7 5 types of feedback that helped make GOV.UK a success




Jake Benilov

@benilov

Agile Tour Vilnius 2013

Agenda




UK government publishing, GDS & GOV.UK



GOV.UK and feedback

Agenda




UK government publishing, GDS & GOV.UK



GOV.UK and feedback

Government publishing in 2010





750 top level domains

Government publishing in 2010





Directgov, Business Link 6 years old

Government publishing in 2010

Directgov

Government publishing in 2010

Business Link

Government publishing in 2010





no unified website identities

Government publishing in 2010

Government publishing in 2010

Government publishing in 2010

Government publishing in 2010




users have to understand the structure of government to find information and services

Directgov usability problems




"everything is in one place, but it is a confusing place."






Source: Consumer Focus, Does Directgov Deliver?

Directgov usability problems




"At present, there are over a 100 sections and headings that link from the home page."





Source: Consumer Focus, Does Directgov Deliver?

Directgov usability problems




"Much content duplicates the work of existing trusted sources"






Source: Consumer Focus, Does Directgov Deliver?

Directgov usability problems




"Online surveys of visitors to Directgov shows 35% of people are unable to find everything they want"





Source: Consumer Focus, Does Directgov Deliver?

Making online services more efficient

Making online services more efficient



1. Fix transactional services

2. Fix publishing

3. Go wholesale, not just retail

4. New CEO Digital



Source: Tom Loosemore, GDS Changing by Doing, http://slidesha.re/nzYV4T

What is GDS?



Government

Digital

Service

What is GDS?


Source: Russell Davies, Flickr, http://flic.kr/p/dqjVYV







https://www.gov.uk

What is GOV.UK?






Single entry point to central government

What is GOV.UK?






Single brand







GOV.UK replaced Directgov and Business Link on October 17, 2012







1800 user needs identified







700+ user needs redesigned and rewritten







188 million visits and 546 million pageviews in 6 months

GOV.UK: homepage







24 ministerial departments migrated by April 30, 2013

GOV.UK: departments

GOV.UK: departments

GOV.UK: answers


GOV.UK: transactions


GOV.UK: guides


GOV.UK: calculators


GOV.UK: one-off formats








Did GOV.UK succeed?

It gets more traffic


Source: GOV.UK performance dashboard

It's cheaper




Source: Efficiency and Reform 2012/13 summary report

It's award-winning

Mike Bracken and Ben Terrett at the Design Awards

Source: Mike Bracken and Ben Terrett at the Design Awards by Cabinet Office, on Flickr

Agenda




UK government publishing, GDS & GOV.UK



GOV.UK and feedback





iterative development, cross functional teams, TDD, continuous integration, code reviews, retrospectives, automated testing, etc etc


BORING!







7 unusual types of feedback







1. release early

The Alpha





a publicly released prototype

The Alpha





12 weeks, £261K

The Alpha





Built for learning - a Minimum Viable Product

The Alpha


The Beta


The Launch




Source:  How the redirection works, Paul Downey, GDS Blog

The Launch










2. product analytics







design with data

Pre-launch





decide whether to migrate or drop content

Pre-launch





identify nuances around specific user needs

Pre-launch





identify how users were finding the content

Pre-launch





identify target browsers and devices

Post-launch





define success metrics







3. performance dashboards

GOV.UK Performance Dashboard



GOV.UK Content Explorer


GDS Transactions Explorer








4. user research







analytics says what, user research explains why








lab testing

Iterating on the homepage

Iterating on the homepage


Iterating on the homepage


Iterating on the homepage


Iterating on the homepage








5. devops







developers and operations building live services together







developers have the keys to production







operations aren't responsible for fixing broken apps







it's great!




 






devs understand much better how their work is running on prod







1000 code changes in the first 8 months

(7 updates per working day)






6. accessibility testing


7. direct user feedback



Thank you.

Questions?




Follow me on Twitter:

@benilov







6. accessibility testing







internal testing






usable and useful for disadvantaged users

not just box-ticking

Colour contrast checker


Colour blindness simulator


Blurred vision simulator


Iterating on the homepage








external user testing







7. direct user feedback







GOV.UK has a user helpdesk

Reporting problems



Even on 404 pages








user feedback as monitoring







investigating trends

Agenda


What is GDS?


What is GOV.UK?


GOV.UK and feedback


GOV.UK and open source

My open source contributions



GDS is "all in" with open source







perhaps not strictly "open source"

coding in the open







1. fairness towards the taxpayer







2. fairness towards the OSS community







3. transparency







4. reuse







5. marketing







6. as a portfolio



5 types of feedback that helped make GOV.UK a success

By Jake Benilov

5 types of feedback that helped make GOV.UK a success

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