Embedding Service Design and Agile Practice within UK Planning Teams to Create Services that Last
Summary
As part of a MHCLG funded transformation programme, we were tasked with redesigning an outdated, manual planning system into one fit for the 21st century. Planning officers were grappling with systems that didn’t meet their needs. They were spending a lot of time on manual tasks and dealing with the impacts of human error. Our brief was to deliver a planning service designed by its users, in this case local authority planning officers. We took a radical approach of embedding with a team of subject matter experts, sharing knowledge around digital and agile as we went. This approach meant that user needs drove every action we took but also that the transformation of thinking and approaches from agile and service design started to have an impact on the local authorities themselves. We developed a set of design principles to keep both user needs and our collective vision at the heart of the process with a focus on moving from documents to data, reducing ‘noise’ and bringing the right information to users at the right time.
Key Insights
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Service designers should take responsibility for the long-term viability, not just initial functionality, of services they develop.
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Embedding agile practices within public sector teams helps break linear, siloed development habits common in government.
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Planning officers can evolve from domain experts to empowered collaborators and product owners within digital service teams.
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Close interdisciplinary collaboration between designers and developers leads to shorter iteration cycles and better solutions.
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Design principles focused on moving from documents to data and reducing noise guided development effectively.
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Creating a platform that allows planners to assemble new application types themselves enabled rapid service expansion.
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Service design scope needs to expand beyond users to include procurement, funding, policy, and ecosystem-level viability.
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Building communities and coalitions across councils and government bodies is key to sustained adoption and service evolution.
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Long-term impact includes up to 30% reduction in application processing time and fewer human errors.
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Service designers must be flexible with roles and tools, focusing on learning and human-centered approaches to meet complex challenges.
Notable Quotes
"Should service designers have a role in the long-term viability of the services they develop? Our answer is yes."
"A viable service is one that not only functions well but can also develop, grow, and flourish."
"Rather than handing off work, our designers and developers work side by side through sketching, testing, and iteration."
"Planning officers became product owners, gaining confidence in agile and design processes through ongoing involvement."
"We shifted from building each application type individually to creating a platform that planners can use to build their own."
"Service design isn’t about the tools but the way of thinking to approach any problem with a humanist approach."
"Procurement in local government favors old, single-sale products, making adoption of new services challenging despite long-term savings."
"Our role shifted toward building communities that tackle common challenges and build a robust ecosystem."
"The coalition of the willing has organically developed into a community for change."
"Change is fundamentally about people—our approach lives out agile principles in service design to create a team that can build."
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