Tuesday 29 October 2013

Putting service design ahead of the politics

The "fiasco" around the US public health service website HealthCare.gov and President Obama's announcement about it has prompted quite a lot of articles and opinions. In among the doom and gloom and politics, there were some good nuggets for those of us involved in public sector web development.


Merici Vinton wrote an uplifting piece for techpresident.com which, regardless of the circumstances that prompted its writing, is worth a read by anyone involved in public sector web development. Basically, it seems we're pretty much set up to fail, but there are ways around this.

9 Things You Should Know Before Debating HealthCare.gov, From Someone Who Actually Launched a Successful Government Website

Merici references the success of the UK government's digital intiative, gov.uk and this blog post from their director, Mike Bracken is an excellent insight into their philosophy. Unsurprisingly, it is in much the same vein as Merici's outlook.

On Strategy: The strategy is delivery. Again. - blog post by Mike Bracken

A couple of other people that I read more frequently have also had their say on the HealthCare.gov issue; Gerry McGovern talking content and Jakob Nielsen on usability.


What the HealthCare.gov fiasco teaches us - article by Gerry McGovern
HealthCare.gov’s Account Setup: 10 Broken Usability Guidelines- article by Jen Cardello for Nielsen Norman

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