Platformland challenges the orthodoxy of “seamlessness” in digital public services

One of the more surprising arguments Richard Pope makes in Platformland: An anatomy of next-generation public services is the case for “seamful design” – a far cry from the push to build seamless services that is common wisdom among many advanced digital governments.

The concept intentionally challenges the idea that digital service teams in government should mimic the seamless service design offered by big tech giants in the private sector.

In his book, Pope, who was a founding member of the United Kingdom Government Digital Service (GDS), convincingly argues that what sets public services apart is the need to embed opportunities for users to clarify how these services work and how decisions are made.

“Rather than aiming for seamless design, the aim should be for simple services that wear their seams proudly,” he writes in a chapter titled: “Designing the seams (not seamless design)”.

This could look like Estonia’s data tracker service, which allow users to track how their data is accessed, or global efforts to open-source government code for public inspection.

Removing friction from people’s lives

The book, which was published on 26 September, is a breezy read chockful of insights. In its first half, it recaps some of the biggest ideas in digital government circles today in crisp, clear writing aimed at a general audience, complete with a handy summary at the end of each chapter.

These include popular mission statements, such as the “once-only principle” that promises to simplify administrative burdens for citizens; proactively bundling services to support citizens going through major life milestones; and having common, shared components that all agencies can use, such as website builders.

What the book does best is tying together trends – Pope identifies 30 – into a coherent narrative for readers to understand what the future of government services looks like, with 10 strategies to get there (and helpful diagrams to boot).

Rather than just saving money, these trends reflect the ways governments around the world can share the benefits of digital tools broadly with society and remove friction from people’s lives, he shares in conversation with GovInsider.

Critically, he argues for a vision of digital services that does not simply digitise existing services, but restructures service delivery to account for the capabilities of technology today while remaining transparent and accountable.

Citizens as co-producers

Speaking with GovInsider, Pope says, “we need to design in ways for the public to understand how things work, to create feedback loops between the public and the service delivery teams and civil society organisations, especially when you bring AI in.”

Conducting user research early on is a good first step but not enough, as services and apps evolve over time, he says. Constant feedback loops and a robust civil society can provide early warning signs.

This focus on transparency and co-producing public services with citizens comes at a time when accountability is at the forefront of readers’ minds, as the use of AI in public services becomes more prevalent.

This is particularly so in the United Kingdom, which is still reeling from the Post Office Horizon scandal, where hundreds of Post Office staff were wrongly convicted for theft due to bugs in the Post Office’s IT systems.

The book also highlights the importance of not merely treating citizens as consumers of public services – citizens value their relationship with public servants and the “human” element of public services needs to be accounted for.

For instance, this could refer to giving the option for citizens to access physical service centres that offer the same quality of service as their digital counterparts.

The boundaries of digital public services

These questions are even more pertinent at a time when digital service efforts in government have become increasingly ambitious, as countries create digital public infrastructure that supports transactions across society beyond government.

For instance, Singaporeans can register for a bank account using Singapore’s digital identity system, and Estonian businesses can request data access via the country’s data exchange platform, X-Road.

Pope cautions that as such digital service efforts begin to take root, the importance of responsible governance of systems will necessarily grow as well. This is why the book advises governments to set up new institutions that can ensure proper governance, set standards, and provide “immunity from treachery”.

While such organisations may look different for each country, they will broadly support horizontal infrastructure efforts and are usually comprised of technologists, designers, product owners, and policy folks who can build common infrastructure and components.

Critically, they will require clarity of purpose and accountability measures, such as increased transparency, to prevent concentrations of power, he argues. Strong civil society will also play a key role.

A roadmap for govtech changemakers

While the book is an easy read, it is made compelling by Pope’s experience as a technologist and his passion for public services. Throughout, he draws on the history of technology to flesh out his argumentation, from his own experiences designing products for UK’s GDS to how tensions in IBM in the 1970s shape database structures today.

For that alone, the book is a thought-provoking odyssey of the ways in which government has historically supported, leveraged on, and stumbled on with technology. Taken as a whole, the arguments in the book serve as a North Star for changemakers who are looking to do digital government differently.

You can download the ebook of Platformland: An anatomy of next-generation public services here.