{
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    "title" : "Lean Startup: Changing Government Services and Agencies to Better Serve the Citizens |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Lean Startup: Changing Government Services and Agencies to Better Serve the Citizens",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/11/lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Lean Startup: Changing Government Services and Agencies to Better Serve the Citizens","summary" : "It is easy to start a business today and especially an Internet-based business. Using the cloud, APIs, and hosted applications, an entrepreneur can quickly build a website/mobile app. The entrepreneur can hire freelancers to do everything from creating a logo to writing a business plan. Virtual assistant services can provide on-demand staff to meet business","date" : "2014-07-11T10:00:44-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"bbrantley" : "Bill Brantley"},"topics" : {
        
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy"
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      "filename" :"2014-07-11-lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/07/2014-07-11-lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/07/2014-07-11-lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/07/2014-07-11-lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens.md","slug" : "lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/11/lean-startup-changing-government-services-and-agencies-to-better-serve-the-citizens/","content" :"\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/07/250-x-406-light-bulb-Innovation-and-technology-concept-in-tag-cloud-rafal_olechowski-iStock-Thinkstock-175119127.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A graphic for innovation and technology concepts in a tag cloud in the shape of a light bulb\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is easy to start a business today and especially an Internet-based business. Using the cloud, APIs, and hosted applications, an entrepreneur can quickly build a website/mobile app. The entrepreneur can hire freelancers to do everything from creating a logo to writing a business plan. Virtual assistant services can provide on-demand staff to meet business needs. Yes, it is easy to start a business. The hard part is creating and sustaining a business.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is why Lean Startup was created. Eric Ries, the inventor of Lean Startup, describes the Lean Startup process as a simple loop that the entrepreneur travels through in launching, testing, and developing the business. First, there is an \u003cstrong\u003eIdea\u003c/strong\u003e that is \u003cstrong\u003eBuilt\u003c/strong\u003e into a \u003cstrong\u003eMinimal Viable Product\u003c/strong\u003e (\u003cstrong\u003eMVP\u003c/strong\u003e). The purpose of the MVP is to test a limited set of features or services. The entrepreneur \u003cstrong\u003eMeasures\u003c/strong\u003e how potential customers interact with MVP. From the metrics \u003cstrong\u003eData\u003c/strong\u003e, the entrepreneur \u003cstrong\u003eLearns\u003c/strong\u003e which features and/or services attracted customers and which were not well-received. The learning then leads to new \u003cstrong\u003eIdeas\u003c/strong\u003e and the loop starts over.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough continuous building, measuring, and learning, the final product is validated. Even so, the eventual outcome may be very different from the original idea. Lean Startup practitioners refer to this as \u003cstrong\u003ePivoting\u003c/strong\u003e. The main idea behind Lean Startup is to ask if the product should be built rather than can the product be built. Only products that have a demonstrated customer base will advance from the MVP stage to the final product.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"how-does-this-apply-to-government\"\u003eHow does this apply to government?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLean Startup was used to answer President Obama’s mandate that government agencies improve customer service and delivery of government services. The most immediate federal government example is how Lean Startup was used in designing the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. One CFPB project was to combine and redesign two financial disclosure forms: the Truth in Lending form and the Good Faith Estimate form. The CFPB collected over 13,000 citizen comments as the combined form traveled through the Lean Startup loop to arrive at its final, more consumer-friendly design (“\u003ca href=\"http://www.govtech.com/pcio/Governments-Take-a-Lean-Startup-Approach.html\"\u003eGovernment Take a Lean Startup Approach\u003c/a\u003e”).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOther examples of Lean Startup (mentioned in the Government Technology article):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_21099939/palo-alto-flips-switch-redesigned-website\"\u003eCity of Palo Alto redesigns its website\u003c/a\u003e using a Minimum Viable Website.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm240418.htm\"\u003eFood and Drug Administration used Lean Startup\u003c/a\u003e to improve its internal process for approving new medical devices.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust this April, the General Services Administration (GSA) established 18F, which uses Lean Startup principles in creating digital services for other federal agencies. \u003ca href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-it/meet-18f-the-gsas-bid-to-change-federal-it/2014/04/18/a9b58db8-c4d3-11e3-b195-dd0c1174052c_story.html\"\u003eA Washington Post article\u003c/a\u003e describes how 18F designers and developers created–in 29 minutes–a functioning prototype of a mobile website for GSA that used an 18F-created API. “A more traditional development method—requiring a series of meetings between agency staff and IT companies—might have taken weeks or months, according to the team.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not the first time that the GSA has used Lean Startup principles. In August 2012, the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/08/12/agile-sprinting-to-digital-governance-recommendations/\" title=\"Agile Sprinting to Digital Governance Recommendations\"\u003eGSA held a meeting\u003c/a\u003e devoted to drafting guidelines for agencies in “developing and delivering digital services and managing data.” Agencies engaged in “sprints” (set amounts of development time) to create and refine iterative versions of the governance policy. Agencies started with a “Minimal Viable Policy” and tested the policy by sharing ideas with each other in presentations. By the November 23, 2012, deadline, agencies had robust and fully-developed policies created more rapidly than in the usual process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this age of tight budgets, more demands on government services, and higher customer service expectations, Lean Startup can be an effective way to design new government processes and services and to redesign current processes and/or services. Using Lean Startup in government can answer two fundamental questions. Is a particular government service the best use of taxpayer money? Will the government service satisfy the most number of citizens in the most efficient way?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you would like to learn more about Lean Startup and its impact on government, start with these resources:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn introduction to \u003ca href=\"http://www.theleanstartup.com/principles\" title=\"Lean Startup Principles\"\u003eLean Startup Principles\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a3s0IXSuxY\"\u003eshort video\u003c/a\u003e explaining Lean Startup\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://18f.gsa.gov\"\u003e18F\u003c/a\u003e – GSA’s startup that will apply Lean Startup principles to creating agency digital services\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/the_lean_startup_goes_to_washington\" title=\"The Lean Startup Goes to Washington\"\u003eThe Lean Startup Goes to Washington\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003eDr. William A. Brantley, PMP, is a Program Analyst, in Forecasting and Methods at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). He is the creator of \u003ca href=\"http://www.billbrantley.com/video-briefing-on-lean-scope-project-management\"\u003eLean Scope Project Management Methodology\u003c/a\u003e which combines Human-Centered Design and Lean Startup with project management. You can find out more about his work in this space at \u003ca href=\"http://www.BillBrantley.com\" title=\"Bill Brantley\"\u003eBillBrantley.com\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n"}
  ]
}