Tech in Government: The Benefits of Prioritizing User Experience in MA

Tuesday - October 24 2023, 06:45 UTC - 1 year ago

Last week, I published a story about government and technology, and this article summarizes the main points. Government employees aren't typically empowered to shape how citizens interact with policies, but Boston is leading the way in changes like user experience research and human-centric design. This has helped them streamline digital services like the Common Housing Application for Massachusetts Program (CHAMP). Massachusetts is highly educated and well-resourced, which has allowed the city to build up an internal tech talent pool. These changes allow the American public to see government deliver and avoid being driven away from it altogether.

Last week I published a story about government and technology that I spent the better part of this past year reporting, and I think all of you will identify with it.Well, the answer is far more complicated than is often portrayed. I won’t get into all the reasons here—you can read about what I learned from top government tech people across the country in my story.To understand why, we actually need to back up for a second .

Most of the experts I spoke with told me some version of the same story: they said that historically, government employees who are responsible for implementing policies at the ground level are not empowered to shape how citizens actually interact with these policies. For example, an agency responsible for getting people affordable housing doesn’t necessarily have the power to shape how the enrollment process works .

In an age of user-centric technology, this boundary can be ruinous.Boston, though, actually has a long history of prioritizing user experience research and human-centric design when it comes to digital services, finding ways to integrate feedback into policymaking."Some of the most successful legislations are the ones that empower the programs and services where you really have the biggest ability to have tighter feedback loops with the constituents," said Garces .

Harlan Weber, a former user experience designer fellow for Massachusetts’s IT department, told me about working on the Common Housing Application for Massachusetts Program (CHAMP) several years ago. He noted that they "went out and did research with tons of people in housing authorities and with government workers who'd have to use the thing." They then used that feedback, he said, to shape the portal that finally let residents apply for housing benefits in a single streamlined online system .

Boston has "a lot of inbuilt advantages," said Weber, also the founder of Code for Boston. "And we’ve worked hard to press those advantages."Massachusetts, he points out, is a highly educated, well-resourced state "that mostly believes that government can be part of the solution and not just part of the problem." It also helps that Boston is home to a lot of tech companies and tech researchers working in close proximity to the center of government .

This has allowed the city to build up an internal talent pool.I’ve been thinking a lot about something Pahlka said to me about core government services: "If the American public doesn’t see government deliver, I think it’s less that they get driven toward one party or another, and more that they get driven away from government altogether."What else I’m reading .