We’ve been kicking goals, with NSW services changing for the better and digital projects expanding and connecting people in the community.
So who are we? The DNA Lab helps government agencies transform digitally by designing and building citizen-focused services. We were only a three-person Digital Acceleration Team in December 2017, but it didn’t take long to grow.
Within a couple of months, we’d joined with the Digital Policy Team led by Katarina Ruszczyk and rebranded ourselves to the DNA Lab to become a force for change within the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation (DFSI) and across government.
We started with two major projects: Cost of Living led by Service NSW and Strata Mediation led by Fair Trading. We soon brought on a third project, School Enrolment led by the Department of Education.
What have we learned in 12 months?
Cultural change is the answer – through collaborating with us, Service NSW, Fair Trading and Better Regulation have been exposed to a new way of working. While short-term projects and digital minimum viable products (MVPs) are a great start, re-thinking ways of working are long-term wins.
Engaging early helps – this was especially evident in our work with the Department of Education. The user testing received very positive feedback and we have built strong relationships across departments.
Agile is the way forward – after working with us, teams undergo change. Several teams are undertaking a digital transformation process and once this is complete, agile ways of working won’t merely be a one-project approach, but rather ’how we do things around here’.
Mountains can be moved – some days it felt like we were moving mountains to get people to come on the proverbial ‘digital journey’ with us. We invested the time and can see real change as a result.
It was never about the MVPs being delivered – the value has always been in the pivots to get to the MVP – the many micro-failures we learned, the gentle nudges to our stakeholders, who were learning with us, and the hearts and minds we changed along the way.
Projects in more depth
Cost of living with Service NSW (SNSW)
This program was designed to help those struggling to meet their monthly living expenses.
While we didn’t end up building an MVP, we did conduct market research and designed and tested a face-to-face service that was rolled out across all SNSW service centres.
The real win for DNA Lab was not in launching a digital product, but instead demonstrating the power of user-centred design to build services that citizens love.
This project helped demonstrate how early user-engagement builds better services.
Now, one year later, SNSW has a full team of Service Designers leading design and user-testing for every one of their programs.
Delivering an MVP is a short-term win – the long term (and far more impactful) play is changing the culture and ways of working inside government, which our work with Service NSW allowed.
Strata Mediation with Fair Trading
Replacing a heavily manual process, we launched a new digital product to help those living in shared building environments settle disputes outside tribunal.
It was Fair Trading’s first exposure to ‘agile’ and ‘design thinking’ processes. Leaders like Deputy Secretary Rose Webb got the chance to immerse herself in the design sessions and she provided feedback at each showcase as the product evolved. Rose was sold. Early into her journey, she put her hand up to bring another one of her programs into the DNA Lab – Proof of Identity (for High Risk Work Licences.)
While the Strata Mediation product was a small build, the Proof of Identity project has morphed into a government-wide authentication program now led by SNSW. The ripple effect that the DNA teams had on both programs are huge.
School Enrolment with the Department of Education
Set to impact the lives of the 70,000 parents who enroll their children in school ever year, this project has been one of our shining stars.
We not only engaged internal teams and of course parents, but we worked closely with school staff – a cohort that has a long history of feeling disempowered by the technology that they receive from head office.
Over nine months, the DNA team has worked with school administrators, principals and parents to redesign the way children are enrolled in school.
Developers from the Department of Education have moved buildings to sit in the DNA Lab and they’ve welcomed ’continuous integration’ and ’continuous delivery’ practices with open arms.
This project will launch with a few pilot schools in April and thanks to very positive engagement in the initial phases, there’s been no shortage of schools happy to take part in the pilot.
What’s next?
It’s been a busy year, but wait until you see what we do next!