Digital Service Network

Did you see the latest edition of The Public Good? 🌟 Read the newsletter & subscribe ➡ https://lnkd.in/dBAwAPfT Key Highlights: 👋 Meet Tegan Glasheen from the County of San Diego, this month's Digital Difference Maker! 🚀 Register now and see the agenda and full speaker line up for #FormFest2024! 🔍 Explore the new research and tools from the DSN 🌟 Read our latest spotlight and event recap featuring New York State's digital transformation journey and focus on customer experience 🔖 Check out ideas on the administrative burden from complex forms and new trends for increasing social inclusion with public innovation 📚 New resources and examples in the Digital Government Hub  🚨 Governments are #hiring! Job opportunities with the NYS Office of Information Technology Services, Harris County (TX), State Bar of California, State of North Carolina, Maryland Department of Information Technology 🗞️ See new headlines featuring U.S. Digital Responses's blog on technology's role in advancing health equity during Medicaid renewals

When a typical work project goes off -track, it stays between you and your boss. But when your work project is overhauling the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, well, that’s a different — and much bigger — story. Just ask Tait Chamberlain and Sean Cassidy, the user experience duo charged with redesigning the form — and then with managing the related rollout crisis. The rebooted relaunch resulted in a hands-on testing process that solicited direct feedback from users, resulting in a host of meaningful changes that have already improved submission metrics. And a commitment to better transparency and communication kept stakeholders engaged, renewed public trust, and — most importantly — helped more students apply for financial aid. 📚 Read their profile and hear more from them at #FormFest2024 ➡️  https://lnkd.in/eUEdARfg #GovEfficiency #DigitalTransformation #TechForGood #CivicTech #GovernmentInnovation #HigherEd #UXDesign #GovTech #Innovation

Ever worked yourself into a frenzy over a government form? Alan Holcomb and John Carter Owens, MUEP, MPP know the feeling. They’re the team behind Arizona’s Form Frenzy, which challenged 34 state agencies to improve at least one feature on at least one form within 90 days. Working together across their departments — John from Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office, Alan in the Arizona Government Transformation Office — they created and launched a training program that supplied agency leaders with the tools to make changes in whatever way worked best for their teams. The unifying concept: Focusing on the people, both in the development process and the end product. 🏛️👥🏛️ The results? A runaway success. Agencies made a total of 433 improvements to 34 forms, reducing the number of unnecessary questions by a whopping 49%. Next up? Digital Dash, a similarly structured initiative that will focus on brand implementation and digital accessibility. Now that’s a craze we can get behind. 🎉 Read their profile and hear more from them at #FormFest2024 ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eghhVrCz #GovEfficiency #DigitalTransformation #TechForGood #CivicTech #GovernmentInnovation #UXDesign #GovTech #Innovation #LeanStrategy #Arizona

In 2023, New York State's Governor Kathy Hochul announced a plan to improve residents’ experiences accessing government programs including childcare, nutrition support, and tax refunds. To advance these goals across the state’s 100+ agencies, Governor Hochul created the position of “chief customer experience officer,” or CXO. This role collaborates with a longstanding team in the NYS Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) focused on human-centered design. Together, they support agencies’ digitization efforts with a focus on residents’ needs. Lessons learned from the work thus far:  ❤️ Investment in customer experience from the executive branch signals strongly to agencies that residents’ experiences with government are a priority 🏆 Embedding digital and design skills into the government’s existing internal processes can be a recipe for deep and long-lasting shifts. 🤝 Understanding relationships is a productive framework for advancing effective human-centered design in government. Read more in the spotlight and explore examples driving this work ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eNDKGyA3

📣 Calling all digital services and public sector technology team leaders! Check out this opportunity to inform a research project focused on tech talent retention in state and local governments. ⬇️

Applying for benefits during times of need should not compound a person’s crisis. That idea is paramount in the New York City Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity, where Sophia Tareen and Sourabh Chakraborty are leveraging technology to innovate new ways of sharing data across agencies, allowing residents to see their eligibility for a host of services through a single application. Sophia has long understood the value of small changes. Raised by medical professionals who discussed health as a product of social circumstances, Sophia views civic tech as a means to improve people’s lives in tangible ways. Sourabh brings that outlook to life on the back end, creating open-source code to power the City’s benefits platform and help establish best practices across jurisdictions 💯🗺️. Their work is a key part of New York City’s dedication to improving the lives of its residents—one application at a time 🔧. Read their profile and hear more from them at #FormFest2024 ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e72mZmhS #DigitalTransformation #TechForGood #CivicTech #GovernmentInnovation #UXDesign #GovTech #Innovation #NYC

Thrilled to spotlight an ongoing partnership between Gregory Clapp and Joshua Gregor, the civic-minded duo behind the charge to revitalize the way City of Portland, Oregon, residents find information, report issues, and access services. Their work spans the gamut, from the creation of a city-wide 311 customer service system to an overhauled, user-centric website that helps community members request help and report problems without having to navigate an organizational flowchart. Josh came to Portland with the specific goal of launching a public service career, but Greg came to government work by chance, after a fruitful career in the private sector where the work was similar but the impacts on people’s lives were less clear. But they have the same passion for improving user experience. Together, Josh’s customer-service experience and Greg’s project management and programming skills have effected real change in Portland, from improving the City’s ADA compliance to applying for air conditioners that help make Portland a more resilient city. Their collaborative approach and creativity shows the potential for technological transformation at the municipal level. 🏛️🪄 Read their profile and hear more from them at #FormFest2024 ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e72mZmhS #DigitalTransformation #TechForGood #CivicTech #GovernmentInnovation #UXDesign #GovTech #Innovation #Portland

Have you seen the full agenda for #FormFest2024 yet? 👀🚀 Featuring insightful keynotes and 20 exciting breakout sessions from 60+ digital service leaders from across the globe and at all levels of government, this is one event you won't want to miss! Register for FormFest now to save your seat to hear about best practices and tools shaping the future of government form design! 🌟 Register now and join us on December 4 for FormFest! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eB3Jdc9M Co-hosted by the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation and Code for America

Government teams face complex challenges as they work to digitally deliver public services, programs, and benefits. Such challenges include outdated technologies, a workforce with a wide range of technical expertise, competing policy and programmatic priorities, resistance to new ways of working, and more. We've had many people ask for tools and strategies that can help: 📋 Assess gaps in their current approaches to and capacity for useful, intuitive, interoperable, and secure digital delivery from conception to deployment and maintenance  🤝 Collaboratively develop and advocate for recommendations their organizations can implement to begin closing those gaps. In response to this need, the Digital Service Network team developed two new resources: 💬 Digital Delivery Assessment Interview Template: This interview template includes questions designed to help teams conduct exploratory, semi-structured interviews with government stakeholders involved in program delivery to gather information that can help them evaluate the status quo of digital delivery in their organization. 🎯 Digital Delivery Problem Identification & Definition Workshop Guide: This workshop guide offers teams an opportunity to jointly work toward understanding core problems impacting digital delivery in their organization. The guide is structured in two parts: (1) a Miro template and (2) a Facilitation Guide. 🔎 Explore the new templates and tools ➡️ https://lnkd.in/esdpwEpP

In August, we heard from Jessica Houle, Luke Charde, and Gabe Paley from New York State's NYS Office of General Services, NYS Office of Information Technology Services, and New York State Executive Chamber to learn more about how leadership has played a critical role in their digital transformation journey as a part of our #LetsGetDigital summer event series. Some key takeaways:  ⭐ Use leadership as a catalyst for change 🔁 Embrace journey-centric approaches ❤️ Cultivate talent with a heart for public service 📖 Use storytelling as a strategic tool 🔖 Read the event recap: https://lnkd.in/eq8hd-Xz 🎥 Watch the recording: https://lnkd.in/e6D5kRRU 🔎 Read the spotlight and explore the examples that highlights additional aspects of this work: https://lnkd.in/eFrUCWWT