We were discussing public service delivery on Twitter earlier, as that monument to techbro hubris continues its rapid collapse into the sea, and the question was asked as to why the UK has “digitised” so many services in a way that they are an opaque online form or call centre where hope goes to die whereas in other countries public services are more often provided at a local level by actual human beings?
Life is too short to try and analyse the peculiarities of the UK in a single blog post so instead I present my 4 tier model for good service design:
- Invisible: Services which require no user intervention, they just happen. PAYE is a good example. These should form the bulk of public services. The only time we need to be conscious of them is at inflection points – something begins, something changes, something finishes. Which takes us on to the next two:
- Just a minute: You should be able to complete the service online in under a minute. Register to vote is a perfect example, not just because I built it. Even complex services should be broken down into individual atoms as far as possible so even if you get something wrong or have a problem you never lose more than a minute’s work.
- Personal: You have a named facilitator. A human being who you can talk to who owns the solution of your problem. This may seem a step back from the shining rocket ship on the hill of digital services but digital services are a means to an end. Not an end in and of themselves. The better you design the first two engagements the less demand there is on the facilitator.
- Escalation: Something has gone badly wrong and the facilitator cannot resolve it. Time to call for the Aire Échta.
Mark O'Neill 
I like this – it chimes with the critical distinction I make between
– operational effectiveness services (it was better it were not done at all, but if it will be done, it should be done quickly – to paraphrase Hamlet) – it’s a nuisance to your life and you want the transaction to ‘not touch the sides’
– customer intimacy services – where you need real, engaged, personal support (and even then, some aspects like providing your identity or whatever fit the category above)
and of course you are right about always, always needing a human-first, finally, escalation route (looking at you, HMRC).
But… this is really the WHAT of doing digital wrong, I think – what do you think is the WHY?
LikeLike
OMG, I am embarrass. The Scottish play, not The Danish play! 😮
LikeLike