A view into the design process



Following discussion of the annual tax summary in the media, I looked up the report of the design process (of the full interactive service, not just the chart above) on the Government Digital Service pages. Who do you think the ministerial involvement comes from?

‘The service is being delivered by an agile multidisciplinary team who have conducted user research on a range of users. The service is simple and intuitive enough for a user to succeed first time unaided.

‘There was a considerable degree of ministerial involvement in the design of the original prototypes and policy teams initially indicated that changes from these designs would not be accepted. The service team used the evidence they collected from user research to make iterative improvements to the service that were accepted by the policy team. It is of particular note that the Financial Secretary to the Treasury has not only used the alpha service but he has seen the results of user research and watched videos of users interacting with the service. The service team must be commended for their work to engage with such senior stakeholders in the iterative development of the product as a result of user research.’

¶ You might also like to read this critique – of content, not design: George Osborne’s Crooked Tax Breakdowns