Designing for Impact: Human-Centered Design in the Public Sector

Think about how we typically approach problems: we notice a problem; we get a few smart people in a room to discuss the problem; they think of a solution; and we send someone out to implement that solution. Of course, that’s simplified, but that is the general path that most public sector problem-solving takes. And here’s hoping those smart people know what they’re talking about. 

The challenge is that many solutions that are devised this way don’t have the level of impact that they should. Often that’s because the people in the room designing the solution haven’t experienced the problem themselves. They know the problem exists, but they don’t have first-hand experience. What appears to be a technology issue might actually be a training one, but root causes are often missed in traditional problem solving. 

This is where Human-Centered Design (HCD) can help. HCD is a five-step problem solving process that puts the user (the constituent, the resident, the customer) at the center of the solution design process. It allows for the solution design to get to the root causes of the problems, come up with creative solutions, and actually test their effectiveness before full implementation. 

I’m going to walk us through the HCD process with a public sector example: our work with the City of Syracuse’s Division of Code Enforcement.

Empathize

The first step in the HCD process is to Empathize. This is the phase where we dive deep into the problem, understand what’s actually causing it, and learn about the user's experiences with the problem. We use tools like process and journey maps, user personas, interviews, and focus groups to get an inside perspective. 

In Syracuse, the City knew that its Division of Code Enforcement (DOCE) had low compliance rates, meaning residents were living in rentals with code violations that impacted their health and safety. Instead of assuming it was a performance issue with the inspectors, the City’s innovation team dove in to learn more about what was happening. We went for ride-alongs with the inspectors to learn about their process, conducted interviews with city residents in community centers to talk about their experience with code violations, and presented to landlord professional associations about code enforcement. 

From this engagement, we were able to develop an in-depth process map for the DOCE and clearly identify pain points in the process where it was breaking down for one or more of our audiences. 

Define

With this research, we were then able to move into the Define phase where we identified the specific challenges that needed solving. While the overall problem was low compliance rates, what we actually wanted to solve was what was causing those low compliance rates. 

Based on the pain points from the process map, we knew some of the key challenges:

• Community engagement - many residents experiencing code violations were not aware of DOCE or how to reach out for help.

• Clear communication - the communication process to let landlords know there was a violation at their property was slow, full of legalese, and one-way.

• Technology - the inspectors were limited in the amount of properties they could visit in a day because they needed hours at the end of the day to input all of the notes and violations from their inspections.

Ideate

The third HCD phase is everyone’s favorite - ideation. This is where the fun begins. Rather than sit around a table and try to come up with ideas for the above challenges, ideation encourages us to continue to work with the future solution users to solve the problem. After all, those experiencing the problem often know what they need to solve it. 

In Syracuse we hosted ideation sessions with the code inspectors, with the City’s neighborhood development staff, and with residents. These ideation sessions were interactive workshops with different stations and brainstorming activities to get people’s creativity flowing. The only rule is no idea is a bad idea, no matter how big or small. We collected over 500 ideas.

Prototype

Now that we have a collection of ideas, we want to prototype what some of them will actually look like. Prototyping is a low-to-no-cost way of creating a testable solution. They can be anything from low-fidelity prototypes, like a new trash receptacle design made out of construction paper, to high-fidelity ones, like using a powerpoint deck to design a click-through interface for an online application.

Since our Syracuse example is for process improvement and not a product, our prototype of several of the ideas was a pilot program. There were seven different ideas represented in the pilot:

• Territories: Inspectors were assigned to a specific territory, which they walked and drove on a regular basis and proactively identified violations.

• Block by block: Blocks received “score cards” which measure their health. Inspectors were asked to pay special attention to the blocks that have low scores or see negative change.

• Technology:  The city provided inspectors with tablets to use during inspections in the field, allowing them to update case files in real-time and not need to spend hours in the office at the end of the day inputting notes.

• Meet your inspector: Inspectors met with people and organizations in their neighborhood. During these interactions, tenants could meet with inspectors about their living conditions, and property managers could meet with inspectors for technical assistance.

• Health and safety priorities: Inspectors had a checklist of violations related to health and safety that they reviewed during every inspection.

• Customer Service: After a case was closed, tenants and property owners received a survey allowing them to rate their experience.

• Property Owner Outreach: Inspectors called property owners to inquire and check on outstanding code violations.

Test

The final phase of the HCD process is to test your prototypes! This will allow you to evaluate the impact of the solution in a low risk scenario, that way if it doesn’t work you won’t have wasted time and resources. It also allows us to determine if adjustments need to be made to the solution prior to full launch. 

We launched the pilot in Syracuse with two inspectors working within their new territory and employing the different strategies and tools listed above. We conducted weekly check-ins with them to see how it was going and give them support where needed (like learning how to dictate to the tablet instead of typing). At the end of the pilot, those inspectors presented back to their colleagues on how well they thought the new strategies worked. The numbers spoke for themselves.

The inspectors identified 46% more health and safety violations, increased communication with tenants and landlords by 31%, proactively identified 115 new cases and increased their compliance rate from 39% to 58%.

We hope this helped show you how the HCD process can be perfect for public sector problem solving and gave you a few ideas of how to use it in your locality! Still need some help? Linnett Loving works with you to design and action on strategies tailored specifically to your needs. Reach out to learn how we can help you!