IE11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Little Hoover Event Highlights Innovative Service Delivery in Government

The session's lineup of speakers reinforced a report the commission last fall called "Customer-Centric Upgrade For California Government,” which suggests the state of California designate a chief customer officer and follow the lead of the federal government’s digital strategy, among other reforms to improve the public’s trust and confidence in government.

The Little Hoover Commission convened a broad range of speakers from federal, state and local government during a "UX Showcase" on Thursday afternoon in Sacramento, exploring how California might be able to transform and improve service delivery for constituents.

The session reinforced a report the commission last fall called "Customer-Centric Upgrade For California Government,” which suggests the state of California designate a chief customer officer and follow the lead of the federal government’s digital strategy, among other reforms to improve the public’s trust and confidence in government.

Little Hoover Commissioner David Beier said the report doesn't focus on organizational change in a structural sense. "It is more a framework or a state of mind about making government customer-centric, or centering on the experience of the citizen dealing with the government," Beier said.

"What does customer-centric government mean? It means experimenting. One of the maybe most important recommendations, and it'll seem very subtle but I think we heard it pretty consistently, is give state agencies and state leaders an opportunity to experiment and fail. If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough and not being imaginative enough," Beier said.

One of the Little Hoover's report recommendations is for California to launch an agile, customer-focused digital unit along the lines of what the federal government has done with the "18F." That group was formed in 2014 within the General Services Administration and has grown to 185 employees working on behalf of federal agencies in a fee-for-service mode

18F Executive Director Aaron Snow and Deputy Director Hillary Hartley were on hand to explain how 18F works and the lessons they've learned about agile development and "hacking bureaucracy."

Code for America Project Manager Jacob Solomon discussed how he has worked with a small team to overhaul and streamline the user experience for constituents applying online or via a smartphone for CalFresh benefits, the state's food stamp program.

Attendees also heard from DocuSign Account Executive Jennifer Baker; Mai-Ling Garcia, online engagement manager for the city of Oakland; Citizen Experience Advocate Cyd Harrell; and Code for Sacramento Director Joel Riphagen.

The Little Hoover Commission said video of the session will be posted on its website soon.

Matt Williams was Managing Editor of Techwire from June 2014 through May 2017.