From Digital Tools to Design Leadership: Rethinking Public Services

Technology is accelerating at breakneck pace and as user experiences continue to improve, residents expect the same from their government services. But tech alone can’t modernize public services. Human-directed, visionary leadership helps steer digitization strategies that create meaningful results.

As we’ve seen with the federal appointment of online accommodations platform Airbnb’s co-founder Joe Gebbia as the first U.S. Chief Design Officer, as well as with Arizona’s creation of a Director of Digital Solutions with Anebi Agbo taking the role, there's been a shift toward a preference for design leadership in government.

These appointments show that government design is becoming infrastructure, bringing bottom-line benefits like intuitive and efficient use and a refined experience between citizens and their city High-performing user experience helps build trust in public services. As more constituents come to rely on tech more for everyday life, the role of government services must also adapt to delivering a user-friendly experience in what it offers.

Why Design Matters in Public Services

Design that complements the user experience matters in public services more than ever before. With 90% of American adults using smartphones, citizens now expect services to match the ease and clarity of private platforms (like Airbnb, for example). 

Citizen’s digital lives are becoming frictionless, and they expect the same experience with their civic services.

Government technology done right can dramatically improve public services but done wrong, it can have tremendous consequence: For example:

1. In 2013, Healthcare.gov launched – and crashed – within 2 hours, due to high user demand. The failure of the site launch resulted in user frustration and public ridicule, with additional issues including drop-down menu malfunctions and incorrect user data transfer. Only 6 users were able to select a health insurance plan and submit an application on launch day. While the website initially failed, that ultimately helped lead to the creation of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) a year later, an organization providing consultation services to federal agencies on information technology. Since 2014, the organization has become less reactive and more proactive, to make user experiences with federal government services smooth from the outset.

   
   

2. In 2003, New York City’s 311 service (NYC311) launched as a way to give residents an alternative to calling 911 for non-emergency services. The platform has received more than 525 million contacts, ranging from phone calls to text messages to chat support, for help with public services such as illegal parking, blocked driveways, street and sidewalk noise, residential noise and heat/hot water. The app continues to evolve and is a prime example where intuitive design increased engagement and gave citizens a single, trusted entry point for services.

   
   

In the New York 311 example, the city established trust and has created more opportunities to communicate with citizens. When done wrong however, residents opt out. In a world where alternatives are a few slicks away, friction in services results in residents opting out.

As Arizona’s smart region consortium, The Connective believes good design isn’t just about improving aesthetics in tech. It’s about enhancing functionality and creating more opportunities for more citizens to engage with public services.

Structuring for Success & Avoiding Pitfalls

When a city, state or federal government organization decides to undertake a digital transformation, leaders need to ask key questions that help refine the strategy. Titles alone don’t change outcomes; key performance indicators tied to adoption, task completion and user satisfaction need to follow. Otherwise, titles without results become symbolic.

While government isn’t always held to the same standard a corporation might be when it comes to technological advancements, an extreme sense of intentionality and benchmarking can provide an alternative to the market forces that guide private industry as it pertains to user satisfaction. Strategic results tracking also helps justify the creation of roles like Chief Design Officer, and ensures those roles better complement existing roles such as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer whose impact can be clearly communicated back to city management as well as the public. 

While upgrades to digital systems matter, design in government service technology also means improving the outward facing experience for constituents. While reducing costs and enhancing the cities ability to function, immediate and direct impacts to the resident are equally if not more important. It's not about a trickle down or ancillary benefit to residents, it's about the immediate impact that they can feel.

Cities that adopt design principles can build lasting frameworks that evolve with the help of technology, rather than creating temporary fixes. As they’re embedded into everyday decision-making within governments, the organization as a whole can become more forward-thinking, innovative and user-friendly, for both government workers and constituents.

Arizona as a Case Study in Design Leadership

Arizona is already miles ahead of other states and even countries in terms of design leadership and digital tools. Arizona’s Director of Digital Solutions role signals the state’s commitment to embedding design principles in daily operations. 

At the city level, multiple leaders are already producing measurable progress, with more consistent digital services and fewer friction points in resident interactions. For example:

• The City of Mesa’s digital twin pilot demonstrates how emerging tools can help residents understand urban planning and infrastructure in more transparent ways. 

  
  

• The City of Scottsdale’s augmented reality (AR) tourism project and their Speak Up Scottsdale Platform. A user centric platform to create clear and meaningful pathways to civic participation.  

  
  

The Connective convenes Arizona cities, shap

es best practices, and bridges design with technology. By fostering communication and knowledge-sharing among Arizona cities, successful pilots don’t remain isolated experiments; they scale. 

The Future of Civic Design in Arizona & Beyond

The emergence of design leadership in city, state and federal governments signals a permanent shift in public expectations for user experience in public services. Institutionalizing digital experience within governments can improve:

• User experience, participation, and engagement: Creating easy-to-use apps, websites and government tech can increase trust and lead to a more positive experience with municipal governments. Like we’ve seen with the success of apps like NYC311, residents will embrace turning to government technology when it delivers useful results within platforms that seamlessly integrate into everyday life.

  
  

• Transparency in decision-making: Using KPIs as a guide, performance results can help influence design strategy that’s directly informed by constituent and user response. This feedback can also be helpful in improving public services in general, based on how users prefer to interact with government services and based on what their most pressing needs are.

  
  

• Enhancing outcomes: Technology and design should be about more than opening the door. They should help improve outcomes for constituents, as adoption helps inform future decision-making and design evolution. As more users interact with thoughtfully designed government tech, leaders in design can evaluate results and use KPIs to improve design strategy and, thus, user engagement that leads to better public services.

  
  

Conversely, when the user experience in public services is lacking, citizens endure friction and disengage. This can be detrimental to future campaigns and to the success of engaging constituents with important public services. 

Prioritizing design and digitization in governments is less about official appointments and role connections, and more about supporting technological movements that Arizona cities are already driving. Citizens are using their time and attention to show what they support. If they’re not engaging with government tools and technology, that results in major missed opportunities.

Civic design is becoming a pillar of government service, from the federal government in Washington, D.C., to city public services in Phoenix. Titles may come and go, but the demand for user-friendly, consistent and citizen-focused experiences will only grow. 

Arizona cities, with support from The Connective, are demonstrating how to move from temporary fixes to lasting design frameworks that improve civic life. To get involved with advancing civic design and enhancing the user experience in government technology, join The Connective.