Service Design Blueprints
Service Design: A look inside Washington DC’s interagency experiences
Context- Aid the City Administrator of Washington DC in a multi-year exploratory study and service redesign initiative
Timeframe- 17 days
Role- Co-Designer/Researcher in two person team
Methods- Interviews, Screener Surveys, Research
Audience-Human Services Agencies: the Office of Disability Rights, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Aging and Community Living
Objectives- What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for employees serving at internal/resident facing agencies of the District of Columbia? How might these be redesigned using service blueprints to improve employee satisfaction and resident experiences indirectly?
Outcomes: Photos, Transcripts/Quotes, Survey Responses, Trends, User Insights, Challenges
Artifacts-Research Plan, Survey/Responses, Interview Script Questions and Responses, Insights and Synthesis
Deliverables-User Personas, Customer Journey Maps, Service Blueprint and Recommendations
Interviews- Over three days, my partner and I conducted 16 interviews.
We spoke to those serving at the highest levels of leadership of the Health and Human Services Cluster to understand their experiences working with the following seven key internal facing agencies:
Department of General Services
Office of the Chief Technology Officer
Office of Contracting and Procurement
Department of Human Resources
Office of Risk Management
Office of Disability Rights
Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining
We asked each interviewee to describe their role within the agency and:
What they liked about, found frustrating with and suggested improvements for, each of the above seven agencies
Lastly, we conducted a client sourced questionnaire which required the interviewee to card sort for each agency, the pillars of customer service, from strength to weakness.
Secondary Research using survey of residents
In order to see the entire service ecosystem including the residents’ experience, we asked our interviewees for their insight into the challenges that DC residents face when obtaining services through our local government agencies. We supplemented this with an independent survey of residents focused on experiences with the Department of Human Services. Our primary goal was to see if residents felt they had accomplished their intended tasks when obtaining services and what obstacles they encountered. The survey was disseminated across social media platforms and using Reddit.
Synthesis using Topic and Affinity Mapping
These overarching categories emerged:
Customer Service
Outreach/Awareness
Guidance/ Training
Hiring/Staffing
Tools/Technology
Topic Mapping
Affinity Mapping
“We have a good relationship when it comes to assisting employees to get reasonable accommodations for their jobs.”
“They have a very dedicated staff who care and want to help”
“Recruitment has been frustrating.”
“I get scolded all the time by them and it is to the point that I am numb.”
User Personas, Use Cases, Customer Journey Maps
Meet Tina who is an upper level manager for a resident facing agency. Her Use Case delineates her experience making a new hire and some of the challenges she encounters along the way.
Many of these challenges also negatively impact the person who is being hired. This journey forms the center of the Service Blueprint that follows which includes Tina as the hiring manager and Mary, a soon to be new employee for the agency.
User Persona for Tina M., Upper Level Manager within a resident facing agency of the District of Columbia
Tina’s Journey hiring for a new position within her organization
Service Blueprint for hiring with pain points indicated by red stars