human-centered design

Good design and customer experience (CX) is a bipartisan issue we should all get behind

More than aesthetics, good design across websites, apps, and even those arduous government forms, drives efficiency that saves time and taxpayer money by Intelliworx The U.S. government maintains an estimated 23,000 websites. Many are outdated, expensive to operate, and difficult to navigate. For example, less than one in five “federal websites use code from USWDS [United States Web Design System], contributing to inconsistent and varying user experiences.” Further, nearly half (45%) are “not mobile friendly” and only 6% earned a “good” rating for performance on mobile devices. Yet mobile devices are ubiquitous. It’s been ten-plus years since Google searches on mobile devices surpassed those on a desktop. That illustrates how reliant people are on these tools for communication, including communication with their government. That’s the crux of the problem the America by Design initiative aims to solve. A new Executive Order authorizing the initiative sets it up this way: “America […]

An interview with the ‘Godmother of Government CX’ on agencies and modernization

Martha Dorris says good customer experience (CX) is a ‘patriotic’ initiative that provides better service and enables the government to run more efficiently and effectively by Intelliworx The concept of customer experience (CX) is getting a lot of attention in Washington, DC these days. While improving experiences sounds like a task for an entertainment company rather than a government, the motivation for better CX boils down to efficiency and effectiveness. So, says Martha Dorris. She spent 34 years championing CX initiatives from her post within the General Services Administration (GSA). Her work there earned the endearing moniker “godmother of government CX.” Today, while she’s retired from the civil service, she remains active as a consultant and host of a government-focused podcast The CX Tipping Point. “People used to laugh at me at the GSA, because, they thought, ‘customer experience? ‘We’re a government, not Disney,” she told us in an interview […]

How the U.S. Government’s digital transformation efforts are reducing the “time tax”

A new report illustrates how federal agencies are using “human-centered design” to improve customer experience (CX) and save everyone time, effort and money by Intelliworx Many government processes are initiated by completing a form. You read the instructions, fill out the data, and submit the document – and then wait to hear about the next steps. These forms tend to be long, complicated and take time to complete. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has called this a “time tax” on several occasions. Our very own CEO Rob Hankey recently observed one such process up close. His wife recently attained U.S. citizenship, which involved completing many forms over years. For example, she completed one form to enter the country on a fiancé visa. Then, once married, she completed a separate form to apply for a green card. Later, when she met the prerequisites to apply for citizenship, she filled […]