Making effective democracy apps: the goal vs the play

Of course, there had to be a football-themed blog post today; you have now, so to speak, hit that post.

We’re determined to improve democracy and governance by making it really simple for public sector bodies to run more effective consultation, engagement and participation processes online.  A big part of that is our selection of apps.

One of the interesting things about an apps-based model is that you’re building one tool to work for lots of organisations in lots of situations.  We’ve found that this invariably gives rise to an interesting tension between the goal (achieving the key, pretty simple outcome) and the play (doing all the little bits of work as you’ve been told to – ‘right’).

When we’re keenly aware of the nuances of our own particular work situation, and very familiar with the processes/duties/tasks of doing work, we tend to lose sight of the bigger picture.  This is often necessary; it’s very hard to, for example, drive the length of the UK by just looking at a world map; giving a bunch of people a ball and telling them to ‘go and score a goal’ is not a useful team talk – gazing only at the bigger picture can stop us from taking action.

The problem is that we then get into the habit of focusing solely on the play – the component parts that somebody once worked out were good practices in scoring a goal and not letting one in (or, in our field, consulting the public without making a faux pas).  We learn how to pass, to tackle, to juggle, to head, to call for the ball, to retain possession, to keep a tight line etc – or to file, to enter data, to write reports, to type, to call people, to organise meetings, to not send anything out without quadruple-checking it etc.   These are all helpful tools and it’s great to build up skills in the work of governance… but not if we forget the goal.

There are two main ways this problem manifests itself: the first I’m calling the Arsenal temptation.  This is where you become so obsessed with doing all the component parts right, being thorough and even beautiful in your efficiency at the play that you try and ‘walk the ball in’ and take your eye off the goal.  This is epitomised, hilariously, by the clip below.  Outside of the football metaphor, this is where we get people asking if we can make our app do 101 nice-to-have things, things that would help them do their specific job, things that would better match their branding for this campaign or that project, interesting extra ways to slice the data etc etc.  In the end, there’s so much focus on all the possibilities of the stuff to do along the way that you’d lose the app’s original ability to achieve a simple goal effectively.

The second I’m calling the Liverpool (or perhaps more accurately the ‘Benitez’) anxiety.  This is where you become so obsessed with not losing, not conceding, with being in control that you orient your whole play around not conceding a goal and barely even think about how you’re going to score one.  This is epitomised by, well, by picking Lucas and Mascherano in the same team, frankly.  In the world of democracy apps, this translates as clients wanting to use an app but then modify almost everything about it to mitigate anything perceived as risk.  This risk-averse, cautious approach, e.g. locking out everyone but named users or choosing not to participate themselves or preferring disclaimers and caveats to dialogue and conversation, invariably nullifies the potential of the app to achieve its initial goal.

With our apps, and indeed all our work, we want to make sure it’s always about the goal first and foremost – about accomplishing the goal as simply and effectively as possible, seeing the opportunities to rapidly and rewardingly realise the purpose of the work.  To my mind, this is exemplified by the clip below:

Of course, it’s great if you can have both, if you can make sure the work is thorough and safe and elegant and the goal is reached effectively, a bit like this:

But it’s always, always about the goal first and foremost.  Budget Simulator, for example: the goal is to make budget consultation more simple, engaging and widely available online.  We will improve the play where it helps accomplish that goal more consistently, effectively, reliably or easily – so we’ll provide an introductory page where you can, briefly, explain the purpose and value of the consultation exercise because it helps make sense of the process and increases participation.  Will we, though, give you a 60 page content-managed ‘microsite’ surrounding the central tool where you can tell the entire back-story of this year’s budget in minute detail?  Almost certainly not, however thorough that play may seem, unless you can make a compelling case as to how it helps us put the proverbial ball in the net.

As I say, a simple principle but one all-too-easily, or too-often, forgotten.  It’s always about the goooooooooal!

In a similar vein, check out this lovely ‘user-centred design’ infographic from our friend @jazzpazz: http://www.paznow.com/ucd/