Embedding user-centred design in policymaking at the UK Ministry of Justice
Allen, Jeffrey (2020)
Allen, Jeffrey
2020
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202002172471
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202002172471
Tiivistelmä
Across the world, businesses and governments have increasingly been applying user-centred design methods to improve their efforts to deliver services that generate value for people.
In recent years, however, governments have also begun to experiment with applying user-centred design methods to policymaking, the process that sets the conditions that determine what services the public will have access to.
This thesis explores how one public sector institution has begun to apply user-centred design methods to policymaking and how it might further embed user-centred design methods and mindsets into policymaking, to increase public value.
This thesis first considers theories around value creation — particularly as they relate to the public sector — and then examines how user-centred design has been applied to government institutions, especially through the lens of digital transformation of service delivery. It then applies a participatory action research approach to test out several methods to embed design techniques more widely into the policymaking process and establish user-centred design mindsets within the policymaking profession of the UK Ministry of Justice.
A new Open Policymaking Framework is presented to explain how policymaking teams would function if user-centred design was systematically applied to their work. The thesis concludes with a series of recommendations for the User-Centred Policy Design team at the Ministry of Justice, including a Theory of Change and Roadmap of activities for the team to further embed user-centred design within policymaking. Suggestions are also made for further research in the domain.
While the participatory action research conducted in this thesis relates specifically to the needs and context of the User-Centred Policy Design team at the UK Ministry of Justice, the issues considered will be relevant to many other entities that address inter-related challenges within complex and ever-changing environments, including government institutions and many private and voluntary sector organisations in the United Kingdom and around the world.
In recent years, however, governments have also begun to experiment with applying user-centred design methods to policymaking, the process that sets the conditions that determine what services the public will have access to.
This thesis explores how one public sector institution has begun to apply user-centred design methods to policymaking and how it might further embed user-centred design methods and mindsets into policymaking, to increase public value.
This thesis first considers theories around value creation — particularly as they relate to the public sector — and then examines how user-centred design has been applied to government institutions, especially through the lens of digital transformation of service delivery. It then applies a participatory action research approach to test out several methods to embed design techniques more widely into the policymaking process and establish user-centred design mindsets within the policymaking profession of the UK Ministry of Justice.
A new Open Policymaking Framework is presented to explain how policymaking teams would function if user-centred design was systematically applied to their work. The thesis concludes with a series of recommendations for the User-Centred Policy Design team at the Ministry of Justice, including a Theory of Change and Roadmap of activities for the team to further embed user-centred design within policymaking. Suggestions are also made for further research in the domain.
While the participatory action research conducted in this thesis relates specifically to the needs and context of the User-Centred Policy Design team at the UK Ministry of Justice, the issues considered will be relevant to many other entities that address inter-related challenges within complex and ever-changing environments, including government institutions and many private and voluntary sector organisations in the United Kingdom and around the world.