A newsletter about user-centred design atĀ Made Tech; a company building public services that create outcomes for people and society.Ā
More user researcher interviews for me this week. Plus I'm getting more involved in service delivery and new business.
Society is a user tooĀ š
Made Tech is working with Ofgem to design a service that subsidises businesses to make biodiesel. The service will likely have fewer than 100 users in its entire lifetime.Ā
Itās got me thinking - too often public services are measured purely by the number of people who use them. With web analytics, itās easier to measure this number now and try to compare wildly different services. But success metrics for public services should be outcomes and outcomes are domain-specific. Sometimes in government, outcomes are called policy intent.
Examples of outcomes or policy intent:
More local businesses for a council
Lower rates of type-two diabetes for an NHS trustĀ
Fewer road deaths for DVSA
Taking the Ofgem example, yes it will have very few users. However, we as a society will all benefit from potentially less fossil fuel use, cleaner air and reduced risk of climate disaster.
Teams should always be trying to answer early:
What are the society needs for this serviceā
Easier said than done, but itās vital we try.
Margin callĀ š
Iām gonna get move involved in the commercial part of Made Tech. The bit that wins work in the first place. Be that work with an NHS trust, local council or government department.Ā
As Head of Design, my work sits across winning work, team growth and delivering public services. The last two Iām more familiar with and are my comfort zones. But to better plan these two things happening, I need to understand the commercial side of things deeper.Ā
So to try to do this, Iām gonna:
Help inform what work we bid for in the first place
Review bids for discovery and alpha phases
Meet Michael, Hazel and Tom each month to plan UCD team growth
Meet more with Ian to learn about the commercial strategy
Hiring pace š
I want to be more strategic in planning team growth. Part of this is iterating a year roadmap for UCD at Made Tech. Thatās a big motivation for getting more involved in commercial stuff.Ā
The question I want to answer:
What shape and size does the UCD team need to be in a year to achieve our purpose?
Not straightforward to answer, but Iām gonna work with others and try.Ā
As Yasemin said to me āHire for the team we need in a year.ā