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Service manager 

The service manager is responsible for the whole user experience. They are available to the team, but not with them all the time. They are sometimes called the senior responsible officer or experience owner.

Service managers:

• are a senior executive who can unblock obstacles 
• are an experienced leader with a strong understanding of their service and its users 
• champion the service at the most senior levels of the Australian Public Service 
• ensure the service is delivered on time and budget, and meets user needs 
• help make sure internal processes focus on achieving results 
• create actionable insights to guide work. 

Product manager 

The product manager leads the strategic direction and delivery of the service or product. Sometimes called a product owner.

Product managers:

• work with the user researcher and service designer to understand the current service 
• work with the team to set the vision for improving the service 
• work with the user researcher, service designer and delivery manager to make sure the service meets user needs 
• own and manage the product backlog 
• prioritise user stories 
• accept user stories when they’re delivered 
• manage stakeholder engagement 
• manage approvals and budget 
• develop the right team culture  
• are available to answer questions from the team.

Delivery manager 

The delivery manager supports multidisciplinary teams to deliver simple, clear and fast services. Sometimes called a scrum master.

Delivery managers:

• help the team work in an agile way
• build a user-centred service 
• reduce risk by regularly releasing and improving parts of the service 
• iterate frequently to meet user needs 
• monitor team delivery 
• help remove blockers to progress 
• work with the product manager to plan how to deliver the service and products 
• run daily stand up and weekly team meetings 
• make sure the product backlog is up to date 
• manage the budget with the product manager. 

User researcher 

The user researcher helps the team develop a deep understanding of users and their needs.

User researchers: 

• build an understanding of the users and their behaviour 
• work with the product manager and designers to prioritise work to meet user needs 
• run research sessions with users 
• analyse and share findings 
• provide insights on how users interact with the service or product. 

Content strategist 

The content strategist creates a plan to deliver content that meets user and agency needs.

Content strategists:

• develop a content strategy that guides the creation of clear and well-structured content for the product or service 
• focus on the planning, structure, process, creation, delivery, governance and archiving of content 
• align content with business goals and user needs 
• audit content 
• help create information architecture 
• develops and implement measures of success.  

Learn more at the Digital Transformation Agency’s Content Strategy Guide.

Content designer 

The content designer makes sure all content meets user needs. This includes the text, visuals and interactive content.

Content designers:

• work with subject matter experts to write clear text in plain language 
• review content to make sure it’s accurate and written in line with the Content Guide 
• structure content to reflect how users read online and on different devices 
• make sure content is accessible and inclusive 
• make sure content is searchable and findable 
• use research and data to make sure content meets user needs 
• communicate the principles of content design to your team and agency. 

Service designer 

The service designer identifies how a service can meet user needs.

Service designers:

• design the end-to-end service, from legislation or policy to service delivery 
• make decisions based on user research 
• design a service that meets user and agency needs 
• make sure the service meets web standards for all users, channels and touchpoints 
• create a blueprint or map of the proposed service 
• make sure the main parts of the service are built in from the start 
• help the team to develop and iterate the service or product 
• make sure the service and product are consistent for users. 

Interaction designer 

The interaction designer creates the user interface for the service. Interaction designers:

• design the interface to work across devices and browsers 
• make sure the interface meets web standards, including accessibility 
• make sure users have a consistent experience across the service 
• build the user interface with responsive design methods using common design patterns 
• share with the design community to improve future designs 
• prototype and test services or products, or work with developers to make prototypes. 

Technology lead

The technology lead finds the best technology solutions to deliver a service. They are sometimes called a lead engineer.

Technology leads: 

• develop and implement the tech strategy for the product or service 
• consider what is technically and financially viable 
• make sure the technology works with your agency’s enterprise architecture 
• guide and carry out the implementation of technology 
• are aware of current and emerging technologies 
• make decisions about technology that reduce service support and maintenance costs. 

Show your commitment with a team contract 

It can be useful to formalise your commitment to user research at the start of the process. You can do this with a 1-page team contract. Use the contract to explain, in simple terms, what your team will build and how you'll apply user research. 

Ask the digital leader responsible for the service to sign the contract before the team starts. This will give the team confidence to do the user research to check they’re building the right thing. 

Continuous research

To work in an agile way, service teams must update their understanding of users and their needs throughout the service design and delivery process.

You will need to do research in every iteration of the development stage, starting in Discovery and continuing through to Live. Make sure your user research plan shows this. 

This will help you: 

• save time by building only what your users need
• reduce risk by learning quickly what works for users
• understand the problems users have and how they can be resolved
• respond to changing user behaviour and feedback to continuously improve the service.

Make time for user research  

You'll develop a user research plan after your team kick off meeting. In the meantime, talk to your team about how you will schedule the user research. 

Build research activities and analysis into the team’s regular schedule. This will make sure your whole team knows what's happening so they can take part. It can take a long time to recruit users for research, so it’s important to start early. 

Qualitative and quantitative research 

Seek support for both qualitative and quantitative research. Quantitative research gives you a limited view of who the users are and what they need. 

Start the Discovery stage with qualitative research, such as in-depth interviews with users. Use quantitative research to help you work out which user groups you should talk to. 

Get started with a user researcher

User researchers should be a core part of your team throughout each stage of service design and delivery. They'll do user research at least every 2 weeks. 

It’s always better to work with a full-time user researcher. If you don't have these skills on the team, make it a priority to secure an expert as soon as you can. In the meantime, you can still do some user research activities like pop-up research. 

GOV.UK has a useful blog on getting started with user research. 

Don’t outsource user research 

Your team needs to build empathy with the users to understand what to build, this is especially important in Discovery. 

It's best to do the research in-house. This will help you team understand the relationship between the users' questions and the research findings.

Get help from other teams 

Your agency may have teams who can support your research. They may recruit users on your behalf or support you to meet users accessibility and inclusivity needs.

Remember everyone on your team needs to engage with users. Don't rely on other teams alone. 

Outcomes from Discovery 

Once you complete your research, you'll be able to analyse your findings to gain insights.  

In the Discovery phase you should: 

• understand the problem you’re trying to solve for the user 
• understand the touchpoints along the user journey, often expressed as a journey map, service map, mental model or alignment diagram 
• create a clear set of needs and develop task models for different types of users 
• understand the gaps, limitations and barriers for the user  
• understand the opportunities for further research 
• document user groups descriptions and characteristics that are significant for the service, often expressed as user profiles or personas combined with actual stories from user.  

Complete Discovery research

You’ll have done enough research when you understand: 

• who uses your service 
• what users needs from your service 
• how people with support and access needs interact with your service.

User research in Alpha 

In the Alpha stage, try lots of different approaches to meet user needs and find out which approach works best. 

The Alpha stage will help you reduce risks, including: 

• design risks, making sure you have the right scope for the service 
• business processes, finding out if government can build the service 
• technical capability, making sure you can integrate the service and make it secure. 

Work out what works, not what's popular 

Be prepared to park any ideas that do not meet user needs. You may find different elements of an idea work. Take what is working and combine it with other ideas. Remember to document what you’ve tested so you can refer to it later. This helps the team remember what’s been tested and what hasn’t. 

Do task-based testing so you can understand which version is most effective. Remember we care about what works, not the preferences people have. 

You’ll know something works when people find it easy to complete a task. They will understand what they are doing and won't make mistakes. 

Keep interviewing, iterating and testing 

Once you have a prototype, even if it’s a paper one, you can start to test it with users. 

You can see if your ideas will meet user needs and find out if the prototype is usable. You can use this insight to iterate your design and test again with users. 

Combine prototypes tests with user research interviews. This will help you to deepen your understanding of user needs.