Developing a design-focused digital tool aiding employees in the federal government
Empowering Working-Level Systemic Change
A digital resource focused on embedding equity into Natural Resource Canada's policy & program design
Natural Resources Canada
Context
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) was seeking to provide concrete guidance to employees to embed inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) into the DNA of the department.
I was hired to create a pilot web-tool alongside a UX designer. However, due to budget constraints the designer was not hired. I rose to the challenge and took this opportunity to move beyond the original vision of the project—a series of curated reflective questions—and build a tool that introduced employees to the design process.
I researched, wireframed, and wrote the content of the IDEA Toolkit with the aim of developing educational material—in-group and out-group language, preferred naming conventions, definitions, that sort of info—and guided workflow processes for policy makers and program designers working from the ground up.
The comprehensive workflows follow the design process from start to finish and provide a variety of activities for each phase of the process. The activities were chosen to maximize co-creation with key stakeholders and provide a human-centred focus for policy and program design.
Most teams are under resourced with only one working-level employee responsible for an entire project. While they may be well intentioned, often they do not have time to learn a new way to work while delivering their project on time. With this in mind, I pivoted from my initial design to include two streams for each workflow: one for teams and one for individuals.
At a glance
Key Insights
Challenge
How to design a tool that supports employees in a practical way, provides insight into an inclusive way of working through design-thinking, and gets the results that managers are seeking?
Approach
I met with key individuals from different equity-impacted groups, and designed focus-groups with Policy Analysts and Program Designers to determine their greatest challenges when applying an IDEA lens to their work. I presented early findings of my research to working groups and communities across the department soliciting feedback and opportunities to interview employees about their work.
Outcome
What was originally conceptualised as a series of reflective and guiding questions for employees became comprehensive workflows grounded in the design process. I wanted to provide a sandbox for Policy Analysts and Program Designers to create new projects from scratch and to retrofit existing initiatives using a workflow that guided them every step of the way.
My Impact
Even though I was hired because of my experience with stakeholder engagement, facilitation, and writing, I was able to bridge the gap between my sphere of expertise and the skillset that the project required. I jumped into UX research with both feet, working closely with the Intranet Publishing team at NRCan, and ended up finding a love and joy of designing for the web that I didn’t know I had.
A Core Belief
Lasting change happens when we look beyond symptoms and work together to transform the systems and relationships shaping our lives.
