Create a Cohesive Civic Design Practice Across Agency, Vendors, and Contracts
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Centralizing research participant recruitment and documentation streamlines user access for multiple contract teams, improving research quality and inclusivity.
-
•
Collaboration across contractor boundaries is critical and can be facilitated by shared communication tools like Slack and regular cross-team meetings.
-
•
Normalizing design tools and processes across contractors ensures consistency, speeds onboarding, and prevents duplicated effort in maintaining design systems.
-
•
A governance-driven collaboration cycle with strict adherence to accessibility and user experience standards is required to launch VA digital applications.
-
•
Making design work and patterns visible early prevents redundant efforts and clarifies which user problems are already addressed.
-
•
Dedicated centralized expert teams in accessibility, content, IA, and QA free designers to specialize and maintain quality in large-scale enterprise projects.
-
•
Legal constraints, such as the Paperwork Reduction Act, limit research interactions, requiring balancing ethical concerns with agile user research.
-
•
Contracts structured around individual products rather than whole user experiences create challenges in coordination and require extra collaborative effort.
-
•
Fostering psychological safety and informal feedback venues enables design teams from multiple companies to share work openly and improve outcomes.
-
•
The VA’s approach has led to millions of veterans using self-service tools monthly, highlighting the impact of cohesive government design practices.
Notable Quotes
"Throwing a potluck sounds easy until you realize you don’t have a group that magically reads each other’s minds, resulting in a random table of snack foods."
"Our digital experience group acts like hosts and planners making sure veterans sit down to a cohesive, inclusive meal, not just disparate dishes."
"We have over 30 contracting teams spread across roughly 10 vendors all working on parts of the veteran experience landscape."
"A government designer aims to reduce UX variation while a contractor may optimize only their single product, creating potential conflicts."
"Reliable access to veterans and other users is fundamental to running quality, inclusive research across many teams and products."
"Slack channels and weekly meetings encourage cross-contract collaboration, avoiding duplication and sharing learnings across teams."
"The collaboration cycle requires following standards for accessibility, content, design system usage, and IA or you don’t launch your product."
"We treat our shared tooling and design system as a product with a dedicated team maintaining reusable components and governance."
"Designers contribute experimental patterns back to the design system early, making their work visible even before full validation."
"We’ve seen self-service tool usage grow from hundreds to millions of veterans served monthly after launching a unified VA platform."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Rather than handing off work, our designers and developers work side by side through sketching, testing, and iteration."
Laura Smith Tom GaylerEmbedding Service Design and Agile Practice within UK Planning Teams to Create Services that Last
December 3, 2024
"Working at Uber requires grit."
Maggie DieringerCreating Consistency Through Constant Change
January 8, 2024
"After the payroll app was on the roadmap, folks started asking where's the revenue, and then they wanted to change the direction without experimentation."
Steve Sanderson Alissa Briggs Jeff Gothelf Bill ScottDiscussion
May 14, 2015
"Empathy sticks with you; if I tell you an inspirational story about what a customer has done, you’ll remember it."
Ross SmithBreaking Barriers with Empathy
June 9, 2017
"Design should offer tangible co-benefits like saving money or time to motivate sustainable choices."
Mike Brzozowski Laura Palotie Steve Isley Nancy TsangUX in everyday products: Empowering climate conscious choices
July 17, 2024
"Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions — unintended consequences emerge when systems aren’t fully understood."
Sheryl CababaExpanding your Design Lens with Systems Thinking
March 28, 2023
"AI agents should understand the entire context and, if no suitable result exists, come back honestly without lying."
Maria Rosala Shivanjali M.Research Repositories
March 12, 2026
"Loading text itself is a loading indicator; the letters appearing show progress better than jumpy animations."
Savannah CarlinDon't botch the bot: Designing interactions for AI
June 4, 2024
"If 71% of people self-identify as gamers, why aren’t you learning from the video game industry?"
Cheryl PlatzEmbrace Your Fun Factor: Game Development Best Practices for Product Design
January 9, 2026
