government content strategy and user needs (#csapplied17)

PADMA GILLEN & EDWARD LOCKHART-MUMMERY

GOVERNMENT CONTENT STRATEGY

AND USER NEEDS

@ScrollUK

Hello!

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First we’ll tell you the story, then talk through lessons learned.

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A story about… 1The Smarter Guidance project

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The story starts in 1609 with the Devon and Cornwall

Sea Sand Act

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150 environment acts, 1200 regulations, and

100,000 pages of guidance later…

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No one knows what to do - and the environment is getting worse.

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Government red tape challenge trawls through every regulation.

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We suggest designing regulations around users:

• 1 act instead of 150 • 1 process for transactions not 250 • 1 version of what you have to do

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Ministers decided that sorting the content was the first most

important thing to do.

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32 documents 6 organisations

340 pages

Batteries waste (before Smarter Guidance)

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For Defra, this led to:

• government costs of £20m to 30m p.a. • business costs of £200m+ p.a. • low awareness and understanding of the

rules • fear and stress for small businesses • potential businesses deciding not to

bother

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There was a strong business case for a content strategy

based on user needs.

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We started with 120,000 pages. We reduced that by 80%.

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We achieved this by designing content around user needs.

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Smarter Guidance was about increasing the quality

and reducing the quantity of Defra guidance.

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Before GOV.UK government content was like this:

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As a…

I want to…

So I can…

A user story articulates a user need

dog owner

get a pet passport

take my dog on holiday

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Use data to validate the user need

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Mapping content to user needs

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Before After32 documents, 6 organisations,

340 pages.1 guide for each of the 5 user

groups. Each guide is 5 pages long.

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That was batteries waste. We did the same thing to 119 other topics.

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Lessons learned2

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It’s easier to manage quality and instil the (counter)culture if you have a central

content team.

1

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Make sure your content team can say no. Get your governance and proposition clear.

2

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Require a user story, acceptance criteria and source content before starting work on

an item.

3

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Have a clear agile workflow and stick to it.

4

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From request to icebox

Content designers ask:

• is there a user need?

• how do you know it's a user need? (any data?)

• is it in proposition?

• is it already met on GOV.UK?

• is it already met elsewhere?

• are there clear acceptance criteria?

• is there clear source material to work from? (or an SME who can explain?)

OK, we'll do something…

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From backlog to done

Ideally this:

• Backlog

• Draft

• 2i

• Fact check

• Fact check amends

• 2i

• Published

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Make sure people know why you’re messing with ‘their’ stuff.

5

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Know what you mean by ‘quality’ and know what your MVP is.

6

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What does quality mean?

It’s quality content if it meets your needs as a user. That means:

• you can find it

• you can understand it

• it’s factually accurate

• it’s complete

• it’s consistent with the rest of the site

• you can act on it

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Sharpen the saw.

7

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You can make specialist content plain English if you try.

8

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Talk directly with the lawyers whenever you hear “the lawyers said it must say

[insert gobbledygook here]”

9

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BAU will probably take longer to arrive than you think. Plan for a slow handover.

10

@ScrollUK

Thank you!

government content strategy and user needs (#csapplied17)

Leadership & Management