Product and project management

National Customer Service Week: Coming Soon!

Help us celebrate the Everyday Heroes in our agencies during Customer Service Week, October 5-9, 2015. In 1992, Congress passed Public Law No: 102-481, which proclaimed the first full week in October as National Customer Service Week. The Principles and Practices Subgroup of the Customer Service Cross Agency Priority (CAP) Goal has started work on

Alison Sturgeon

Aug 24, 2015

Agile Strategy Implementation

The Challenge Much like GSA experienced three years ago, the Management Information Systems Office (MISO) organization at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had a vision, a crazy deadline, and the need to change and change fast. MISO is responsible for developing, maintaining, and managing a variety of enterprise business systems across the CDC.

Suzi Connor

Aug 21, 2015

Federal Student Aid Customer Experience Journey: A Recap

Customer Experience (CX) deserves a voice at an agency’s senior levels. Putting CX

Zachary Lerner

Aug 14, 2015

New Kid in Town: The Customer Experience Community

Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals prioritize activities that all agencies must tackle each year. An important CAP Goal for 2015 addresses customer service and compels federal agencies to improve the quality of service the public receives from the federal government.

Jacqueline Snee

Rachel Flagg

Jul 31, 2015

DigitalGov Summit Recap: How “We, the Techies” Can Effect Change

Who do you need to bring to the table to make a better world? In May, Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, delivered the keynote address at the 2015 DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit. She encouraged attendees to find ways of unlocking potential through collaborations from both within and outside of government. “We

Ashley Wichman

Jul 22, 2015

DigitalGov Podcast: Leaders Come and Go, But Your Customers Will Remain

To provide great customer service, bring your agency’s customers to the table. This is one of many insights recently offered by Stephanie Thum, Vice President of Customer Experience at the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Ashley Wichman

Jul 17, 2015

2015 Customer Service Trends: a Mid-Year Update

Earlier this year, we published 15 Government Customer Service Trends for 2015. We’re halfway through the year now—how are these trends holding up? 1. Centralized Customer Offices A few agencies have created centralized customer offices, while others question the need for a single organization that focuses on the customer. As the public’s overall satisfaction with

Martha Dorris

Jul 08, 2015

HTTPS For All

With the release of a new dashboard to measure best Web practices in the federal government and the establishment of a government-wide HTTPS Only Standard, the time to make the switch to HTTPS has arrived. Agencies have until December 31, 2016, to make the switch. The move to HTTPS is not only happening in government;

Kendrick Daniel

Jun 15, 2015

DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit: Reflections from Our Livestream Host, and Full Recording Now Available!

The second annual DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit was held at GSA headquarters in Washington, DC on May 21, 2015.

Bernetta Reese

Jun 12, 2015

How Governance Supports Your Agency’s Digital Government Strategy

What is governance, and how can you make good governance usable in your agency? The federal government developed the Digital Government Strategy to deliver better Web services to the American people.

Robert Jacoby

Jun 12, 2015

Trends on Tuesday: 7 Key Takeaways From Mary Meeker’s 2015 Internet Trends Report

Silicon Valley analyst Mary Meeker’s annual 2015 Internet Trends report has been released and is an exhaustive analysis of the world’s digital evolution (often mobile-first driven) and how it is affecting business, culture, and information.

Will Sullivan

Jun 09, 2015

Taking the Pulse of the Federal Government’s Web Presence

The U.S. federal government is launching a new project to monitor how it’s doing at best practices on the Web.

Jun 03, 2015

A Conversation with OMB on Customer Service

We recently sat down with Lisa Danzig, who’s leading work at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the FY15 Cross Agency Priority (CAP) goal on Customer Service (CS). The CS CAP goal aims to help agencies deliver world-class customer service to citizens that’s on par with leading private

Rachel Flagg

May 29, 2015

Getting to Know Your Users: Tips and Tricks from Veterans Affairs

Design research isn’t rocket science. But for many of us in the federal government, it can seem daunting and unfamiliar. We’re here to to help demystify the process of design research for those of you ready to wade into the waters. We’ve both done our fair share of design researching at the Department of Veterans

Sarah Brooks

Mollie Ruskin

May 29, 2015

Three of the Greatest Books for Customer Experience (That Aren’t about Customer Experience)

Dennis Snow and Jeanne Bliss have always been the customer experience (CX) authorities in my mind. Dennis’s Lessons from the Mouse and Jeanne’s Chief Customer Officer were two of the first books I read that described what the practice of customer experience looked like in the halls of Fortune 500 companies like Lands End and Microsoft,

Stephanie Thum

May 28, 2015

StudentAid.gov: Using Data to Empower Borrowers

It’s been a while, but in previous posts, I described what we’ve learned from operating StudentAid.gov, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid website created to educate students and borrowers about the federal student aid programs and process and help them make informed decisions about financing college and career school. We first

Brenda Wensil

May 27, 2015

5 Crucial Steps for Conducting an Effective Customer Interview

When focusing on customer experience, we all know that we need to truly understand our customer if we expect to provide them with an enjoyable experience. In an effort to do so, organizations often jump right to a survey to identify their customers’ needs and wants.

Victoria McFadden

Anahita Reilly

May 26, 2015

DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit 2015: Open Innovation and Collaboration

At the 2015 DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith challenged all techies in government to help solve problems and be part of decision-making at the highest levels of government in her opening remarks.

Ashley Wichman

Coqui Aspiazu

May 21, 2015

Top 5 Ways to Increase Email Survey Responses

Surveys are a great way to gain valuable insight into your customers’ true interests and needs. With the abundant number of survey tools available, it’s almost too easy to quickly put together a survey and send it out to your target audience.

Zhanrui Kuang

May 20, 2015

Government Services Through a Life Events Approach

The federal government is increasingly focused on designing and delivering citizen-centered services with enhanced experiences that deliver value to customers. These ideals are established in the Presidential Management Agenda Customer Service Cross-Agency Priority Goal, the Digital Government Strategy, and various open government activities. Designing services to be responsive to be life events that drive public

Mary Ann Monroe

May 15, 2015

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