{"id":3575,"date":"2020-12-04T11:35:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T11:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2020-12-08T15:37:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T15:37:17","slug":"what-scottish-government-has-learned-about-how-to-do-digital-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/2020\/12\/04\/what-scottish-government-has-learned-about-how-to-do-digital-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"What Scottish Government has learned about how to do \u2018Digital Discovery\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019m Angela Saunders, Product Manager at the Scottish Government.\u00a0 If you\u2019re on the point of starting a \u201cDigital Discovery\u201d project, I want to tell you about what we\u2019ve learned recently from ours.\u00a0 For those unfamiliar with the term, Discovery is the important first step in designing a public service.<\/p>\n

What is Discovery, and why do it?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\u201cSuck\u201d by Sir Anish Kapoor (at Jupiter Artland) presents an inviting void, containing what? (photo by the blog author)<\/p><\/div>\n

In Scottish Government, it starts when a public sector client organisation asks us for help to develop its services, culture and\/or ways of working.\u00a0 Normally, if our most effective impact can be achieved by collaborating directly with that organisation, we start by carrying out a Discovery exercise.\u00a0 Discovery is an Agile term, described here in GOV.UK<\/a>, and it does what it says on the tin.\u00a0 The focus is on finding all you need to know to inform what service users are going to need.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, our client\u2019s already decided, \u201cIf I\u2019m going \u2018digital\u2019, I\u2019ll be needing some new system or kit.\u201d\u00a0 Not necessarily! \u00a0We need them to park that thought, and come on a voyage of Discovery with us. \u00a0Whatever Discovery produces, it will not in itself deliver a shiny new platform. Sometimes what we discover is, it\u2019s\u00a0not a tech solution that\u2019s required at all.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s often needed is a better understanding of the service users and their needs. While that\u2019s always been a key factor in citizen service, it sits at the heart of digital methods and practices.<\/p>\n

Great digital service is the same as any great customer service.\u00a0 It starts and ends with people.\u00a0 In Government, we like to define digital services as: driven by citizens, enabled by technology.\u00a0 And following implementation, we keep asking citizens if we\u2019ve got it right.<\/p>\n

Citizens may want<\/u> a lot of things, but what will be the best fit for their particular needs<\/u>?\u00a0 How can we ensure citizens have seamless access to the services they need \u2013 and are entitled to – from government?<\/p>\n

Finding out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The answer emerges from doing a load of research.\u00a0 A Discovery project uses the time allocated (four, six or maybe eight weeks) to find out everything possible, ideally, to inform and develop a \u2018delightful user experience\u2019.<\/p>\n

In Discovery, the mission is to collect and interpret data \u2013<\/p>\n