How did user-centered design help improve health IT for 2.6 million American Indians and Alaskan Natives? By thoroughly understanding the patients, according to Maia Laing, Senior Business Consultant in the Office of the CTO at the Department of Health and Human Services.
You and your legacy system have been together for a long time, but you know you need something new. But how do you do break up? The answer is "slowly, piece by piece," says Ashley Owens, Director of Acquisition at 18F. Owens was joined by a panel of legacy experts at the AGL
In case you missed the last All-Members call on Jan. 23, 2020, the call featured an interview with Brent Maravilla, acquisition strategist for U.S. Digital Service. Brent spent more than 12 years working on procurement in the federal government. Currently, he is a procurement strategist with Rebellion Defense. Listen to the 38-minute audio recording below. Not to miss points:
What is the emerging role of nonprofits in partnering with government agencies to support digital services? Experts from a range of organizations weigh in at the AGL Summit held in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 7, 2019. Panelists included: Melinda Burgess, Director of Community Engagement, AGL Association Dan Levenson, President, Digital Services Coalition Kelli Shewmaker,
How would a federal acquisition strategist create a procurement from scratch with multiple vendors and a cross-functional team? Brent Maravilla with the U.S. Digital Service, tells the story about how he worked with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to create a procurement for a digital-related exhibit that involved vendor and staff collaboration in advance of a Request for Proposal.
Procurement is at the heart of the way government provides services to the public, said Former Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Cori Zarek. "It is critical that we look at how we acquire technology and how we partner with the vendor community," she added, introducing a panel of experts at the AGL Summit on Nov. 7, 2019, in Washington, D.C.
The federal government is desperate to find vendors who are "amazing at going out to user communities, teasing out their needs and translating those needs, iteratively, into amazing products," says Michael Palmer, acquisition strategist with the U.S. Digital Service. Palmer delivered a lightning talk titled "Design Makes the Difference" at the AGL Summit in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 7.
More than ever, the federal government is focused on a compressive, evolving data strategy, including the approval of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, a law signed by the president a year ago. With unprecedented amounts of data sets coming out of departments, what should federal chief data officers do to get a handle on all the data? "Data governance," says FERC Chief Data Officer Kirsten Dalboe.
Design partner Ashleigh Axios says that while government and social sector workers should not have to feel the daily weight of the world on their shoulders, their work shapes lives and can potentially impact millions of people and future generations.
The natural connection between user-centered design and working iteratively is critical to staying on track in large government IT projects, according to two digital services experts who discussed the topic in a recent panel discussion. Caroline Smith, digital service expert at the U.S. Digital Service and Natalie Kurz, director of user experience at Flexion