2. Solve a whole problem for users

People don’t organise their lives around government - and they shouldn’t have to understand how government works to access the services they need.

If we understand people’s lives, we can learn which organisations are responsible for providing services needed by those users and find effective ways to deliver the best possible outcomes.

That doesn’t mean trying to fix everything at once or building complicated systems that are difficult to deliver because they try to do too much. Start small and deliver value to users incrementally and frequently.

Doing work early to see the big picture - users, their problems and needs and the organisations that will serve those needs - means you’ll have a good understanding of the context you are working in, and what problems you’re going to solve.

Even when what you learn about users can’t be solved by your project, it’s important to link to related services or share those insights with organisations who can use them.

How you do it

Map the landscape
Take time to understand how everything fits together - from user journeys to technology - and share this information
Define your scope
Use what you learn about users to scope your service
Understand constraints
Make sure organisational constraints - like procurement, policy and legislation - are understood and communicated
Remove barriers that will affect the service
This might include working with policy professionals to update legislation
Work with other organisations
Understand where you fit together as part of a user journey and work to improve the experience, for example reducing the number of times users are asked to provide the same information (while respecting their privacy)

Links to detailed guidance:

Guidance on using experience maps from GDS
Guidance on understanding scope from GDS
Consider how you can use the Scottish Approach to Service Design to scope your service with people who will use it