One of our most popular blogs this year has been How to make great digital services in NSW Government, where we explained how the Design System and the Design Standards would make creating digital services easier.
If you're in the business of creating digital services, then you'll be interested to hear how we're looking to evolve the standard to better support you - and we want your input!
The Design Standards is made up of six parts' that underpin the design and delivery of digital services in NSW Government.
We researched extensively and got feedback from creators when developing the draft standard that was released in December 2018. This was just the start of the process.
What we've heard
We've been speaking with a range of creators across NSW Government to get their feedback on the standard since its release.
Creators see the value of having a standard which sets the minimum of what's expected, it's a reminder of things to consider, it helps with decision-making, and it's useful for people new to these ways of working.
They also told us:
- We need clearer expectations creators want more detail about what they need to do and when they should be considering things, with the standard striking a balance between being not too loose and not too prescriptive.
- The structure could be clearer creators suggested the mandatory bits' and helpful tips' could be linked to the how we get there' statements to make them more useful.
- I don't know what's relevant to me creators don't want to read through every bit of documentation to understand what applies to them.
- There's duplication across the standard as an example, data driven decisions' are referenced in multiple parts of the standard.
What we're looking to do
We've come up with an approach to evolve the standard to help address what our creators have told us.
- Expectations: develop foundations that sit under each part' of the standard they'll focus on key areas creators typically need to consider e.g. user research, branding, record keeping, data management. Each foundation would set some minimum expectations that creators can check off against, which also gives us the flexibility to provide more detail where needed.
- Structure: re-jig the structure of the standard so it's clearer. For example, renaming 'parts' as principles and linking the guides and tools to the foundations, instead of being standalone things.
- User relevance: break each of the foundations into phases (explore and develop ideas; create, test and demonstrate value; improve and maintain) to make it clearer when creators need to consider things; and also match the foundations to capabilities.
- Duplication: address those double-ups through the new approach.
And a few other things:
- Continuously improve: rename this principle it's a bit vague and doesn't really capture the ongoing management of the service. We've got a working title of 'evolve and manage'.
- Bring the customer commitments into the picture: they're the vision for government service delivery, so should be front of mind when we design digital services.
Structurally speaking
This is what the Digital Design Standard could look like in the future:
What's next
We've mocked up an early prototype of how this approach could work in practice, so teams could check themselves against the standard. Each phase includes some expectations for a few of the foundations.
Ignore the fact it's in a Google form - it's just to give an idea of how we could make the standard more interactive for creators.
We'd see a lite version of the standard (a version of this early prototype) being released in the interim until we've built out each of the foundations.
Get involved
This is a work in progress. Our hypothesis is that this new approach will make the standard more useful for creators and give them more assurance that they're on the right track.
We've got lots of testing, engaging and developing to do.
We'd love you to get involved and help us shape the evolution of the standard - send us your thoughts or take part in a feedback session. If you're interested, get in touch: digital@finance.nsw.gov.au