Seven-star service design Abstract: Together with the Prime Minister’s Office of the UAE, FutureGov supported public service professionals across the country to design public services in a more human-centred way. We’ll share how we created a program that enabled teams not only to learn and apply the service design process, but to deliver minimum viable services that made key life moments like ‘having a baby’ and ‘receiving pensions’ a better experience for citizens. We’ll explore the importance of being sensitive to the cultural context and how this should’t only apply to working with clients in the Middle East, but also to clients right at your doorstep. This session will be co-facilitated: a dialogue between designer and client. Together we’ll share what we learned, where we grew, and the biggest takeaways from our work. Innovation: Ambition: Some governments have realised that services are better and cheaper if designed around citizens – the UAE however, is the first country in the gulf region to increase the happiness of its citizens through human centred design. Content: Another innovative aspect lies in the challenges the participants worked on: a “Having a baby” service required the break down of internal silos and the design of cross departmental services. Process: To educate 80 Emirati public service professionals we considered them as users of our service. We observed cultural differences to understand how to align the program with their needs. The consultants partly had to swap roles and become the ones who learn new ways of doing things. The more we learned, the better we could iterate the program.

1. vSeven-­‐star
service
design:
Lessons
learned
from
teaching
service
design
in
the
UAE
Muna
Al
Dhabbah
|
Prime
Minister’s
Office,
UAE
Simone
Carrier
|
FutureGov

2. SERVICE
DESIGN
PRODUCT
DESIGN
ORGANISATION
DESIGN
We are FutureGov
Designing public services
for the digital age.

3. ALBANIA
UAE
MOLDOVA
AUSTRALIA
USA
ARMENIA
INDONESIA
UK

4. UAE
UAE Vision for 2021
Provide seven star government services

5. Increasing people’s happiness
by engaging customers
in co-creating services
1. The program’s objective

6. What it meant in practise
What the program looked like:
Hands-on to create tangible outcomes.

7. Scholarsh
Searchforajob
Marriage
Pension
Emergency
WorkinUAE
Comp
StartingaBusiness
Coming to work in the UAEStarting a business
Service Factory:
Services designed around citizens’ lives
Newborn
Scholarship
Searchforajob
Marriage
Pension
Emergency
Individuals
WorkinUAE
Companies
StartingaBusiness
New born
Studying abroad
Finding a job
Marriage
Emergencies
Retiring
For individuals
For companies

8. 2. Case study: getting married

9. 9
The health
check
experience
is not
wedding like.
“I had to fill out so many papers for
various departments - it didn’t feel part
of the marriage.”
Insight 1:

10. 10
“I had to wait with the other people.
I felt exposed and wished there
was more privacy.”
Insight 2:
People miss
their privacy.

11. 11
“I was anxious - what if the results
are not as expected? Does that
mean I can’t get married?”
Insight 3:
People worry
about the
test results.

12. 12
The initial idea
An online booking system & digitising the service
The idea:

13. “Even if this service is
more expensive, I liked
that the doctor came to
our house. I felt I could
ask all the questions I
needed to ask.”

14. Adjusting the approach
to align with
the local culture
3. Why it worked

15. Our world of
service design
The world of
traditional organisations
restructuring power
agile
beginners mindset
failing = learning
MVP
collaboration
team diversity
hierarchy
planning
expert mindset
failing = stopping
pilot
silos
working alone

16. Minimum viable
services in a
country that built
the tallest building
on earth?

17. …. what motivates people?
…. what makes people try out new things?
…. how does stuff get done?
In this organisation…

18. w
Motivation
through competition
and recognition.

19. w
Adopting new ways
through trusting the expert.

20. DELIVERING IMPACT
w
Delivering impact
through support from the right people.
w

21. The secret of skills transfer
Learn from
others so you
can teach them.
othersyou
learn
teach

22. We’d
love
to
hear
from
you.
@Muna.Aldhabbah
@egsep
@SimoneCarrier
@FutureGov
Simone
Carrier
Head
of
Service
Design
FutureGov
Muna
Al
Dhabbah
Director
of
Government
Service
Development
Prime
Minister’s
Office,
UAE

23. Appendix

24. Strategic)Direc+ons)
Strategic)Priori+es)
A) B)
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)
UAE)Vision)2021)
Vision)for)Emirates)Government)Service)Excellence)Program)
To)become)one)of)the)best)countries)in)the)world)by)2021)
Provide)quality)seven)star)government)services)
Customer)Centric)
Government)
Coherent)and)
Efficient)Government)
Unified)Interface)
for)Services
Smart)
Government
Innova+on)in)
services
Efficiency)of)
Services
Customer)
Happiness)
Culture
Ra+ng)
Service)
Channels
Smart)Base)for)
Customer)Services
Government Service Sector
The vision

25. Emirates Government Service
Excellence Program Initiatives Best%MGov%
Award
Service%%
Quality%Manual
Government%
Services%Diploma
Khadama<%
(Service%catalog)
Customer%
charter
Global%%
Star%Ra<ng%
System
Customer%
Sa<sfac<on%
study
Mystery%
Shopper Government%
Service%
Pioneers
Government%Service%
Improvement%Manual
Integrated
service
award

26. Government Service Sector
Customer Happiness exhibition
Individuals*
Companies*