People expect the same experience from public-sector digital services as they do from digital services in the private sector regarding accessibility, convenience, user experience, and personalization.

Billions have been spent on modernizing the public sector system in the last decade. However, unlike the private sector, the public sector is missing one of the most important keys to success: adopting a product mindset regarding system design and service delivery.

Here, we dig deeper to create a helpful guide for government agencies to cultivate a product mindset.

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Minimize Time to Value

Product mindset practitioners start by identifying areas of potential value to customers, the team, and the organization itself. Rather than working through incremental problems on a serial basis, in a product mindset, we first examine the full scope of issues through user research and business analysis. These issues constitute a set of value pools from which to understand the cost drivers and, for government applications, mission effectiveness inhibitors that need attention. Some will be easy to analyze, and some will be much harder. 

Based on an agreed-upon set of criteria, the team then proceeds through a prioritization exercise and builds its backlog—the list of things it will work on over time to improve the product, service, or process. Iteratively, using agile methods, the team quickly tests and launches solutions. This approach ensures that value is delivered efficiently and effectively.

Solve for Need

The soundest decisions are most often based on evidence. This evidence is typically numbers-based data, such as functional and operational data. While these are essential sources to inform decision-making processes, a third type of data can help create a more holistic approach to solving a need. 

Functional data indicates whether a system performs its tasks correctly, such as whether a transaction is completed or abandoned or a form is filled out and submitted correctly. 

Operational data is derived from objective, observable, and measurable processes such as sales or channel volume and service cost.

Experience data, on the other hand, can combine hard quantitative data, such as a customer satisfaction score, with results derived from qualitative data, such as ethnographic research, contextual inquiry, one-on-one interviews, or focus groups.

For most organizations, generating enough data is not the problem, but rather how to draw the best insights and take action from a collection of these three types of data sets. 

Excel At change

Change is happening constantly across all aspects of life, and government service providers are no exception. 

The ability to quickly pivot to accommodate a new finding, an assumption that was wrong, or a budget that gets cut is as much an art as a science, and it is essential for leaders who live in a product-minded world. To hone the skills to excel at change, leaders must be open and curious, with a radar that picks up on changing conditions, threats, and unanticipated risks.

The key is prioritizing based on the latest information, using test-and-learn approaches like prototypes and demos, all while keeping the customer's needs at the forefront.

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You Are Never Done.

A product mindset goes hand-in-hand with product management practices that span the entire lifecycle of a product or service. While product management is not a new idea, its application to software brings some new constructs to optimize digital change at an enterprise level.

A central owner, whether a manager or a team called a product manager, oversees citizen services rather than dividing tasks across functions like IT and customer service. This centralized management streamlines backlog development, improves efficiency, and enables faster responses to customer feedback. 

Unlike traditional IT projects, products are never truly finished—they evolve based on outcomes, not budget or scope. 

The shift to product managers who practice a product mindset offers many exciting elements for the future of government services. It is a new career category that governmental human resources management should eagerly embrace in order to modernize government service experiences to be competitive with the private sector. This benchmark is often mentioned in government circles but has yet to be fully realized from an organizational perspective. 

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Prioritize People and the Product Mindset Culture

Building a team that embraces a shared culture is critical to a successful product mindset. Agencies need outcome-driven, service-oriented leaders who are focused on both customers and employees. 

 In a product mindset, the focus is not only on delivering a product but on cultivating a people-centered culture that drives success. Prioritizing people means investing in leaders and teams who are outcome-focused, adaptable, and open to change. This culture promotes collaboration, curiosity, and continuous improvement. By empowering teams to take ownership of the product and the service experience, organizations create an environment where innovation thrives, risks are managed effectively, and products are consistently aligned with customer needs and organizational goals.

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