Make it Simple

By default, The Crown Consulting Group is aligned to the Government Digital Services (GDS) Service Toolkit. Our approaches and methods have been designed around these and to work in complete harmony with them.

We work to the Service Standards and this insight is our interpretation of the fourth standard - ‘Make the service simple to use.’

In previous steps we have looked at understanding the user and the focus on identifying and solving the whole problem for both on and off-line components of the service. We have introduced the importance of providing the user with a joined-up experience and looked at how users must not be precluded from accessing a service.

Making the service intuitive looks at removing complications that may lead to the user abandoning the service or requiring assistance in completing it.

Service failure leads to inaccurate information and accumulates to cause reputational damage to the organisation.

Building your service in as simpler and intuitive way will help to avoid this failure rate.

Insight: Think about what you have learnt about our users from the User Research. What is their pain-points, what are they looking to achieve and how are they looking to achieve it? Use this output to formulate a service design that will be intuitive to those users. We will cover it below but engage the users in the iterative design process to attain continued feedback. This will help you identify any points where you may be able to improve.

What does it mean?

Make it inclusive – The user should be able to complete everything they need to do as part of the service. They should not have to defer to a different process.

The service design should consider all elements of the user journey. This extends past the inclusion of on and off-line components and considers the ease at which the service is made available, its accessibility and its consistency.

Insight: We will cover both consistency and accessibility in greater detail in coming insights. For now, again reference your User Research to understand how users are accessing the service, what devices are they using, what times are they accessing it and do objectives vary depending on these factors.

Make it minimal - The user should have to do as little as possible before achieving their objectives. This focuses on removing unnecessary steps and looks for opportunities where the user may benefit from reusable assets.

Make it straightforward - In addition to making the service itself intuitive the user should have a straightforward route for seeking assistance, where required.

Additionally, where a response from the service provider is required, and this is not automatic, then the user must be given a clear understanding of how this message will be delivered. Ambiguity around next steps and responsibilities must be avoided.

Make it user focused – Leaning on the output of your User Research again. Qualify your service proposals meet the needs of the users. Will the service deliver benefit in making the journey easier for the user?

You want to ensure you are solving the pain-points highlighted.

Make it joined-up – There service should contain no dead ends. There should be a clear path allowing the user to achieve their objectives. Where there are multiple outcomes, these must all be considered and mapped accordingly. Linking to the service being straightforward, where a hand-off is required, the user must be made aware of this and what they need to do.

Our Approach

Our approach to meeting this standard is focused on the continued engagement with users and perspective users. We prototype and iterate regularly providing an open feedback loop to help refine the service.

Some of our high-level focuses include.

Prototyping – We start by designing basic wireframe models to illustrate the journey. We evolve these into working prototypes and, where required, evolve further into functional products.

Having this illustration and tangible output helps users envisage what the service will look like.

Continued user research helps to engage users throughout the design process and gives opportunities to feedback on the models.

A key consideration here is that no prototype should ever evolve into a live product. The nature of the prototype is that it is quick and easy to build, the purpose being one of demonstration and the ability to iterate it.

Testing (the whole journey) - Our focus is always holistic, we consider the people, process, and technological elements of the service with equal weighting. Our focus here is to test the whole journey, not just the digital elements. The user expects to access the service, not just the web-based element of the service.

Example: You have time designing and iterating a revised service to provide users with an improved ability to apply for opportunities within your organisation. The service has been transitioned from a predominately paper-based one to a digital version. This meets the user need by allowing them to access online, via a range of devices whenever they choose. The digital process works well and automatically send applications to the relevant department and integrates with CRM and HR solutions.

However, where the service is located on the website is not clear and there is limited direction for users in locating it directly or via third parties.

In this instance the digital element of the service is efficient and offers the potential to deliver substantial benefits but by not considering the off-line and pre-required steps of the journey the user has limited ability to access it thus the benefit is constricted.

User engagement - We place an extremely high emphasis on User Research. Getting to know the users, their pain-points and their aspirations is invaluable in designing a service that works.

We continue our research and engage users in the design process to create a continued feedback loop.

Our consultancy model has been designed to work in conjunction with the Government Digital Services (GDS) Service Manual.

Our principles and approaches have been designed to complement these standards. To talk to us about how our services could be of benefit to you and your organisation please Contact Us through the website.