WRITTEN ON October 22nd, 2004 BY Sarah Hamiliton-Fairley AND STORED IN Across the Board, Ideal Goverment - project
It seems pretty obvious to me that if government really wants to implement services that make a difference they need to do two things:
1. Stop starting any more initiatives, take a good look round at what exists, chose the best and replicate these across the country.
2. Think about organising services from the citizens perspective at all times – take off their ‘work/silo’ hat and put their ‘out of office’ one on.
Stop ‘talking’ and start ‘doing’. With the right mind set it really isn’t that difficult.
I write from the heart. We have developed, over the last few years, an integrated, accessible information service. It is a challenge, to put it mildly, to find central funding for a joined-up solution. If you want to know more please go to www.starthere.org.
2 Responses to “Put citizens’ needs centre stage – just get on and do it!”
Perhaps we need an ancillary campaign aimed at government initiatives called “Stop starting!”
The StartHere demos look very good.
Id like to hear more about what Sarah has learned about what users need, or about the process of finding out what people think they want and whether it turns out to be what they really want.
That perspective, ingrained in what Starthere does, is the one we need to cultivate in government – almost from scratch it would appear.
Yes, this is exactly what we need for citizen centred services – lots and lots of it.
But not just for information services – interaction as well.
However, on this planet it is never going to come from government. They have no reason to do it.
Waiting for it to happen is not the solution – so well done “Start Here” for getting on with it.
Pete