Welcome to the early February issue of the Button Insight Newsletter!

The Big Story

How to spring-clean your public-sector digital strategy

February means shaking off the holiday cobwebs and a refreshed ramp-up of hitting our goals for the new year. Follow these four resolutions to make 2024 your best year yet.

It’s hard to believe it’s already February. For our Button teams in Victoria, B.C., this is the time of year when we shake off our “grueling” one week of snow, where roads are impassable and summer tires are abundant (hence making the roads impassable). Our other team members in Montreal and across Canada look amused in our virtual meetings at their West Coaster colleagues’ struggles, as they themselves hunker down for a couple more months of (real) winter.  

For our public-sector clients, now is often one of the more hectic times of year: preparing for estimates, planning for the next fiscal year, and ramping up for the upcoming election cycle. Mandates abound, and budgets are still fuzzy. 

It is also a great time to take a deep breath, reset, and plan to nail your goals in the new year.  

Groundhog Day was on February 2, and the benevolent little beast predicted an early spring. While we patiently wait for the sun and warmth hopefully on its way, here are four quick tips to make the most of the time between now and your end of fiscal.

1. Design focus, design first

2. Review those legacy systems

3. Reconnect with your users 

4. Stand up, stretch and look around the ecosystem

Read the full article to spring-clean your public-sector digital strategy.

Big Client News!

Button kicks of 2024 with new Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General projects

Button is excited to announce that we have won four new projects supporting the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General (PSSG), helping them develop their service design for the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.

Our service designers are conducting intensive Agile design sprints between now and the end of March to improve LCRB services to citizens, Indigenous groups, inspectors, and public stakeholders.

The Button team is excited to produce tangible, actionable artifacts like user journeys, research findings, stakeholder maps, and living prototypes. It is amazing the impact that even a small engagement can have on user-focused long-term planning.

Does your organization need a user-focused roadmap for your long-term goals? Contact us to chat about how Button can help your team kick off a design sprint and get your journey started. We ensure that even the smallest projects position our clients to maximize their ROI and build a solid foundation for future investment in user engagement.

Let’s chat!

Community Engagement

🤝 Meet Dan, our newest Button team member!

Button is always looking for innovative, insightful and creative individuals to join our talent network! 

Each of our projects is supported by a carefully selected, cross-functional team of creators, developers, and subject-matter experts that delivers for and delights our clients with our work. (And has fun in the process.)

This month we’d like to welcome Dan McNeill to our team.

Tell us about yourself, Dan.

I spent the past two years learning and exploring research as a staff UX Researcher with a large Canadian media organization, with a focus on accessibility, integrating data into research, and strategy.

I was recently certified as a ICF-accredited executive coach. I’m exploring the use of coaching techniques for design research and process. Additionally, I co-organize and facilitate monthly Victoria service design jams with fellow Button team member, Jaimie Park, and another talented designer!

I have been facilitating a “design your life” program for years, using design-thinking tools to understand and solve problems collaboratively in participants’ lives.

My background is in international service-learning program leadership and youth health programming focusing on remote communities, street-involved youth, and harm reduction.

What are some fun or quirky things you get up to when not in front on a screen?

Improvised everything! Contact improv (dance), improv comedy, musical improv/jams, vocal improvisation. I’m just making it all up! 

I’m also a banjo picker. And I take making tacos very seriously. I challenge anyone reading to a taco cook-off!

I'm also currently working on my goal to write and perform music and poetry.

Upcoming Events

Happening tonight in Victoria! Improving Local Services with Service Design

Dan McNeill (who you met above!) is hosting this event for both experienced designers and the design-curious! Learn through experiential play how to work from a design-thinking lens while we collaboratively identify and understand problems… then design solutions.

No experience with design is necessary, so this is a great place to connect with service designers, aspiring and seasoned, in Victoria!

DATE: Tuesday, February 6
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
PLACE: theDock Centre for Social Impact, 300-722 Cormorant St., Victoria, BC
COST: $10

Register now and we’ll see you tonight!

In Vancouver Mar. 1? Join Button designers at Vancouver Service Jam

Join Jammers in over 100 locations around the world to work simultaneously for only 48 hours (or less!) and prototype services inspired by a secret global theme.

DATE: Friday, March 1 – Sunday, March 3
TIME: Start 5 p.m. PT on Friday
PLACE: Tofubot, 732 Richards St., Vancouver, B.C.
COST: $35

Register now!

Worth Your Attention

What We’re Reading:
 Trust Factor, by Paul Zak

Even though this book is from 2017, it’s never been fresher and more vital, especially as trust in client partnerships is at the core of everything Button stands for.

Paul J. Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University, advocates for building high-trust cultures in organizations to enhance business outcomes. The book, based on Zak's neuro-scientific research, provides actionable strategies for designing and managing cultures that foster collaboration, profitability, and employee retention.

Unlike superficial user engagement tactics, Zak focuses on elevating oxytocin levels through meaningful work, beautifully articulating and showing that employees in high-trust environments are more engaged, productive, and satisfied. The book showcases evidence from companies like Zappos and Google, highlighting the economic and personal benefits of cultivating trust within organizations.

Further Reading

Stay on top of vital digital services news and tips by checking out insights from our previous newsletters!

CHANGE MANAGEMENT: How to get your team to adopt new digital tools and processes.

DO YOU NEED A SERVICE DESIGNER?: The signs and gaps to look for in 2024.

14 STEPS TO YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: What to look for in an agency when setting out on your digital transformation journey. And how to adapt during that transformation.

AI IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: We break down AI’s potential to revolutionize public services—as well as the serious pitfalls to acknowledge when handling public information and public trust.

🔥 THE NEWEST HOT BUTTON REPORT: Learn how to rebuild trust with your stakeholders. Download the full, free report now.

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