Blog

Tomorrow, September 30, is International Translation Day. For me, talking about digital in French is a challenge: properly naming new technologies and especially - especially - not losing sight of the fact that we are addressing “real people”. Thinking of users first, making them central to our work - that also comes into play with the words that we choose.

After a short sabbatical and a decade in the U.K., I’m delighted to announce that I’m going to be the first Chief of Design with the Canadian Digital Service, a new initiative by the Government of Canada.

The services our government provides play an important role in the lives of millions of people.

I grew up on a farm. It was a childhood marked by the feeling of gravel beneath my feet, dirt on my hands, and the joy of picking produce right from the field. I wish I could tell you that picking projects is the same but I have yet to encounter gravel, dirt or produce during a partnership chat (bonus points if you make this happen!)

For months, I’ve been working behind the scenes to stand up the Canadian Digital Service. Through this process, I’ve done a lot of thinking about why Canada needs a digital service organization and the potential it has to change how we design government services.

The UK’s Government Digital Service has a brilliant list of ten design principles. I still remember the first time I saw it. “Start with user needs”, it read, “not government needs.” Oh my goodness, I thought: this is a real UK government website! That’s …amazing!

Putting users first. That’s what CDS is all about. When we talk about “digital government,” it often conjures up websites, APIs, and apps. They’re part of the toolkit. But digital government is about people: their needs, their experiences, their frustrations, even their hopes.

Canadians deserve government services that are easy to access and to use. They expect their government to be focused on service to citizens. In the connected world of the 21st century, good service means digital delivery, whether you are ordering take-out, rearranging your mortgage, managing your prescriptions – or accessing government programs and services.