy reduced from 15
minutes to less than 2 minutes per
rep. In most cases elected members
are submitting relevant documents.
This means roughly a week of time
saved per administrative staff member
per month.
86%Decrease in time spent processing

Instant Response
The reps are getting instant
acknowledgements – they
were previously waiting weeks
despite having a KPI of 3 days.
Nearly 75% of responses can
be answered straightaway
once they’re in the system. 
100%Decrease in time spent waiting for
acknowledgement

Data Dashboard
A Dashboard is now always available which
saves ½ day a month (6 days a year) in
preparing a report for the Development
Committee 
½Day a month saving in
preparing data

€1Saving on every acknowledgement
and response
Cost Savings in postage
There is a cost saving in postage of
€1 per acknowledgment and
response.
This is a saving duplicated for the
council and the elected members.
We think this is roughly €12,000 a
year in savings for the council and
elected members

Cost Savings in staff
We’ve cleared the backlog so much
so that the staff member we had been
working with has been freed up to
work on other projects and initiatives
two days a week.  2Days a week for staff
members now free

The real value of the service
emerged through this work
Reps are service co-producers in supporting some of the
most vulnerable and marginalised in our communities.

We’ve hooked housing
Our short intervention created an appetite for more
Service Design. We’re now looking at repairs, enquiries
and grants.

Winning Hearts and Minds 
“For me, the greatest part of the process had to be changing people’s mind-
sets. Initially we weren’t given the go-ahead to work with elected members.
After taking senior management in housing through the process, they got
onboard, organised information and training workshops. I skipped back to the
office” 
 
Karen Fitzgerald, Customer Service Transformation Team

We’re now collecting
and analysing data on
what works
We can follow transactions by
service users to continuously
tweak our services and we are
in control.
Data is our new material.

Service RepublicWe are Snook | @wearesnook @wearesnook
Digital transformation and ‘the
website’ is the power of the McGuffin

Public Service DesignWe are Snook | @wearesnook @wearesnookPublic Service DesignWe are Snook | @wearesnook @wearesnook

“Having a twitter account seems more dangerous than
having a gun - we’re not trained”
- Police sergeant

We prototype through
sketching and building
‘fake’ experiences to
create a solution that
meets needs

We then run usability
testing of all
touchpoints before
launching the service

“I know from the enthusiastic way in which you laid out the
potential of your interactive site that there are real possibilities
here for much greater engagement and rapid response”
- David Blunkett
 

"The issue of inconsiderate parking ... can have a
significant impact on those with disabilities, parents
using pushchairs and just be a general nuisance to
pedestrians.
 
"MyPolice has helped highlight this problem to us
and as a result we are working together with Perth
and Kinross local authority to proactively tackle the
issue."
- Sergeant, Amanda Nicolson

Our frontline should be empowered to
make change and challenge the system

Service RepublicWe are Snook | @wearesnook @wearesnookService RepublicWe are Snook | @wearesnook @wearesnook

“The impact of Systems Changers on 
my organisation and on me as a person has been
phenomenal and completely unexpected. I have a renewed
energy and I am looking differently at the way I work and
this has led to my organisation being far more inclusive.” 
 
Cath Stamper, York Hill Road Project

Service Design isn’t enough.
This requires a whole system shift in attitude
to focusing on user needs.

Design is a glue between policy and
delivery

Working with the Cabinet
office to train policy
makers in design thinking
To improve the experience of landlords and tenants in
the Private Rented Sector to address the ‘broken
housing market’
“In 2015-16,
4.5 million households were
renting in the private sector.
This represents 20% of all
households in England.”
– English Housing Survey, Private rented sector, 2015-16

"Design is basic to all human activities. The planning and patterning
of any act towards a desired, foreseeable end constitutes a design
process. Any attempt to separate design, to make it a thing-by-itself,
works counter to the inherent value of design."
- Victor Papanek

The user experience is a team sport

Public Hacks
Inviting organisations and
citizens to work together on
re-designing A+E

#OneTeamGov
Bringing policy
and delivery closer
together

Why Design MattersSnook Presentation | @wearesnook | @ruﬄemuﬃn Sarah Drummond
Defining the Digital First
Service Standard
Researching and designing how all Scottish digital services
should be assessed before going live

Designers need to better equip
themselves with the materials of
services and organisations from
policy and politics to data,
relationships to strategy
@wearesnookSarah Drummond | @ruﬄemuﬃn SDN #6

Scottish approach to Service Design
“We are committed to making this model the way forward for all service design. We
are clear that public sector services should be designed with, not for, the people
who will use them.”
- Nicola Sturgeon, Programme for Government (2017)

Does service design have anything
to oﬀer to public service
management?

Does service design have anything
to oﬀer to public service
management?
Yes.

We are all designers.

Thank you
Sarah Drummond
sarah@wearesnook.com
wearesnook.com
@wearesnook

No Badgers harmed during the making of this

Sarah Drummond Keynote | IRSPM | Edinburgh

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Sarah Drummond Keynote | IRSPM | Edinburgh

Similar to Sarah Drummond Keynote | IRSPM | Edinburgh (20)

More from Snook

More from Snook (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Sarah Drummond Keynote | IRSPM | Edinburgh