Silberbauer Says:

Yesterday we pitched on a redesign proces on a large e-gov site (I can’t tell you exactly which site, of course) as one of three contestants. We came in second (the first of the loosers, as they say).

Win some, loose some – that’s ok, I can live with that. What annoys me in this case is that this not-to-be client told us we lost because we focused on issues with the website’s structure, navigation and usability problems in our quest to come up with a process that would make more citizens use the site.

The user’s flow through the site is so obviously screwed up by bad communication, bad usability and a non-functional navigation – all issues that desperately need fixing, and we felt we needed to address that. Some relatively easy, but subtle, fixes could be applied that would improve the UX a great deal, making the site more usable to the citizens who are paying for its maintenance through taxes.

But the politician that controls the site (new in office) needed something else: Visible features that can be shown on the front page for the press and other politicians to see. Quickly. So the bureau with the easy-to-implement, flashy ideas won. “Let’s add some more features”, they said.

I’m not blaming the project manager that had to make that choice. I’m blaming the politician that asks for that kind of solution while down-prioritizing the process that would make the site usable for the citizens.

Of course that kind of real IA-work will have to be done sooner or later, we were told. But right now it’s time for some really visible features.

But I fear that when it’s time for the important changes, the ones that make a difference for the citizens, some other politician has taken office and then SHE needs some really visible quick fixes, and so on…

It’s no wonder that so many e-gov solutions suck so bad. Politics and personal preferences mess up the process even before it begins. Let’s all recite Reiss’ Dogma No. 1 in a mantra-like way:

1. Anything that exists only to satisfy the internal politics of the site owner must be eliminated.