The Collaboration Revolution Hiding in Plain Sight

How leaders are quietly eliminating the friction that's been crushing productivity for decades.

August 12, 2025

The Big Story

The Collaboration Revolution Hiding in Plain Sight

How leaders are quietly eliminating the friction that's been crushing productivity for decades.

From coast to coast, something unprecedented is happening in government offices: departments are actually working together.

Gone are the days when updating your address meant contacting 17 different agencies, or starting a business felt like bureaucratic whack-a-mole. Canada's most forward-thinking public institutions are proving that cross-agency tech upgrades aren't just wishful thinking. They're delivering real results.

The Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada now let citizens update banking information once and share it safely between agencies through their "Tell Us Once" model. Shared Services Canada acts as an intermediary managing relationships with cloud providers, which allows multiple government departments to access shared cloud resources in a standardized way.

What makes this different? Traditional government modernization happens in isolation, creating incompatible systems and frustrated citizens. Cross-agency upgrades flip the script entirely, focusing on two critical pillars: technical integration and human adoption.

But here's the reality check: even the most elegant system fails without genuine buy-in from staff and leadership. The winners understand that transformation isn't just about connecting databases, but supporting people through inevitable chaos, building cross-functional teams, and focusing on small wins that build trust over time.

Citizens don't organize their lives around department structures, and they're increasingly impatient with government's inability to organize around theirs. The organizations getting this right are eliminating artificial boundaries, reducing duplication, and letting public servants focus on what drew them to service: improving people's lives.

The quiet revolution is already underway. The question is how quickly leaders will embrace what works.

Case Study

The Breakthrough That Turned Government Employees Into Design Thinkers

The Challenge

When the Canada Revenue Agency set out to revolutionize their internal innovation culture, they weren't just looking for better training programs. They were searching for a way to unlock their employees' natural drive to serve Canadians, channeling that passion into digital services that actually work for the people who need them most. The challenge? Breaking through decades of "business as usual" to create lasting, meaningful change.

The Approach

Rather than traditional training, Button designed two strategic interventions that challenged fundamental assumptions about public service delivery.

1. Putting Empathy First

Button's UX and Service Design expert led an interactive masterclass that flipped the script on process improvement. Instead of starting with internal efficiencies, participants learned to begin every project by asking: "What does the citizen actually need?"

The session used real CRA scenarios to demonstrate how understanding user pain points leads to both better policy outcomes and more effective services. Teams practiced reframing their biggest operational challenges through the lens of citizen experience.

2. Building Trust by Design

At CRA's annual innovation conference, Button delivered a keynote on intentional trust-building in digital services. The framework centred on three pillars:

  • Transparency in how services work and why decisions are made

  • Accessibility that removes barriers rather than creates them

  • Responsiveness that adapts to citizen needs, not bureaucratic timelines

The Results That Stuck

Six months later, the transformation was measurable:

Mindset Shift: Teams now default to citizen experience over operational convenience when designing services. Internal process discussions begin with user impact assessments.

Deeper Cultural Awareness: Employees gained a stronger understanding of how inclusivity and trust contribute to meaningful digital outcomes for Canadians. 

Sustainable Practice: Human-centred methodologies moved from workshop concepts to daily workflow standards across departments.

"Button's team worked closely with us and iterated on the shared concept to ensure that the message was perfectly executed. Their engaging workshop also introduced much-needed online collaboration techniques to the Agency at a time when we were still working 100% remotely. Button's collective creativity and wide range of design knowledge truly set them apart. They didn't just get the job done, they were fun to work with." —Emma-Rose Beauchamp, Senior Analyst, CRA

Save the Date!

Button Virtual Lunch n’ Learn Series
AI Done Right: Deciding Before You Dive In

Thursday, September 25, 2025

12–1 pm PT | 3–4 pm ET | 2–3 pm CT | 1–2 pm MT | 11 am–12 pm YT

In our next Lunch n’ Learn, we’ll tackle a big question:

“Everyone’s asking us to use AI… but what problem are we trying to solve, and what’s the right tool for it?”

Too often, teams reach for the shiniest AI tools (like large language models) without a clear plan. This session is about slowing down, choosing wisely, and applying AI where it truly fits.

🚀 Log on, bring your lunch, your boldest AI questions, and get ready to cut through the hype!

Registration opens soon. Don’t miss your spot!

Your August Event Calendar!

Victoria

August 14 | VIATEC AI Meetup - Building Knowledge AI Agents with No-Code Tools 
Business track meetup exploring AI applications for entrepreneurs and tech professionals. TIME: 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM PT PLACE: Fort Tectoria - Shaw Conference Room, 777 Fort Street COST: Free | DETAILS

Edmonton

August 16, 2025 | Design Jam - IxDF Grounded by Design 
Interaction Design Foundation meetup focusing on grounded design principles. TIME: 9:45 AM - 1:00 PM MT PLACE: Borden Park, 7507 Borden Park Rd NW COST: $10 | DETAILS

Montreal

August 21 | Montréal ServiceNow Community Meetup 
Community gathering for ServiceNow developers and users. TIME: 2:00 PM PDT PLACE: ServiceNow, 6650 Rue Saint-Urbain COST: Free | DETAILS

Worth Your Attention

What We’re Reading: The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why, by Jeff Sebo

Jeff Sebo's "The Moral Circle" challenges fundamental assumptions about who deserves ethical consideration in our interconnected world. The philosopher argues that humanity's default position of exceptionalism (prioritizing human interests above all else) is increasingly unsustainable as technology and scale amplify our impact.

Sebo pushes readers to expand ethical frameworks beyond traditional boundaries, considering the moral status of insects, AI systems, and even microbes. Through compelling case studies ranging from elephant captivity lawsuits to factory-farmed insects, he illustrates how current approaches fall short of addressing the trillions of beings affected by human decisions.

The book's most provocative sections explore future scenarios: Should we seed new planets with microbes? How do we handle digital consciousness in virtual worlds? These aren't abstract thought experiments, but practical questions for organizations navigating technological advancement.

Further Reading

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

BUYING CANADIAN IS NOT ENOUGH: A practical technology roadmap for going from foreign vendor lock-in to harnessing Canadian innovation.

STREAMLINING FEATURE APPROVAL IN GOVERNMENT APPS: The Button secret for streamlining feature approvals for seamless, consistent user experiences across government applications.

ESCAPING THE SPREADSHEET NIGHTMARE: A government leader’s guide to making smarter BI decisions.

SUPERCHARGE THE IMPACT OF YOUR DATA INSIGHTS: The uncomfortable truth about how humans actually process information—and what to do about it.

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

Curious what a Canadian-first tech stack could look like for you?

We’ll happily walk you through three smart swaps that improve resilience, and reduce exposure without breaking your workflows.

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