{
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    "title" : "Taking a Design-led Approach to Digital Modernization |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Taking a Design-led Approach to Digital Modernization",
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    {"kicker" : "<no value>","title" :"Taking a Design-led Approach to Digital Modernization","deck" : "Building GSA’s Enterprise Digital Experience team","summary" : "Learn how GSA uses collaboration, empathy, and existing expertise to modernize their digital portfolio and improve customer experience.","date" : "2022-10-07T09:06:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"ana-monroe" : "Ana Monroe"},"topics" : {
        
            "budgeting-and-performance" : "Budgeting and performance",
            "customer-experience" : "Customer experience",
            "design" : "Design",
            "digital-service-delivery" : "Digital service delivery",
            "governance" : "Governance"
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      "filename" :"2022-10-07-taking-a-design-led-approach-to-digital-modernization.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2022/10/2022-10-07-taking-a-design-led-approach-to-digital-modernization.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2022/10/2022-10-07-taking-a-design-led-approach-to-digital-modernization.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2022/10/2022-10-07-taking-a-design-led-approach-to-digital-modernization.md","slug" : "taking-a-design-led-approach-to-digital-modernization","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2022/10/07/taking-a-design-led-approach-to-digital-modernization/","weight" : "1","content" :"\u003cp\u003eHow does an 11,000-person organization with a large portfolio of websites and dozens of lines of business manage its digital footprint?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDigital modernization in decades-old federal agencies can be daunting. It can be a struggle to get modern workflows to take root, particularly when teams are challenged with antiquated tools and slow contract cycles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgency leaders often address modernization challenges with triage teams who come in, make improvements, and get out. But those interventions can be surface-level and frequently lack institutional buy-in. By taking a design-led approach, however, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has built a major digital modernization effort, using the talent and data the agency already has.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGSA’s Office of Customer Experience stood up an internal Enterprise Digital Experience team in 2021, responding to the call (from our Executive Board and Digital Council) for a team to take on the task of cataloging, evaluating, and pushing customer-centric changes to all of GSA’s digital products.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing a design-led approach meant optimizing for a team of folks who had deep knowledge in a few key areas, including service design, policy, human capital, and engineering, as well as a collaborative mindset. We drew from our existing talent pool and cross-trained each other by working together on projects, while also trying to bring more talented folks in to join us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis new approach aligns to \u003ca href=\"https://www.performance.gov/pma/workforce/\"\u003ePriority 1 of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA)\u003c/a\u003e, to “attract, hire, develop, and empower talented individuals who are well suited and well prepared” to face government challenges. Our team of GSA experts work well together because we value each other’s expertise, and bring those specialities together to work toward a common goal of improving digital experience.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe results are encouraging. After less than one year, and with a relatively small team, we have built a rubric for our internal web teams to better evaluate the true value of their digital assets. It covers six areas:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCustomer-centricity\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAccessibility\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePerformance\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUser behavior\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eImplementation of \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/required-web-content-and-links/\"\u003ehyperlinks required by policy and law\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eImplementation of the \u003ca href=\"https://designsystem.digital.gov/\"\u003eU.S. Web Design System\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn our first year, we evaluated over one-third of GSA’s inventory, sharing the insights about 50 unique data points with each website team. We held conversations with the teams to help them see how their site performs for customers, and against federal and agency requirements.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003carticle\n  class=\"dg-note \"\n\u003e\n  \u003ch4 class=\"dg-note__heading\"\u003e\n    \u003csvg\n      class=\"dg-note__icon usa-icon dg-icon dg-icon--large\"\n      aria-hidden=\"true\"\n      focusable=\"false\"\n    \u003e\n      \u003cuse xlink:href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/uswds/img/sprite.svg#notifications\"\u003e\u003c/use\u003e\n    \u003c/svg\u003e\n    \n      Note\n    \n  \u003c/h4\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eUse Digital.gov’s handy\n\u003ca\nhref=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/static/10-2021-checklist-for-federal-websites-and-digital-services.xlsx\"\u003eRequirements and Go-Live Checklist for Federal Public Websites and Digital Services (Excel spreadsheet, 69 KB, 14 tabs)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eto ensure you’ve addressed all critical requirements for your website.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eLearn more about the \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/21st-century-integrated-digital-experience-act/\"\u003e21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act\u003c/a\u003e (21st Century IDEA) and its requirements for government websites and digital services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c/article\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat may sound easy; data is everywhere, especially in an agency with such a broad, government-wide mission such as GSA. But taking a design-led approach means that we cannot just push data and recommendations to teams; we must be empathetic to the challenges teams face in how to really understand and act on that data.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat’s why we created brief (approximately 200-word) \u003ca href=\"https://www.plainlanguage.gov/\"\u003eplain language\u003c/a\u003e narratives in which we explain the data, contextualize it, and provide recommendations for action. The best part is, the teams we’ve advised have been very appreciative, often fast-tracking recommendations so that they can enhance their websites to better serve the actual people - our customers - who use them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"quote-block \"\u003e\n    \u003cblockquote\u003e\n      \u003cspan class=\"quote-block__quotation-mark\"\u003e“\u003c/span\u003e\n      Thank you so much for sharing the report. I am excited to review and bring this back to my team so we can improve our site. I appreciate the work the Enterprise Digital Experience team is doing! I\u0026rsquo;ll be sure to update your team as we make progress towards your recommendations to meet agency goals.\n      \u003cspan class=\"quote-block__quotation-mark\"\u003e”\u003c/span\u003e\u003ccite\u003e— GSA web manager\u003c/cite\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuilding an interdisciplinary team and building on what you have is tough. Working on modernization efforts in the federal conte xt is even tougher. But it’s possible with an empathetic and collaborative approach. We call it design-led, and we know it’s possible in every agency.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you’re at a federal agency and want to learn more, contact GSA’s Enterprise Digital Experience team at \u003ca href=\"mailto:customerexperience@gsa.gov\"\u003eCustomerExperience@gsa.gov\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003carticle\n  class=\"dg-note \"\n\u003e\n  \u003ch4 class=\"dg-note__heading\"\u003e\n    \u003csvg\n      class=\"dg-note__icon usa-icon dg-icon dg-icon--large\"\n      aria-hidden=\"true\"\n      focusable=\"false\"\n    \u003e\n      \u003cuse xlink:href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/uswds/img/sprite.svg#notifications\"\u003e\u003c/use\u003e\n    \u003c/svg\u003e\n    \n      Note\n    \n  \u003c/h4\u003e\n  Join Digital.gov’s \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/web-content-managers/\"\u003eWeb Managers Community\u003c/a\u003e to collaborate with web content managers across the government who are working to create a better online experience for the public.\n\u003c/article\u003e\n\n"}
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}