10. Collaborate widely

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Guidelines:

Related guidelines:

10.1 Create multidisciplinary teams with the range of skills needed to deliver a common goal

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It’s important to have a strong multidisciplinary team in place, led by one person who is accountable and has the authority to make decisions based on the outcomes of research, testing and prototypes.

The team’s skills and focus need to evolve as the service is designed and developed. The team also needs to adapt its structure based on the needs of the service and the phase of work.

To be successful, build a team with:

  • a broad mix of skills and roles from the start
  • quick decision-making processes and the ability to change and adapt as the service evolves
  • the resources and ability to deliver the product

(Digital Service Standard (Ontario))

Checklist

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  • Have a manager with the ability to make day-to-day decisions to improve the service (Digital Service Standard (Ontario))
  • Make sure you have at least one user researcher working at least 3 days each week (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Make sure there is separation of key roles in the team, meaning that nobody is performing multiple roles (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Member(s) of the team have experience building popular, high-traffic digital services (Digital Services Playbook (US))
  • Member(s) of the team have experience designing mobile and web applications (Digital Services Playbook (US))
  • Member(s) of the team have experience using automated testing frameworks (Digital Services Playbook (US))
  • Member(s) of the team have experience with modern development and operations (DevOps) techniques like continuous integration and continuous deployment (Digital Services Playbook (US))
  • Member(s) of the team have experience securing digital services (Digital Services Playbook (US))
  • Understand where gaps may emerge in the team and how to fill them (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Plan to transfer knowledge and skills from contractors to permanent staff (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Make sure there's a person on your team who's responsible for user research and usability tests (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Make sure you'll have a team that can keep improving the service after it goes live (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Make sure the team fully understands the service after it's gone live (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Involve the maintenance team for the service early on in the project (Digital Service Standard (Ontario))

Implementation guides

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Reusable solutions

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Similar resources

10.2 Share and collaborate in the open

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Checklist

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  • Offer users a mechanism to report bugs and issues, and be responsive to these reports (Digital Services Playbook (US))
  • Link to the work of others
  • Document how you accept contributions and comments on the code (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Document how you're handling updates and bug fixes to the code (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Document the code you've not made open and why (Digital Service Standard (UK))
  • Determine how a team in another department can reuse your code (Digital Service Standard (UK))

Implementation guides

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Reusable solutions

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Similar resources

10.3 Identify and create partnerships which help deliver value to users

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Checklist

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  • Develop open and innovative partnerships - Recognize that an organization can't have all the best ideas. Create partnerships and collaborate.
  • (The Good Collaboration Toolkit: Checklist (The Good Project)):
    • Do you discuss the purpose of the collaboration? Is there agreement about the vision among collaborators?
    • Is there a clear leadership/rotation of leadership for the collaboration?
    • Is there a documented scope of work, with an associated timeline?
    • Do you discuss goals and accountability to achieve these goals?
    • Are people clear about their roles in the collaboration?
    • Do you discuss the collaborators’ own interests, needs and values?
    • Do you discuss methods of communication and decision-making?
    • Are all of the voices of the collaborators being heard?
    • Are all collaborators invested in the work?
    • Is the work getting done?
    • Are there obstacles that need to be discussed?
    • Are supports communicated and shared?
    • Is there agreement about a “product” or outcome for the collaboration?

Implementation guides

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Reusable solutions

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