With the growing adoption of Human Centered Design (HCD) and a continued focus on Customer Experience (CX) in the federal space, we turned to Sean Fitzpatrick, RIVA Solutions’ Senior Vice President of Human Centered Design (HCD), to better understand how applications built with low-code platforms can leverage HCD without slowing speed to market, and why it is critical to balance HCD methods and the rapid delivery of low-code applications to achieve end user satisfaction.
Human Centered Design for Government Digital Services
A core tenant of Human Centered Design (HCD) for digital service delivery is allotting discovery time to gain an understanding of end-users’ perspectives, whether for a website, a web application, or an internal mission-critical system. Discovery ensures the end-user has a voice in the design and development and that the delivered product meets their needs as they interact with government digital services.“The goal of HCD in digital services is to support people so they can accomplish tasks quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum number of errors.This concept has been in existence for some time and historically we’ve referred to this methodology as user-centered design and have been primarily focussed on creating usable digital experiences.This is still the core of what those us in the Federal digital services community are doing today, supported by the broader focus on the overall, holistic customer experience. It’s a refreshing trend, particularly in the Federal Government!”
With the release of the Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, the concept of the “customer experience” and usage of HCD methods for digital service design and delivery has really taken off, building on the momentum of early adopters such as HHS, GSA, and DHS. Sean recalls a long-running HCD effort at HHS: “More than a decade ago I was involved in the design of the Usability.gov website. The wider adoption of HCD has been a long time coming. The momentum is building and is really taking off with certain Federal agencies who are fully embracing HCD to design digital products and services—and create positive overarching customer experiences for their agencies.”
GSA, an early adopter, is taking HCD and product management approaches to the next level, supported by 18F. The U.S. Digital Service (USDS) within the Executive Office of the White House has blazed a similar path to utilizing commercial digital service best-practices including HCD. Today, the US Digital Services CIO Playbook plays regularly appear in agency procurement documents as requirements for contractor delivery. Additionally, the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, also driving HCD best practices adoption, has added to the multiple forces pushing government to design applications that are usable, useful, and accessible.
Using HCD Methods to Design Low-code Customer Experiences
Another movement in the Federal technology landscape is the usage of low-code and no-code platforms. Low-code platforms allow for the development of working software—very quickly! Many agency CIOs are embracing the concept of rapidly-delivered working software, with configuration and connections to data versus custom software development. But speed of delivery on its own doesn’t guarantee the delivery of business value and a usable customer experience.
“Yes, it may be possible to build software in two months, but you will build a much better product if you take a bit of time to set a foundation based on user and stakeholder needs. Faster delivery may satisfy one need for speed but when the product is not well received because it does not meet real user needs, it creates a new set of user adoption challenges.”
Enter HCD. HCD for low-code user experience design does not need to be a long, drawn-out upfront discovery process. You can gain valuable end user insights in just a few weeks of discovery that will accelerate the delivery of valuable and usable. By balancing the fast-paced delivery of working code on low-code platforms with just the right amount of upfront user discovery, combined with ongoing user feedback loops, agency CIOs will realize the value of low-code applications that meet user needs without the high cost and time investment of custom applications. Based on his experiences combining HCD and low-code platforms, Sean has the following tips and suggestions:
- Talk to Real Users Before Designing and Building – Product owner and business stakeholder engagement is critical, but equally important is user research to understand user needs. Take the time to interview current and future system end users. A two-week Sprint Zero isn’t usually enough time, but adding in a few more weeks allows teams to conduct meaningful user interviews, contextual inquiries, and structured observations to learn how people work. A few more weeks for discovery will not significantly slow overall the product delivery process—in fact, it can save a ton of rework time in the long run and improve adoption.
- Share What You Learned About User Needs – Including key members of your low-code delivery team (Tech Leads, Business Analysts, UX Designers, Product Owners, etc.) in the user research process is great for building empathy for users and promotes a common understanding of user needs.
- Design User Experiences (UX) to Meet User Needs – UX design for low-code platforms is where the rubber meets the road. Most low-code platforms have a built-in design system, which is typically a collection of User Interface (UI) components with real working code behind them. Be sure to engage a UX designer in the wireframing and design process—and have them work closely with the development team to design “just enough” of the UX to allow developers to move into live prototypes.
- Continuously Collect User Feedback for Improvement – An important step in the HCD process for low-code UX design is collecting usability feedback on proposed designs and interactions. Get UX design and live prototypes in front of representative end users early and often!
In the end, being flexible with how HCD methods are utilized in the context of designing low-code experiences can lead to both speed and quality—something that everyone wants. It takes commitment and a shared understanding from agency leaders and industry partners to meet the intent of the Executive Order on Customer Experience. “True HCD commitment requires the entire team—both agency and industry partners—to understand that discovery and design cycles may take just a bit more time and effort, but in the end, what gets delivered will be a more user-focused and successful low-code customer experience.”
About Sean Fitzpatrick
Sean Fitzpatrick leads RIVA’s Human Centered Design (HCD) practice. He holds an M.A. in Human Factors Engineering and brings over 20 years of experience in HCD and User Experience (UX), working in both the private and public sectors. For the past 15 years, Sean has focused on building HCD and UX teams that design engaging, usable digital services for the Federal government at agencies such as HHS, CMS, and GSA.
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