個案總覽

The goal of the case is to understand how to design, build, and engage with digital technologies as they relate to civic participation, equity, governance, and accountability. Delivering critical services to the public requires building technology that works for people. In environments like the public sector, this can be a challenge, but it is possible and necessary. Students will learn how product managers set strategy, define products, advocate for the user, manage stakeholders, and understand market or policy factors in order to ship technology services and products that benefit people. In 2015, the Obama Administration asked a cross-governmental team to reimagine the College Scorecard, a website to assist high school students with their college decisions. This team consisted of the United States Digital Service (which fell under the Executive Office of the President), 18F (which fell under the General Services Administration), and the Department of Education. The team, whose members had diverse skillsets and backgrounds, understood the problem by conducting a thorough discovery sprint. This helped them understand users, particularly high school students from different backgrounds, parents, guidance counselors, and other stakeholder groups. The team then continuously engaged users as they built the product, working across three different government entities to get a digital product launched. The team members and technology leaders included in this case: Holly Allen, Sarah Allen, Shawn Allen, Lisa Gelobter, Michelle Hertzfeld, Jessica Teal, Sabrina Williams, David Nesting.

Government digitization has proven to benefit both citizens and public agencies. On the one hand, citizens are able to find a consistent interface and reliable information on a single site and are able to access streamlined digital government services. On the other hand, centralized digital platforms enable governments to enhance services, reduce costs, and improve citizens' quality of life. In addition, by centralizing infrastructure that all agencies can leverage rather than having departments independently build from scratch, a platform approach can dramatically reduce software spending and maintenance costs. A unified government platform helps build interdepartmental relationships, fosters a user-centric mindset within the government, and allows public entities to focus their teams on their core services (education, health, etc.) rather than on building individual digital presence. Peru, Mexico and Argentina have led the way in digital transformation in Latin America, and have been able to build and launch unified government websites in short timelines by leveraging a user-centric approach. It is important to note that all these teams first focused on the problem, not a technical solution. Building a unified government website was one of the mechanisms to address the problem and goals. In Mexico, led by Yolanda Martinez and Alejandra Lagunes Soto Ruíz, the goal was to build a new relationship between society and government, focusing on the experience of the citizen as a user of public services. In Argentina, led by Julian Rodriguez Orihuela, the goal was to inform and provide services to citizens. In Peru, led by Daniella Raffo, Heidi Uchiyama, and Zoila Palza, the goal was to bring the government closer to its citizens through innovation. It is important in all product development to first focus on the problem and the people, and then see where technology fits to solve the problem.

The Peruvian government saw the opportunity to leverage digital technologies to increase transparency, rebuild trust, competence and credibility, and get closer to its constituents. In October of 2016, with the mandate to "bring the Government closer to its citizens through innovation," the government launched the Innovation Unit. In Peru, there was an increasing disconnect between society, markets, and public institutions. Lower than expected economic growth, a growing number of middle class citizens with unmet aspirations, and corruption had widened the gap between government and its constituents. In 2015, almost 94% of Peruvians perceived their central government as corrupt (vs OECD average of 65%). With digital transformation leaders who included Daniella Raffo, Heidi Uchiyama, and Zoila Palma, the Peruvian government saw an opportunity to use digital technologies as one tool to tackle the challenge. Case number 2171.0