Service designer¶

The guardrails a service designer leads, what to show in each phase, the patterns that help and when to work with an architect.

Prototype - testing with users

This section is an early prototype that we are testing with users. It may change a lot, and some of it may be wrong. Check with your solution design authority before relying on it, and tell us what works and what does not through the feedback link above.

You design the whole service, across channels and organisations. Decisions about identity, acting on behalf, data Defra already holds and what happens when things go wrong shape the user experience and are architecture decisions too.

You lead 11 guardrails, often with other roles. Leading means making sure the team meets them and can show it, not doing all the work. See them all in the guardrail library, filtered to your role.

Your guardrails, phase by phase¶

Discovery¶

Guardrail	Level	What to show
GR-IAM-01 Use the strategic customer identity services	Must	Identity team engaged about the level of identity assurance needed and how users act for organisations
GR-AI-01 Consider AI first	Should	ADR recording the AI options considered and why they were or were not used
GR-DIG-01 Challenge paper and manual processes	Should	Discovery findings showing paper, email and manual steps in the current process and how the new design removes or justifies each one
GR-DIG-02 Design across organisational boundaries	Should	A map of the whole service, including the parts other teams and organisations deliver, and agreed hand-offs between them
GR-FIELD-01 Choose devices that suit the job	Should	User research on the working environment, and the device choice recorded in an ADR
GR-FE-04 Consider forms platforms first	Should	ADR noting whether the forms capability was considered

Alpha¶

Guardrail	Level	What to show
GR-AI-03 Keep a human accountable	Must	Design of the human oversight and challenge route for decisions with significant effects, tested with users in prototypes
GR-IAM-01 Use the strategic customer identity services	Must	Sign-in designed with Defra Customer Identity, and tested with users
GR-AI-01 Consider AI first	Should	ADR recording the AI options considered and why they were or were not used
GR-AI-09 Get human approval for consequential actions	Should	Agent actions classified, and the actions that need human approval identified in the design
GR-DATA-04 Collect once, share safely	Should	Journey design showing users are not asked for information Defra already holds, and data sharing agreements where required
GR-DIG-01 Challenge paper and manual processes	Should	Discovery findings showing paper, email and manual steps in the current process and how the new design removes or justifies each one
GR-DIG-02 Design across organisational boundaries	Should	A map of the whole service, including the parts other teams and organisations deliver, and agreed hand-offs between them
GR-DIG-03 Provide assisted digital and offline routes	Should	Assisted digital and offline routes designed and tested with users who need them
GR-FIELD-01 Choose devices that suit the job	Should	User research on the working environment, and the device choice recorded in an ADR
GR-FE-04 Consider forms platforms first	Should	ADR noting whether the forms capability was considered
GR-FE-05 Design for low bandwidth and rural users	Should	Page weight budget, save-progress design and testing on slow connections

Beta¶

Guardrail	Level	What to show
GR-AI-03 Keep a human accountable	Must	Human review and challenge built into the service and tested with users and staff
GR-IAM-01 Use the strategic customer identity services	Must	Integration with Defra Customer Identity built and tested
GR-AI-09 Get human approval for consequential actions	Should	Approval enforced in the tool layer, with tests showing the agent cannot act without it
GR-DATA-04 Collect once, share safely	Should	Journey design showing users are not asked for information Defra already holds, and data sharing agreements where required
GR-DIG-02 Design across organisational boundaries	Should	A map of the whole service, including the parts other teams and organisations deliver, and agreed hand-offs between them
GR-DIG-03 Provide assisted digital and offline routes	Should	Assisted digital and offline routes designed and tested with users who need them
GR-FE-05 Design for low bandwidth and rural users	Should	Page weight budget, save-progress design and testing on slow connections

Live¶

Guardrail	Level	What to show
GR-AI-03 Keep a human accountable	Must	Records of human review, challenges raised and their outcomes, reviewed regularly
GR-IAM-01 Use the strategic customer identity services	Must	No other sign-in introduced
GR-AI-09 Get human approval for consequential actions	Should	Approval records reviewed, and the classification updated when the agent gains new tools
GR-DIG-03 Provide assisted digital and offline routes	Should	Assisted digital and offline routes designed and tested with users who need them

Patterns that help¶

Acting on behalf of an organisation or holding - Users act for a business, a land holding or another person, and the service must check they are allowed to.
Reading from an authoritative source - A service needs shared data - customers, organisations, holdings, locations or species - that another part of Defra owns.

Working with architects¶

In discovery, map the current journey against the systems and data behind it with an architect.
In alpha, test the riskiest assumptions on both the user and the technical side together.
Record decisions that shape the user experience in ADRs, as a contributor.