Ep. 73 How to Build Federal Systems for Scale and Resistance

When Covid hit, thousands of federal employees bumped up the number of visits to federal agency websites.

But let’s not forget the number of citizens visiting federal agency websites has skyrocketed as well.  It is possible that these websites were designed before the epidemic with expectations of a certain volume of visits and transactions that were much lower.

The obvious logjam is data access, but an equally valuable concern was the experience the person had when engaging with the website. They could get frustrated with the interface and abandon the site. This can range from a farmer asking for a loan to a scientist applying for a grant for research on transmissible diseases. 

The federal government has gotten enough feedback on these concerns to issue Executive Order 14058 which is titled, “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government.”  

During the interview with Terry Miller from Karsun Solutions, he gives an overview of user experience on federal agency websites. He starts with the baseline, US Web Standard Design, and how it impacted the design of websites.

He applies concepts taken from agile software development to improve ways to scale and add resilience.   One phrase he expands on is the concept of “product mindset.” He unpacks this idea to show how it focuses on values and empathy for the citizen.  In the end, this process will increase engagement, save money, and improve speed.

Listen for tips on improving your agency’s website to make it scalable and resilient.