Candi On Content

Clearmark Plain Language Awards Are Important to Customer Service

2012-01-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

I’ve said this hundreds of times: if we don’t communicate effectively, we don’t serve effectively. It’s as simple – and as difficult- as that. If customers can’t understand what you have to offer, can’t understand where to find it or what they’re supposed to do with it, then they can’t use your services. And you’ve failed.

Nominations for the annual Clearmark and Wondermark Plain Language Awards are being accepted now. They recognize the best-and worst-documents, legal writing, and websites (electronic media) in government, non-profits, and the private sector. Entries are judged both on design and language, because both of those elements contribute to clarity.

So why are these awards so important to customer service? Because they give us – you- wonderful examples to follow. Take a look at last year’s Clearmark winners, and you’ll see what plain writing should be. And those Wondermark winners shine the light on what you don’t want to do.

There is a small fee for submitting Clearmark nominations - $75 for government entries and $100 for non-profit and private entries. But you get something pretty terrific for that money, win or lose. You’ll get a summary of the critiques of each of the judges who review your entry. These are some of the most experienced and widely recognized plain writing experts around the world (I say this with due modesty, since I’m among them); and you’ll get a thorough assessment of what’s good, and what could be better, from a panel of these authorities. I’m guessing some of you pay consultants a whole lot more than that to advise you on your documents or websites…this is a real bargain.

I encourage you to submit your best documents, legal writing, and/or websites (or other media) for Clearmark Awards. Deadline is March 3, 2012. And if there’s a document or website that’s been driving you crazy, nominate it for a Wondermark Award (there is no fee for Wondermark awards, and you have the option to be anonymous).

As important, I encourage you to review past award winners and be on the lookout for this year’s winners. See what makes them worthy of acclaim (or shame). Use that knowledge to improve your own writing.

If we don’t communicate effectively, we don’t serve effectively.

Time to Lasso That Elephant!

2012-01-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

The .Gov Task Force has issued the State of the Federal Web report, summarizing its surveys and the national brainstorming effort it sponsored. It’s a terrific report, full of great data and even better analysis. If you care at all about how customer service in the federal government functions (or should function), this is a “must read.”

Are there any surprises here? Heck no. Many of us – both inside and outside government – have been yammering about the proliferation of government websites, the lack of consistency, bad writing, and the need for easy-to-use “top tasks,” for years. The good news is that now we have the data to support it and a Presidential initiative to fix it.

So, what’s the one absolutely compelling need that jumps out…the elephant in the room? Governance. Governance across agencies. Governance across government. It’s time to wrestle with those 5 “R’s” of governance, establish consistency, and really improve customer service through the web.

What are the 5 “R’s” of governance?

Roles – who, by title, must be involved?
Responsibilities – what must they do?
Relationships – how/when must they interact?
Rules – how will they operate (policies, publication rules, and operating rules)?
Review – how they will make sure that the first four “R’s” are followed and improved (accountability; management controls)?

Roles, responsibilities, relationships, and rules do not have to be (shouldn’t be) reinvented agency-by-agency. There are clear models of success out there (just check out Howto.gov). Embrace them. We need to stop the tug of war between communications and technology and customer service and figure out who has the lead and how it needs to be organized, keeping the customer at the center. It's time.

But the biggie – the one that, without it, all else fails – is “Review.” We need good controls to make sure we’re adhering to “R’s” 1-4. Certification processes are great. But if no one spot-checks to make sure those certifications are accurate, who cares? If we don't do something about noncompliance, why should anyone comply? Content management systems can help. They can enforce design and approvals. But they can’t fix bad writing. They can't make sure top tasks are easy-to-use and easy-to-find.

You’ve got to have effective review processes to make sure everything (and everyone) is working according to plan. And there have to be repercussions if it isn’t (you lose your posting rights, you have to take more training, we find someone else to fill your responsibilities, etc.).

The .Gov Task Force is working on a governmentwide web strategy to address the findings documented in the State of the Federal Web report and chart a course for the future. They’ve done a superb job handling this critical initiative, so far; and I look forward to seeing what they do now. It’s a task fraught with peril - there’s so much to be done. This strategy has to be very focused and very practical. But this group looks like it’s up to it. And if they lasso that darned elephant, we’ll see real improvement in customer service.

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Governance Is Infrastructure for Great Customer Service

2011-11-13T12:00:00.001-07:00

Federal agencies have posted their Customer Service Plans, to comply with President Obama’s Executive Order, “Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service.” Agencies specifically were to create a signature initiative that improves online service. Many of them are pretty good. Check out all the General Services Administration has on its radar, for example.

But when you put the Customer Service Plans next to the interim Web Improvement Plans, they seem inconsistent. In many cases, you wonder: did the person who wrote one talk to the person who wrote the other? No, they probably didn’t. Why not? Because they weren't under one governance structure.

If we’re going to improve customer service in government, we’ve got to have strong governance. Governance brings consistency, and consistency is essential for great customer service.

I think of “management” as a hierarchical structure with official delegated authorities. “Governance,” on the other hand, usually is a group of management officials or hierarchies who must collaborate and cooperate across the agency to be successful. A governance structure doesn’t have to be hierarchical – it can be collaborative. But everyone in the structure (and everyone in the Agency) has to understand it clearly. Good governance often is hard to pin down and harder to achieve. But it is absolutely critical to improving and maintaining great customer service.

So here we go again…governance. What is it? It’s the infrastructure that enables efficient, effective, collaborative cross-agency (or cross-government) progress. I use 5 “R’s:”

Roles – who, by title, must be involved?
Responsibilities – what must they do?
Relationships – how/when must they interact?
Rules – how will they operate (policies, publication rules, and operating rules)?
Review – how will they make sure that the first four “R’s” are followed (management controls) and opportunities for improvement are spotted (evaluation)?

A couple of years ago, I tacked on two other critical “R’s:”

Reason – what are you trying to achieve? What’s the purpose? Yes – there may be multiple purposes (deliver services, provide information and data, involve the public, share the Agency’s plans and accomplishments). But when push comes to shove, what comes first (and second and third and…)? Everyone needs to know so when it comes to decisions about strategies, priorities, and resources, you're on the same page.

Roadmap – a plan. If you don’t have one, your customer service efforts can go awry really fast, and you can waste precious resources (not to mention making your agency look bad). Everyone needs to be going in the same direction, toward the same goals.

My friend Nicole Burton, who runs GSA’s First Fridays program (they do FREE website usability reviews for agencies) tells me that governance issues are at the root of many of the problems they identify. Right hand doesn’t talk to left hand, even though they’re working on the same customer tasks. Fiefdoms compete or duplicate efforts. No central oversight to make sure the site represents the best of the entire agency and that it works seamlessly, even though content comes from different parts of the agency. Bad governance shows.

Where to start? Begin by assembling the right people:

A high ranking management official who has authority to trump all others in the governance structure, if there are issues. It could be the agency head or deputy agency head or some other program-neutral official. It must be someone who is clear on the agency’s customer service objectives and keeps abreast of the actions.
The designated Customer Service Official
The Chief Communications Officer (because we cannot serve effectively if we don’t communicate effectively)
The designated Plain Language Official (because we don’t communicate effectively if we talk gobbly gook)
The designated Open Government Official (because being transparent and participatory and collaborative is a big part of great customer service)
The Chief Information Officer
The Chief Web Manager
The New Media Director
The head of publications
The head of call centers
The head of the agency correspondence unit(s)
The manager responsible for field operations (because a whole lot of customer service happens out there in field offices)
The Chief Procurement Officer (because contractors often are a critical part of our customer service efforts)
Top content owners – the executives in charge of program areas or bureaus or other major organization components

Yep – that’s a lot of people. Each of these people has a stake in the goal. These players must be involved in your customer service strategy and operations – working together, going in the same direction - or your customers will suffer.

Next, figure out what each must do and how (and when) they must interact. Write that down, so everyone knows. Start with what you have and then fill in the holes or make fixes. I’ve got a little governance self-assessment worksheet that can help. Don’t forget to figure out those “review” processes to make sure it all works. And figure out consequences – don’t wait for things to break down.

We could be witnessing the beginning of culture change that will make customer service a permanent driving force in government. But it takes a good infrastructure - good governance – to make it work.

Web Improvement Plans Must Start With Commitment to Customer Service

2011-10-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

The initial drafts of federal agency plans to improve online customer service have been posted. Agencies were asked to report on what’s happening currently, as the first step toward developing their plans; and I must say, the results are – well – disappointing. If you want to know what’s wrong with government websites, just scan a few of these draft plans. They’re all over the place.

In case you aren’t up to speed, the White House announced the .Gov Reform effort in early summer. It emanates from the President’s Executive Order, “Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service” and the Campaign to Cut Waste. Specifically, the .Gov Reform task force is inventorying government websites, assessing the status of web operations, and developing a governmentwide web strategy. As part of this effort, agencies are to develop a “Web Improvement Plan that communicates their strategy for managing web resources more efficiently, improving online content, and enhancing the customer experience of Agency websites.” These draft plans are the first step.

OK, take a look at these “plans” and see what you think.

I reviewed 14 Cabinet level agency reports and the White House web team report. For the most part, these are very process-oriented. Few mentioned overarching goals or a vision for online customer service. The lack of consistency across government is quite apparent. Look at their descriptions of “governance,” for example. Several talked about budget procedures and technical requirements, without mentioning the who, what, and why of their governance structures. Do they know what “governance” is?

Only a few (I counted 4) said they factor in usability testing to help them make sure they’re meeting customers’ needs. While customer satisfaction surveys, statistics, email, and focus groups can help – and certainly should be part of the metrics agencies use to improve their sites – the number one way to make sure your website works is watching people use it.

And the biggest omission? Customers. Knowing them. Listening to them. Focusing strategies on their needs.

There are some bright spots.

Health and Human Services admits to having no strategy, but their thoughtful analysis of the problems makes me hopeful they’ll develop a strategy that really will improve customer service.
EPA is a winner, with its “One EPA” strategy to make web content consistent across the agency (and consistency is fundamental to great customer service).
Labor talked about using GSA’s “First Fridays”program to help them assess the usability of their website and make improvements. Way to go!
Some of the large agencies, with many sub-agencies, are beginning to pull policies and procedures and people together to work toward – there it is again - consistency.

But on the whole, these “plans” tell me there’s much to do to improve the way the federal government is serving customers online.

So…a few suggestions.

First – to those of you outside government who value transparency and who care about making government customer service better: read these plans and then speak up about what you see. Let the .Gov Task Force know what you think (Alycia Piazza is listed as the contact for more information about the effort). Blog, Tweet, stir up discussion. Let’s help the govies make online customer service better by pointing out where they can improve.

Second – to the .Gov Task Force: These reports are a reality check. I think the notion of “improving customer service” has not sunk in. Maybe you should back up and help agencies get up to speed. I’d bring in Gerry McGovern, who has worked with governments and top companies all over the world to improve online customer service, for a half day. Put him in front of all the agency Directors of Communication, Directors of Public Affairs, CIOs, designated customer service officials, and top agency web managers. Help them understand the principles of online customer service so they can set priorities and create strategies that really will change the way government serves its customers. While the governmentwide web strategy you’re crafting should help get agencies on the same path, I think it’s important they’re doing it with a good understanding of the vision.

Third – to the Federal Web Managers Council: I think you need to jump into this effort in a public way. Soon. This would be a great time for you folks to issue another white paper, laying out what these strategic plans could/should look like, or - at least - reintroduce your previous white papers. The CIO Council is out there pushing. You should be, too. You’ve been talking about it for years. You have a wonderful opportunity here. Step up to the plate.

The recent National Dialog on Government Websites produced some terrific ideas and got a lot of people – inside and outside of government – excited about the possibilities of the .Gov Reform initiative. But change starts with a commitment to improving customer service. These plans do not reflect that commitment. Fix that, and you’ll be on your way.

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National Dialog on Government Websites Is Over – What’s Next?

2011-10-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

So the 2+ week National Dialog on Government Websites is over. It ended last night with 436 ideas, 1,663 comments, and 8,259 votes submitted by 992 contributors. If you didn’t get a chance to participate, the whole thing is archived for reference. Take a look – I think you’ll be impressed by the quality of the discussion.

Now, the obvious question is: what’s next? Well, the .Gov Reform Task Force will be reviewing the results and using it to help shape government web policy. Here are 3 outcomes I’d like to see.

Require agencies to create an annual content review process, and require the agency head to certify to OMB that all web content is current and accurate. One of the big reasons we’re in this mess with too many government websites is that agencies aren’t held accountable for their content. Ask just about any government web manager, and they’ll tell you there are huge sections of their websites that are seldom (maybe never) used or reviewed. Agency managers have to be held responsible for the content they publish. And there have to be consequences for content neglect (lose posting rights or set a trigger to remove any content not used/reviewed in 1 year or some other appropriate action). We’ve got to get a handle on government web content, and accountability is part of the answer.
Require agencies to archive important – but obsolete – content for future reference. Lots of discussion on various ideas in this Dialog about separating “evergreen” content from content with a short shelf life and archiving content. We have to balance content management demands with the principles of transparency and open government. I think the archives.hud.gov website that my friend, Sam Gallagher, created is a terrific solution to this problem. He moved important historical content from the "live" site to the archive site - content like speeches and initiatives from previous administrations; dated content like funding announcements and grant applications; press releases; statistical reports older than 1 year; and information about obsolete programs. You can get to the archives site from HUD’s home page, and you can search the archives. Content on the archives site is clearly marked “archived” in the header, and the date archived is at the bottom of the page. It keeps important content available to the public, but it separates it from content that needs to be reviewed and managed. It’s one great solution to the problem of clutter and bloated websites.
Establish a customer service strategy that addresses both the front end – creating/improving services so they’re easy to find and easy to use – and the back end, customer support. Lots of ideas fit into this great hope: rewrite websites using plain language, organize around topics and customer groups instead of agencies, simplify online services, require usability testing before launch, and more. One idea that captured my attention is to establish an ombudsman to help customers who get stuck or confused. Gerry McGovern published a spot-on article this week that predicts “the future is about service,” and he talks about the value of customer support. We’ve also got to humanize our services; and several ideas – have a human on the other end, use real-time chats, and others – got at this notion. But overall, we’ve got to stop thinking in terms of delivery channels and start thinking in terms of service. We need to focus on "what," instead of "how." We must understand how customers consume our services. We need to make sure they get the same answers and seamless service, whether they use the web, the phone, a letter, a publication or – as often happens – a combination. I’d like to see the White House and OMB and the Federal Web Managers Council and the CIO Council and GSA get behind a clear strategy that looks at the big picture of service, which includes – but is not limited to – websites.

The .Gov Task Force has a huge challenge. I’m both excited and optimistic about the results. So what can we do to help? Keep talking. Keep thinking. Keep contributing. If you’re a webbie inside government, get involved in the government Web Managers Forum. For those of us outside government, let’s keep blogging and Tweeting and seizing opportunities for participation. The National Dialog on Government Websites shows that – together – we can figure this out.

PS – Huge congrats to GSA’s Sheila Campbell, Lisa Nelson, and Alycia Piazza and others who managed the Dialog. Well done!

Great Ideas! What Do You Think?

2011-10-02T08:02:00.001-07:00

The National Dialog on Government Websites has been a resounding success. In fact, it’s gone so well that the .Gov Reform Task Force and GSA have extended the discussion to midnight Tuesday night, October 4.

There’s still time for you to get in there to comment and vote on the ideas others have proposed and submit your own.

So many great ideas! How do you feel about these?

Create content around topics and customer groups – not organizations. Start working across government to combine, consolidate, and trim content around themes. Stop making customers hop from agency to agency, to gather all the information government has to offer. Yes, there are barriers. But isn’t this the right thing to do for our customers?
Require accessibility AND usability testing prior to launching a website (or a redesign or any significant content additions). We’ve come a long way since 1995 – we have a body of research that tells us what makes a positive customer experience. Should we be required to use that research to make our websites easier for customers to use before we post them?
Simplify online services. Well, duh – yeah! If you agree, vote. If you don’t agree, tell us why.
Differentiate between short-term and long-term content (my terms here). Some content is timeless and needs to be easy to find. Some content has a short shelf-life, but we keep piling it up (leaving it there), making it harder and harder to find those evergreen gems. Should we set up archive websites, moving that important – but quickly obsolete – content off the active website so it’s easier for customers to use? How can we deal with this problem?
Create a federal website content strategy. Do we need to stop managing on an ad hoc basis and start developing and implementing a thoughtful, comprehensive strategy for our websites?
Standardize CMS and templates across government. Oh boy – here’s a hot one! Strong opinions on both sides (I say, “yes!”). Many pros and cons, and lots of hurdles. What's the right answer for our customers?
Establish a “customer bill of rights” as a set of core principles for customer service. I’ve been talking about this for years. But what do you think?
Customers should be able to find government information by location. We addressed this 10 years ago at HUD – our customers told us they want to know how to buy a home or find rental housing where they live or want to live. They want that local connection. So we hired local web managers and built sections of the website for every state. It was a huge hit. Should we be doing this across government? I think so. How about you?
Less content – more services. Should we be focusing more on creating/improving great online services and less on writing more “content?”
Require a content review process. Should every agency have some sort of process to make sure content is current and accurate?
Should all federal government websites use USA.gov’s search engine? Why reinvent the wheel?
Agencies should make sure they have processes to act on customer feedback, questions, and input. Customers hate it when they lob in a comment or question and never hear or see government’s response. It’s a huge part of “open government.” What can/should we do to make sure we interact with customers?

I’m telling you…this discussion is a cornucopia of great ideas and even better discussion.

409 ideas. 1,476 comments. 939 participants. As of today. Have you weighed in? There’s still time. This is important, folks. Don’t keep your ideas and opinions to yourself – share them. Let’s figure this out. We serve best when we serve together. You’ve got until midnight Tuesday night. Join the National Dialog on Government Websites!

Get On the Customer Service Bandwagon

2011-09-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

I hope you’ve already been participating in the National Dialog on Government Websites, sponsored by the .Gov Reform Task Force and GSA. If not, it's not too late. Tons of great ideas and comments and the opportunity to make your feelings known by voting (and you can do that anonymously). This is important, folks. Policy decisions are going to be made based on these comments, so jump right in. It’s open until Friday, September 30. Follow along on Twitter at #dotgov.

Then today, Govloop and RightNow Technologies published the Govloop Guide to Customer Service Excellence. It’s a compendium of ideas based on a symposium Govloop sponsored in August. Good stuff here, from colleagues and experts. The Govloop community is trying to make a difference.

We’re all getting on the customer service bandwagon, and that’s a good thing for citizens and government’s business partners. Check out these great opportunities to improve customer service for Americans.

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Join Us for a National Discussion on Government Websites!

2011-09-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

Come one – come all! This is your chance to help the U.S. government figure out how to serve better, online. I told you a few weeks ago about the ground-breaking .Gov Reform initiative the White House and the General Services Administration have underway. In a nutshell, they’re taking a hard look at U.S. government websites and looking for ways to make them easier to use and more efficient and effective. And here’s the thing: they want you to be part of this discussion!

On Monday, September 19, at 2 p.m. ET, the .Gov Reform Task Force will open The National Dialogue on Improving Federal Websites. It will last two weeks, until Friday, Sept. 30. You'll be able to access it at: http://www.usa.gov/webreform/dialogue.shtml.

You can toss in your ideas in 7 categories: content, search, usability, accessibility, social media, multilingual content, and online services. Each category has one or more “discussion catalysts” to stir the pot and keep things going; and Craig Newmark (yes – the Craig of Craigslist) and I are serving as “discussion catalysts” for the online services thread. We can’t wait to see what you have to say.

But let me warn you – whiners aren’t allowed to play. This isn’t a gripe session. This is a chance to float your ideas and join citizens, colleagues, advocates, authorities, and others in thrashing out ways the government can improve customer service through the web. If you don’t have any ideas to throw in, then just come and join the conversation.

At the end of the 2 weeks, the .Gov Reform Task Force will review all the ideas and comments and use it to draft new policies and strategies for federal government websites.

This is a huge opportunity to participate in reshaping the way the U.S. government works for you. I am so excited to debate my own ideas and learn from the rest of you. Please – don’t miss out. Remember: Monday, Sept 19 at 2 pm ET to Friday September 30. And follow the discussion on Twitter using hashtag #dotgov.

See you there! And spread the word.

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Webbies: You Identifedthe Problem…Now Create the Solution

Courage to Do What We Know We Need to Do

2011-09-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

We know what our customers want. We've known for years. We don’t need to keep asking them because the answer is the same.

We know what to do to make customer service better. We’ve known that for years, too, because we’ve listened to and watched our customers.

So why do 79% of the respondents to RightNow’s recent customer service survey say government could provide better customer service? Because better customer service means challenging the ways we’ve been doing business in government for decades, the culture of distance, and the people who haven’t acquired the vision of great customer service.  It means working together to bulldoze old processes and organizations and build sleeker, better, customer-centered services.

It means showing the courage to do what we know we need to do.

Let’s recap what we know.

What do customers want? To complete a task. Solve a problem. Get an answer. Do something.

What do customers hate? Waiting, wasting time. Feeling stupid. Can’t understand what they read. Don’t know what questions to ask. Feeling like they’re being treated unfairly or singled out. Feeling like they don’t matter, that you don’t care. Getting half an answer or a wrong answer. Feeling like you don’t understand them and what they want. Being treated impersonally - can’t talk to a real person.

What do we need to do to improve customer service on the web?  Help our customers complete their tasks, solve their problems, get their answers, and do what they want to do.

Make it easy to find what they want. Through good design. Put most important content where people look first (that top left quadrant of the screen). Keep it simple. Cut the gratuitous eye-stopping graphics, and eliminate clutter. Good marketing. Good writing. Optimize content for search engines, and market with social media and links. Work across agencies to offer one source, rather than twenty. Example: Texas.gov uses plain language to help customers recognize what they want.
Make it easy to use. Minimize time/steps to complete a task. Write so customers understand the words the FIRST time they read them. Do usability testing – often. Get customer feedback. Use stats to see how many complete the tasks. If they’re dropping out before they complete the task, fix the problems. Work across agencies to consolidate tasks and like-tasks. Example: TSA puts one of its top tasks right on the home page. “Can I bring (fill in the blank) through the security checkpoint?”
Make it easy to get help if they’re stuck. Customers want help quickly, while they’re trying to complete the task - not 2 weeks later. Put “contact us” on every page. Put FAQs on the task pages (make sure they’re really frequently asked questions…pick 10 – not 100). Make it personal - real-time chat, 24-hour phone numbers. What about Skype (or something similar)? Face-to-face with a real human being…wouldn’t that be something? Use mobile apps to help customers get help on the go. Example: FoodSafety.gov suggests: “chat online with one of our food safety experts.” And “Ask Karen,” on the go.
Anticipate what they want/need to do next. Offer “next steps” or “more information.” Work across silos (within and among agencies) to connect the dots. Example: National Archives offers suggestions to researchers who don’t know where to start. And then there’s Amazon.com, the king of anticipation.
Give them confidence they got the right/full answer. Conclude the task with “Success!” or “Finished!” Do usability testing – Gerry McGovern reported as many as 10% think they finished/have the answer, when they don’t. Follow up with email. Tailor Domino’s fantastic pizza tracker to your own processes. Example: State Department emails passport customers, “We’ve finished processing your passport…you should receive your passport on or about (date).”

RightNow’s report is well worth a read. More evidence of what we already know: we need to put services customers care about online so they can find them and use them quickly, easily, and effectively.

We know what customers want. Let’s band together, tackle those challenges, and show customers we have the courage to do what we know we need to do.

The Biggest Barrier to Great Customer Service? Egos!

Let's Start A Customer Service Revolution!

2011-08-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

No – that’s not the leftovers from Hurricane Irene. Those are the Winds of Change you’re feeling. The pieces for building an exciting new vision of government customer service are swirling around us - do you see them? Everything’s starting to converge…ideas, leadership, support from the top. We’re on the verge of a customer service revolution!

Look around:

We have a President who “gets it” that it’s hard for customers to use our services when they have to hop all over government because related programs/functions are distributed across agencies. His Customer Service initiative shows this Administration’s commitment to improving the way government serves citizens.
The .Gov Reform Task Force is focusing high level attention on roping in the renegades of U.S. government websites. Government web managers and CIOs and new media specialists and OMB leaders and White House staff, with terrific support from GSA, are working together to chart a new course for web-based customer service.
What's more, everyone's welcome to join this conversation (revolutions must be inclusive!) The .Gov Reform Task Force is open to ideas from anyone, anywhere. Good customer service strategies start with the customers, and that’s exactly what they’re trying to do.
Even the .Gov Reform surveys (that agencies are completing now) show “big think.” The Task Force is collecting data not only about the URLs and topics and audiences of the way-too-many government websites, but also about web governance…data that can help us understand where it’s working and where it isn’t, so we can make service better across government.
Great ideas are reaching critical mass. Thought leaders and visionaries, like John Kamensky and Wendi Brick, are blogging about “virtual government” and forming communities of interest around customer service. People inside and outside government are coming together – like GovLoop’s Symposium on Customer Service – to talk about serving better, faster, smarter.
USA.gov is leading by example by becoming a place where customers can get answers, rather than just referrals through links. The USA.gov team is creating content, based on information from multiple agencies, around important topics (check out “Consumer Protection,” for example), giving customers a single starting point.
Newly-created Howto.gov reflects prevailing thought that we need to blend customer service channels, to make sure customers get the same answers no matter how they ask: web, phone, in person, publication.
The Plain Writing Act is forcing agencies to change the way they communicate with customers, using their words and organizing content in ways that make sense to them.

In the next few months, we have a window of opportunity. Through the .Gov Reform effort and the Customer Service Initiative, we can create a clear, bold strategic vision for customer service in government. This is how customer service should look and work: customer-centered, rather than agency-centered; multi-channel, rather than a channel-by-channel; one stop, instead of a scavenger hunt; responsive and personal, instead of detached; a priority for government employees, rather than an after-thought. And we can build standards and governance that will help us achieve this vision.

The pieces are all there. If not now, when? Let’s start a customer service revolution.

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Communities of Like-Minded People Can Cause Real Change in Government

2011-08-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

GovLoop is sponsoring a symposium on Customer Service, August 23. It promises to be a great event – bringing together customer service experts and passionistas from within and outside of government, and it hopes to culminate in some real actions to improve customer service in government. Hurrah! Wish I could be there (I was invited, but I couldn’t make it this time).

But this symposium isn’t the point of my blog today. I want to talk about GovLoop. And I’m not just talking about the social networking website by that name. I’m talking about the grassroots community that has emerged and is shaking things up. And I’m talking about a guy, Steve Ressler (a former Fed), and his band of colleagues who are showing us that real leaders don’t require legal authority and a job title to cause change in government. Coalitions of like-minded people, working with principles and passion, can make a difference in the way government works.

Steve Ressler, who founded GovLoop, is a great example of government employee who has an idea and the courage to give it a go. Three years ago, he threw up a social networking site with the idea that people in all levels of government, people who had retired from government, people who want to be in government, people who wanted to sell something to government, people who are advocates for others who interact with the government, and people just interested in government might want to come together to talk about common problems and ideas. Bingo! He was right. GovLoop now boasts more than 45,000 members, and it’s growing every day.

Plus 1: GovLoop gives everyone a place at the table. Ideas can come from anywhere, and it’s better to risk a few bad eggs than exclude one really great idea-maker.
But this isn’t just a big leaderless blob. Steve assumed leadership, and he surrounded himself with some equally-passionate co-workers (Andy, Megan), affiliated with GovDelivery, sought other sponsors and partners, and built an organization that supports the GovLoop community. They started holding training sessions and symposia and conferences and other meet-ups. They target the new and the next generations of public servants; but they also reach out to old-timers like me, brokering knowledge transfer and mentoring.

And here’s what I love most. Steve and company dare to ask those “what’s next?” questions. What should the next government CIO do? How should we implement the new Customer Service Initiative in the federal government? The GovLoop team gin up conversations on the website and do their best to get folks to participate. And they encourage others to do the same.

Plus 2: GovLoop provides leadership for an amorphous community, moving it toward connections and outcomes. Grassroots efforts don’t succeed only by bringing people together. Leadership is essential.

One more thing...

Plus 3: the GovLoop gang communicates with the entire community, regularly. If you’re already a member of GovLoop, you know that Steve sends a daily email alert to point out blog posts, interesting discussions, and new job listings. He Tweets numerous times every day, making sure we know the latest. They stir the pot and keep the community excited about ideas.

Bet you think this is just a big ol’ plug for GovLoop, huh? Well, it is. I truly admire this effort. If you aren’t a member already, I hope you’ll join the fun. But that’s not my bottom line.

My bottom line is this: groups of like-minded government employees (and others!) can cause real, positive change in government, with good, consistent, visionary leadership. The federal web manager community is proof. GovLoop is proof. You don’t have to wait for a charter or a designation or a sign from the universe to get the ball rolling. It doesn’t take an appropriation or budget to bring people together. It’s amazing how much we can accomplish if we’re brave enough to step into the void, be open to new ideas, and put the time and energy and ingenuity into making change happen.

Now let me circle back around to customer service. So many of you have great ideas about ways to improve customer service. Don’t sit in silence. Don’t say it can never be done. Find a group of like-minded colleagues, and create a grassroots community. If you aren’t a natural born leader, find someone who is. Be inclusive – good ideas and willing hands are everywhere. Be gutsy, like Steve Ressler and the GovLoop gang. And follow through.

Communities of like-minded people can do great things!

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Make Time to Lead

2011-07-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

I first wrote a blog post called Make Time to Lead, more than 5 years ago; and I've written several variations on that theme since then. It’s a lesson I learned first-hand, as I managed HUD’s web program and co-chaired the Federal Web Managers Council. It’s easy to get so inundated in process that you lose your direction - and so do those who are following you.

As I look at all that’s on your plate today, web colleagues – website consolidation, plain language re-writes, social media, mobile apps, customer service initiatives – it seems to be a good time to trot this chestnut out again.

Whatever else you do, you have to make time to lead.

A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with a very good web friend. At one point, I looked at her and said, “We’ve been together for 45 minutes, and all you’ve talked about is process. What new ideas are you thinking about? What’s next on your agenda?” She looked at me and froze. I could tell that nothing came to mind. She laughed and said, “Candi, you always make me think.”

See, that’s the thing, web leaders. You have to make time to think. You never know when your boss may call you in or you might run into your agency head in the elevator or you see a prominent colleague at a meeting and they ask, “what’s next?” You need to be ready with an answer because you may not get that opening again. When your team is drowning in process, they need you to inspire them with what's on the horizon. Put it all into perspective and keep those juices flowing. You've got to find some time to think.

Equally important, you've got to make time to listen. We've all heard people say, “my (boss, team leader, project leader, community leader) is so busy I can’t even get 5 minutes with him.” I understand how busy leaders can be. You go crazy running from one meeting to another, one phone call to another, one demand to another.

But you cannot succeed if the people who look to you for leadership lose their way, don’t know what to do next, can’t solve a problem, don’t know what the priorities are, or just need some good ol’ encouragement. You’ve got to make time to listen to them and help them.

So here are a few questions you should ask yourself each week, web leaders:

What’s next? What problems do we need to solve? What are others doing that we should try? What’s the next big thing, and how can we get ready for it? What is it that nobody is doing that we could pioneer? What priorities do I need to shift? Who might help me? Who do I need to involve?
What do my followers need from me? What do I need to do this week to keep my (team, group, colleagues) on track? What do my key lieutenants need from me? Who needs some individual time? When was the last time I asked them to tell me what they need? When was the last time I sat down with them and asked how things are going and took the time to really listen?

Don’t look at your calendar and sigh and say you don’t have time. Don't decide that it's OK to just feel guilty because you aren't doing these things. This is important stuff. You can’t put it off. Leading is charting the course…and guiding the troops.

Make time to think. Make time to listen. Make time to lead.

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Webbies: You Identified the Problem - Now Create the Solution

2011-07-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

The federal web manager community has been hollering – rightly - about the uncontrolled proliferation of federal government websites for at least 7 years. We’ve known we can’t possibly manage all that content effectively. We’ve known there’s duplication and redundancy. We’ve known that a huge percentage of our web content is written poorly, making it hard for our customers to get the fast, efficient service they deserve.

And now, you’ve got a chance to fix it.  The White House, OMB, and the Chief CIO have heard you. You've triggered the .gov Reform Effort. Woot!  But now, you've got to finish this thing. You've got to help find the solution.

The Reform Effort starts with developing and analyzing an inventory of government websites on the .gov domain. A 17-person task force has been appointed to lead this effort; and since I personally know several of them, I can tell you these are some of the best, smartest people in government. But I also can tell you they are very busy people, with many responsibilities. These 17 people will not have the time to do the analysis to decide "what's next?" They're looking at others to help.

There’s hope that agencies will weed out this mess...acknowledge unneeded sites and eliminate them.  But I doubt they’ll be calling other agencies, saying, “hey, we duplicate what you have; so let’s join forces.”

There’s hope the public will jump in. Some of the advocates and lobbying groups surely will see this as an opening to weigh in.

But you know this problem the best. And the good news? Your representatives - the Federal Web Managers Council - has been named as a partner in this effort. So you're at the table. You have the floor. Now show them what you've got!

Will this be easy? Heck no! Egos are involved. Hours and hours of work are involved. Compromise is involved. Credibility is involved. Doing the analysis, forming the recommendations, and – gulp –making those hard calls (I guarantee you – some agencies are NOT going to like being told they have to abandon or merge the websites they control) will not come easy. But doing the right thing is the essence of "public service."

More is not better – it’s simply more. Citizen customers deserve better. They deserve concise, well-written, easy to find, easy-to-use government services. You’ve identified the problem. You’ve got the attention and support of people at the highest levels. So don't stop now.

Don't sit back and wait for others to solve the problem when you know the issues the best.  Crank up the Forum. Work with the FWMC. Commit the time, do the work, and finish this thing.  Find the solution.

This is your moment. Courage! Vision! Passion!

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Thinking Mobile

2011-07-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking about how citizens might use mobile devices to get government services for…well…years. Sam Gallagher and I started talking about making web content usable on mobile devices way back in 2000, when we were teaching HUD’s partners how to create customer-friendly websites. Mobile apps are here to stay, and it's a great time for governments to be planning their strategies.

My friend Gwynne Kostin, at GSA, is leading a discussion – well, several discussions – about how the government could/should get on the mobile bandwagon. She’s raising important issues, and I hope you’ll take time to weigh in – or at least eavesdrop. At the top of the list is a discussion about strategy. So, here are the 3 points I’d offer, as you think about your agency's mobile strategy:

Mobile apps are just another way to deliver the services your customers want and need. They’re a “how,” not a “what.” So your mobile strategy should be a subset of your customer service strategy. Don’t develop it in isolation. Work with the web managers and call center managers and publications editors and the Customer Service Officer and anyone else who interfaces with the public to decide the best ways to deliver each service. Don’t reinvent the wheel for each delivery channel. If you can make one app that can be used on the web, on a mobile device, by call center operators, and by desk receptionists, that’s efficient for the agency and great for customers.
As a rule, it’s a waste of time to try to make your entire website mobile-friendly or to create a separate mobile website. Most people don’t want to wade through a website while they’re on the go. They just want to complete a unique task. So focus on tasks – not websites.
As with everything we do, take your cues from your customers. Start with top tasks (those tasks your customers want/use most). Figure out what kinds of things your customers really want to do when they’re on the road, out to lunch, waiting for their kids at soccer practice; and create easy-to-use (and I mean as few words and steps as possible) apps. Involve customers in the design. Watch customers use your apps, and measure your success by their success.

A long time ago, I suggested we might one day organize all government web content into just a few sites, with a small “services” site (in other words, tasks or apps) as the centerpiece. I wonder if we’re getting closer?

Go look at Gwynne’s discussions. This is good stuff!

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Eliminate Websites, Consolidate Others = Better Customer Service

2011-06-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last week, the White House announced a new initiative to get a handle on the rampant proliferation of government websites.   They put a 90-day freeze on granting any new top level domains (e.g., www.hud.gov), and they are requiring all agencies to review their websites and determine those that can be abolished, consolidated, and/or improved. Agencies have to post their plans on their open government pages within 120 days, so the public can see them. Macon Phillips, at the White House, wrote a terrific blog describing this initiative. Well worth a read.

If you know me or have been following this blog for long, you’ll know I’ve been jumping up and down, waving my arms, stomping my feet, and screaming for this kind of action for years. So hallelujah! It’s about time.

While there will be some cost savings from fewer websites (and this initiative is part of the President’s Campaign to Cut Waste), the more direct benefit to citizens is better customer service. Fewer, more concise government websites will make it easier for customers to find what they want.

For years now (well before I retired), we’ve been saying there are an estimated 24,000 U.S. government websites. The truth? We have no idea how many there are. In the years since we came up with that number, I’m absolutely certain more sites went up than came down. Every time an executive had a new initiative, we had to do a new website - they understandably didn’t want to fold those initiatives into our big, bloated main agency websites because they’d be lost – hmm.

There’s good stuff in those 24,000+ sites…but you have to sift through a whole lot of sand to find the nuggets.   Don’t search engines help? Sure. Well, some...if you guess the right search terms and if the agency has done a good job using plain language and optimizing the website for search engines. But searches can’t tell you where to start and what to do next.   They can’t synthesize pages and pages of redundant content.

Let me give you just one example of the problem. I want to buy my first home. I need to know how to do it, and I want to know if the federal government has programs to help me. I do a search on USA.gov on “buy a home.” I get 191 million results. Eek! OK - I use the advanced search to narrow my focus to “federally-focused” websites (federally-focused? What does that mean?). Wow! That brought it down to 22.7 million options. OK...I start through the list. I get through the 5th page of results and quit, even though I'm guessing I’ll miss something worthwhile buried farther down in that pile.

In those first 5 pages, I find (among many other options and in no particular order):

HUD’s “Buying a Home”
Ginnie Mae’s “Guide to Owning Your Home”
Consumer Action.gov’s guide to buying a home
Federal Trade Commission’s “Buying a Home: It’s a Big Deal”
MyMoney.gov's homeownership information
Housing loans section on Govloans.gov
A mortgage comparison calculator from the Federal Reserve

I’m busy. I don’t have time to read through all of these websites and figure out what it means. Help!

Research has shown the more choices we have, the harder it is for us to decide. So, often, we just don’t choose anything (read Barry Schwartz’s Paradox of Choice). Too many, too much is just bad customer service.

I’ve read some blogs expressing concern that if the government does away with websites, customers will lose important information. I don’t think the President’s initiative is about taking away what customers need. It’s about serving it to them better so they can use it easier and faster.

This is a milestone in digital government. If agencies take this initiative seriously and if OMB and its partners take the bull by the horns, I think we’ll look back on this housecleaning as a turning point in improving customer service in the government.

Forgive me, but...yippee!

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Web Managers: Time to Look For a New Job

2011-06-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

If I were you, government Web Manager, I’d be lobbying for a new job. Things have changed over the past 15 years, and I think it’s time for Web Managers to evolve accordingly.

In the mid-90s, when we first became “Web Managers,” the federal government still saw itself as “wholesale, not retail.” Its customers were intermediaries (state and local governments, nonprofits, and others) who used the funds we gave them to provide services Congress authorized. Most agency managers didn’t view citizens as their customers.

But that’s all changed now. The internet brought citizens to our front doors, and they demanded to see what we’re doing and make sure we’re really delivering the services they pay their taxes to fund.

Up to now, service delivery channels have been operated independently. In most agencies, call centers, publications, and websites were run by different organizations; and if there were any coordination at all, it was minimal.

Now, we understand that customers – particularly citizens who don’t understand, nor care to understand, how government is organized – expect to get the same answer no matter which channel they use to ask the question. Now, we know that customers often use multiple channels to accomplish their tasks. Now we know that channels have to be in synch.

In the past, agencies were only interested in pushing out information - broadcasting. No two-way street. Now, we use social media to listen to and talk with our customers.

But look at us. While all this change is occurring – while our goals are broadening - we’re still “Web Managers.” That title pins us to one delivery channel: websites. It labels us in terms of how we deliver services, instead of what we’re delivering. And it often gets in our way as we work with agency managers who think it means we’re techies, rather than the content and customer specialists we are.

Times have changed. Customer expectations have changed. We have to change, too. So, Web Managers, I think it’s time to lobby for a new job: Customer Service Officer. I’ve scratched out a little job description to show you what I mean. Shift from managing one channel to managing customer services through multiple channels. Use the skills and goals you already have, in a broader arena.

Get smart about call centers and publications distribution. Fold in social media. Talk to the people who handle walk-in traffic and phone calls in the field offices and figure out what you can learn from them and how you can help them deliver services better. Work across agencies to look at government services from the customers’ point of view, integrating services and connecting the dots when it helps customer experience.

This isn’t a big stretch. You've been thinking about customer service for years. And Howto.gov can help you on your way.

It just doesn’t make sense to have content specialists for each channel. It makes more sense to have a single set of customer specialists who create content once and deliver it through all the channels customers want to use.

Yep. I think it’s time to look for a new job.

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No One’s Gonna Make You Do the Right Thing

2011-05-29T11:27:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed Steve Radick's blog post on Govloop about implementing the Plain Writing Act.   Steve speculates that it will take years (actually, he says “decades) to implement the Act. He gives several reasons, and they’re all good.

I’ve read a number of opinion pieces about the new CustomerService Executive Order, saying, “Yeah, yeah, yeah – Clinton tried…Bush tried…what’s different now?” Good question.

The truth is this: no one is gonna make you do the right thing for your customers.

There are no OMB customer service police. There won’t be any budget consequences if you don’t write so your customers can understand it the first time. No programs will be cut or jobs lost.   Indeed - we’ve had these initiatives before. We created plans. We posted reports showing how we’d completed our plans. No one cheated. We did what we were asked to do. We met the requirements. But those requirements didn’t change anything. These new ones won’t either.   Only YOU can do that.

Government employees can create change, when they are passionate enough and courageous enough to figure out the right thing and do it.   Just last week, Facebookers and Tweeters were all a-flutter about an extremely clever blog piece published by the Centers for Disease Control, Preparedness101: Zombie Apocalypse, written by Ali S. Khan. There you have it: a government employee in an agency willing to do something out of the ordinary, to serve their customers better.  And it worked! Bravo to Ali Khan and the CDC.

Other examples are everywhere. Look at the government winners of the recent Clearmark PlainLanguage Awards (and use them as models!). Look at some of the fantastic mobile apps popping up like “Ask Karen,” where you can get advice on food safety, whenever and wherever you are. There is progress. We can serve our customers better.

So here’s the thing. It won’t be a law or an Executive Order that will create a culture of customer service in government. YOU have to figure out the right things to do and then do them.

You have to work together, across government…across governments. You have to find others who share your vision and your passion. You have to go to other agencies with similar or related customer tasks and figure out how to make it easier for customers to get great service across government, without having to know which agency provides it. You have to help one another, share strategies, find ways around obstacles, and prop each other up when the going gets tough. You have to be gutsy. And when something works, you have to replicate it…again and again…until it’s common practice. That’s how you change the culture.

The law and the Executive Order are important. They serve notice that Congress and the President care about great customer service. But don’t limit your efforts to doing what they say to do. That’s just a baseline.  Focus on their intent.  Seize the opportunity to change the culture.

No one’s gonna make you do the right thing for your customers. You’ll have to do that yourself.

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Do You Hear Bells?

2011-05-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

About 10 years ago, I helped a colleague build a case that managing government websites is “inherently governmental.” A-76 (OMB Circular A-76: Performance of Commercial Activities) was rearing its head again, and some agencies were asking the question: could web management be done more efficiently and effectively by the private sector? A few agency web managers were scrambling to justify their existence. In the end, I don’t think anyone lost a job; but it was a wake-up call.

As I looked at the recently-released “Alpha.gov.uk,” that fire drill came back to me.

Basically, a high level official the United Kingdom government got disgusted with the cost and inefficiency of government websites and asked for a study. An outside reviewer concluded that U.K. government websites were a mess, that they were organized around government agencies instead of customer needs, and that the best thing to do is dump them and start over. They concluded there should be a single domain – one website – where citizens could go to find the government services they need. Oh - and PS - eliminating all these agency sites should result in significant savings.

They hired a team of outside consultants to build the site – apparently didn’t even give govies a chance to redeem themselves – and “Alpha.gov.uk” is the result.

It’s not a perfect website – and they’re very honest about that right up front – but it’s a good start. Lots of positives. For example, I really like the box, placed in the top left quadrant of the screen so my eye sees it first, asking me where I am and then explaining that if they know where I live, they can tell me what services are available to me. Spot on. That’s what customers everywhere want – what’s available to me, where I live.

Then you choose a task (and I’m hoping the ones on the front page are their top tasks), and you go to a page that has nice big print and looks easy to use. The first task I tried was “calculate holiday pay,” and – what’s this? It actually tells me how many steps are involved and about how long it will take me to complete this task, before I start. Now these folks respect their customers. They know people want to get in, get it done, and get out. TIME is critical.

Next, I chose “pay your council tax,” and – oh, look…they tell me right at the top I have to have a credit card. I don’t have to waste my time filling out the form, only to discover I can’t pay by e-check.

There are just a few “related items” links on each page - they don’t overwhelm me with choices. Whew!

Best of all – it’s written in plain language. I understood every page I looked at, first time I read it. If I were a U.K. citizen, I’d be happy with this direction.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s not perfect. I’d like an option to browse topics. I don’t really like all that news stuff below the fold. It’s clunky going back and forth. And I really didn’t poke around beyond the front page tasks, so I’m guessing they have a lot of kinks to work out. But all things considered, I’m impressed.

And it’s got to be chilling for our colleagues, the U.K. government web managers.

So I’m thinking…could this happen in the U.S.? If the UK model turns out to be a success (or even just perceived as a success), will advocates or media or the public start asking, “why not us?” Could consultants come in now and do what we do, better and/or more cost-effectively?

I think we need to talk about this, as a community. We know our government is facing a huge deficit, and people are looking everywhere for ways to cut costs. 24,000+ websites…gotta be some savings there. So what’s our strategy? How can we make sure we’re more efficient and effective than the private sector could be?

Did you guess what my title refers to? John Donne’s “No Man is an Island.” Always a good reminder. Send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

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Are We Ready to Provide Great Customer Service in Government?

2011-04-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, April 27, 2011, President Obama issued an Executive Order: Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service. In a nutshell, it directs agencies to develop and monitor customer service plans and measures and to solicit customer feedback to improve service. It calls for agencies to use technology to streamline customer service and to emulate practices that have worked well in the private sector.

This isn’t the first Presidential customer service initiative - President Clinton issued an Executive Order in 1993, requiring agencies to establish customer service standards - but it’s a huge step at a time when public expectations of government service have never been higher. As a long-time advocate for great customer service in government, I’m turning cartwheels!

But, wait…can it work?

My good friend, Bernie Lubran - fellow government customer service passionista and Regional Manager for ForeSee Results (home of the American Customer Satisfaction Index) – sent me a link to a great article last week, “The Rise of the Chief Customer Officer,” by Paul Hagen, published in the Harvard Business Review. It talks about a new kind of executive at many top private sector companies: the Chief Customer Officer (CCO). If you care about customer service in government, read it.

What really struck me was a quote from Roei Ganzarski, the CCO at the Training & Flight Services Division of the Boeing Company, "… in order to continue growing successfully, we needed to be more focused on our customers than ever before. Our organizational culture wasn't optimal to say the least. Our operations departments were focused on our products and services, our finance teams on collecting payments, and our sales and business development teams on meeting short-term revenue goals. But no one was looking at things from the customers' holistic perspective. We knew we needed to change our culture to better serve the one reason we all exist — our customers."

Does that sound familiar? How many government agencies are so wrapped up in carrying out mission that they fail to look at things from their customer’s point of view? How many agencies (and sub-agencies and divisions and officies…you know – all those silos) are so busy meeting those management goals that they forget their services may be just part of what their customers need to solve their problems and achieve their goals. Is achieving mission really the same as providing great customer service?

So back to President Obama’s initiative. Oh, I do so want it to work. I do. I do.

I remember when President Clinton’s Executive Order was issued. We knew it was the right thing to do. But – honestly – it asked so little of us. And we were so busy doing other good things. So while agencies met the letter of the requirements, there was no commensurate change in culture. And we didn’t have a leader dedicated to the effort – a Chief Customer Officer – to see it through. Leadership is oh-so-essential if you really want to create change.

So what do we need to achieve a happy ending this time? Real, comprehensive change to create great customer service from the federal government?

Well, we need to address the two problems. And do one more right thing.

We need a real firm mandate to look at government services from our customers’ point of view. My one disappointment with the Executive Order is that it lets each agency do its own thing. I wish it said, “we need to look at things from our customers’ point of view and build our services in ways that make sense to them, even if – especially if - that means working across agencies to package a service.” Achieving your mission isn’t enough if the customer can complete only half the task. We need executives, managers, and employees across government to adopt “customer think.”
We need a strong leader. We need someone to serve as our CCO – to inspire, excite, advocate for, oversee, coordinate, poke, prod, goad, and do whatever it takes to create great customer service across government. The Executive Order says the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Division, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy will provide support and best practices. That’s great! And necessary. But we need one leader who really understands our customers (both individual citizens and other entities), who has the ear of the President, who will be at the table with all the other executives making decisions about how resources are handed out and what the priorities are, who can bring private sector customer service experts together with public managers to identify and adopt great customer service practices, who has the time and talent to cause the culture change we need, and – most of all – who has the passion to do this hard job because it’s the right thing to do.
If we really care about open government and customer service, why not involve customers in this initiative? Establish a Customer Service Panel of typical customers – maybe at each agency, but certainly across government – to try out ideas, offer suggestions, and be partners in this whole thing.

Ok – and because I’ve been harping about it forever – suggestion 4 is to have a Customer Service Summit.

Are we ready to provide great customer service in government? Oh, I hope so. I believe so. I want it to be so. If not now, when?

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Wordies Need What Nerdies Have

2011-04-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

In the beginning, federal government websites were published by IT staff or rogue tech-savvy employees who were fascinated by this new information disseminator, the internet. They taught themselves HTML, and they embraced new design tricks and emerging technologies with gusto. It was a new frontier to explore, and these Nerdies were scouting the wilderness!

But soon, we realized our growing web audiences wanted more than just a place to visit. They wanted to be able to do something. Nerdies could build the storefront. But we needed someone to create the product…someone with the ability to turn the agency’s mission into clear concise services that our audiences want and can use. And web Wordies were born.

I remember going to the first meeting of Rich Kellett's Federal Webmasters Forum, back in August 1996. From the very first meeting, it was clear that the people in the room had two distinct interests. The Nerdies wanted to talk about coding and software packages, while the Wordies wanted to talk about audiences and how to gather and organize content. Eventually, the Wordies broke off and formed the Government Web Content Managers Forum.

We got it that there are two critical tracks. We got it that our websites were growing so large and demands so strong that we need skilled specialists in both areas. And we got it that we are symbiotic – Nerdies and Wordies have to work together to succeed.

So what’s my point? Wordies need what Nerdies have.

Being a Wordie, like being a Nerdie, is a job requiring unique skills. Nerdies have a job series. Wordies need one, too.
Nerdies have a high-level advocate and leader at OMB. Wordies need one, too.

For the most part, federal government Wordies have written our own rules, defined our own jobs, identified our own best practices, and organized our own community. It's a real grass roots success story. And we’ve liked doing it that way – it mirrors the way the internet has grown.

But let’s face it: we've hit a wall. We need more authority to cause the cross-agency coordination and consistency that we know will improve government service. So we need more traditional legitimacy for Wordies.

We need a bonafide job series, with clearly defined knowledge and skills requirements, authorized by the Office of Personnel Management and consistent across government. We need a functional advocate and leader at OMB to help us create content strategies and preserve uniform standards and performance objectives across agencies and across administrations.

Wordies need what Nerdies have. They're both essential for great government customer service.

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The Biggest Barrier to Great Customer Service? Egos

2011-04-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting discussion with an esteemed colleague about my last blog post on making sure portal sites add value. One of my suggestions was to adopt a common design and publication standards across all agencies covered by the portal. He said, “Here's a fact...every government entity will do what is in its best interest...program, business unit, a bureau or a department will do what is in its best interest…there is no incentive for them to try to coordinate/manage.” Sadly, he speaks the truth. And though I’ve only worked in the federal government, I’m guessing that truth extends to state and local governments, as well.

In huge bureaucracies, the customer often gets lost among the competition for budgets, power, and prestige (which might lead to a better job). Both political executives and career employees – even web managers – thrive on doing something better than another office or agency. Normally, I think healthy competition is a good thing. But not in government, where great customer service often means bridging silos and cooperation is paramount. Self-interest – even if it isn’t personal…even if it’s for your office or agency – is the biggest barrier to great customer service.

So how do we overcome that barrier? How do we make it more important to serve our customers than to serve ourselves? The answer is both simple and horrendously difficult: change the reward system. Change both the tangible and intangible rewards for doing a good job. Reward government employees for cooperation and working together to produce the best customer service possible.

OK – so we aren’t the President or Congress or OMB. We can’t change things at a high level. But there are many things we can do to start changing that “me, me, me” culture.

Start with ourselves. Take a look at your to-do list. How could your customers get better service if you picked up the phone and called that colleague at another agency to see if you could team up to do something together? Look for opportunities to cross those organizational boundaries and connect the dots to make it easier for customers to complete their tasks.

Then there are things we can do as a community. Some examples:

Refocus awards to recognize groups of employees – not individuals - who work together to overcome barriers and improve customer service across agencies.
Sponsor an “Innovation in Customer Service” contest, and challenge agencies to work together.
Spotlight cooperative efforts in best practices and case studies used in courses and on How-to.gov.
Invite conference and webinar and Web Manager Forum speakers who can relate real-life examples of customer service successes produced by employees working across organizations.
Publicize good examples of team efforts to break down barriers and improve customer service. Success begets success.

I’ll bet you can think of other fixes. Let’s hear ‘em.

Look, we can be cynical and sit back and sigh and say government executives and employees are only human and will always be self-interested and government will never change. Or we can try to do the right thing and cause that change, one baby step at a time.

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If Your Portal Doesn’t Add Value, We’ll Use Google

2011-04-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

I remember when I first heard the term, “portal.” The concept of a home page that would aggregate links to content from other sites around themes made so much sense to me. Indeed, it was a huge step in the right direction – more than 10 years ago.

Today – many years later – customers’ expectations are so much higher. And search engines are so much better. So if your portal doesn’t enhance our experience (make it faster, better), we’ll skip the intermediary. We’ll just use Google.

The other day, I visited a state government portal. Like most web customers, I’m in a hurry. I want to complete my task as fast as I can. So I land on the portal site – gee, it’s great! I figure out how to navigate, find the content I want…super easy! But then – what’s this? I’m linked to a site that looks completely different. In a pop-up window – which I hate. This site is a mess. Can’t find what I want. Grrr. That state portal set me up for disappointment. Bad portal! Bad state government! I should have used Google.

I started looking around at other government portals. Lots of examples. Go to Iowa.gov. Nicely designed portal site. I see the top tasks on the front page. Navigation on the left where I expect it to be. Yes – the governor’s photo is there, but it’s on the top right…it isn’t the first thing my eye sees. So I choose “Education,” and I go to a second level page that follows that same clean navigation. Yay! But – ut oh – when I choose “Department of Education,” I go to a different design. More complex. Harder to find what I want. Not sure I want to be here. And the only way to get back to the main Iowa page is through the “back” click (there’s no “home” button to get me back to the portal). Wait – it won’t even let me do that. I’m in one of those truly exasperating sites that won’t let me back out of it! Oh boy… now, I’m really a frustrated customer.

I love Texas.gov. Who wouldn’t feel at home with those four big ol’ customer-focused choices: Do, Discover, Connect, Ask? But I go down a click or two and end up on an entirely different looking site with that ominous “welcome to our website” greeting (whenever I see “welcome,” I pretty much know the rest of the site is going to be sub-par). I’m so disappointed. Why, beautiful Texas.gov? Why did you let me down?

Don't get me wrong. I think a front door to a state or city or federal government is a good idea. But you’ve got to add value to the customer’s experience. You've got to make it easy to complete our top tasks, especially when those tasks cross agencies or departments. You’ve got to show us where to start and what to do next and pick out the best choices among all the choices. You’ve got to give us something Google can’t.

So...two suggestions.

First, establish a common design with common navigation (so we learn it once and use it throughout all parts of the site) and – pay attention here – common publication standards, across all the subordinate sites. I’m talking about portals for units of government here: city, state, federal. Your customers think of you as a single entity. All of your components work under the same umbrella. You can do this.

You can let each agency run its site – but within a common design and common plain writing rules so it all works the same customer-friendly way. Then, if task-completion crosses entities, the customer never needs to know it. If you need to accommodate a unique mission or audience for one agency or department, you can still use common elements (header, general layout) and publication standards. I know it’s hard. But lots of cities and states and even large federal agencies have done it. Look at EPA.

Second - do the work. If you’ve got multiple sources on the same topic, take your customers to the ones that can help them complete their top tasks best. Analyze. Test. Make some judgment calls. Don’t list every single resource available – Google can do that. Choose the best. Yes, you might hurt some officials’ or web managers’ feelings. On the other hand, you might force them to step up and improve their content. The goal here is to help your customers.

Portals need to offer customers something they can’t get from search engines. They need to make the customer’s experience easier. If you don’t add value, then we might as well (and will) use Google.

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Government Websites Yak, Yak, Yak

2011-03-29T12:03:00.001-07:00

I just finished judging the web entries for the 2011 Clearmark Plain Language Awards. Much better entries this year. Some real models for government agencies to use as they implement the Plain Writing Act.

One of the benefits of the Clearmark Awards - in addition to the chance for some great recognition - is that every applicant gets critical feedback from the judges. My fellow judges and I spent a lot of time on those score sheets, pointing out both what works well and what needs to be improved. You know the one comment I made on almost every single entry? TOO MANY WORDS!

Yak, yak, yak. Government agencies just don’t seem to know when to stop, when it comes to websites. One of the most common problems is writing a website like you’re writing a print publication. Don’t do that, darn it. After all this time, you know better. Another common problem is redundancy. Say it once – we’ll get it. Use formatting tricks to help your readers. You write paragraphs when a simple bulleted list would make scanning and absorbing so much easier.

Web readers are impatient. They come to your website to do something – to complete a task. They might be using a cell phone to complete that task. They don’t want to wade around in the yakety yak muck to find what they want. They want to find it, use it, and move on with their busy lives, as fast as possible.

So let me give you an example (sorry to pick on you, Education…I could have found an example on just about any government website). Take a look at this paragraph on the Federal Student Aid website:

"We can help make your education affordable! The Department's Federal student aid programs are the largest source of student aid in America. If you're interested in financial aid for college or a career school, you've come to the right place. These programs provide more than $150 billion a year in grants, loans, and work-study assistance. Read on to find out more and to find out how to apply for this aid."

Yak, yak, yak. Your readers don’t care that you are the largest source of aid. They just want the money. So get to it – tell them what you’ve got and how they can get it.

"We provide more than $150 billion each year in grants, loans, and work-study programs. Find out how to apply."

Here are the facts (right from our friends at the Plain Language Action and Information Network):

79% of web readers scan – they don’t read every word
Web readers only read about 18% of what's on a page
As the number of words on a page goes up, the percentage read goes down
On average, web readers only read the first two words on each line
Web readers can decide in as little as 5 seconds whether your site is useful to them

If you want satisfied customers – web readers – you’ve got to make it easy for them. You’ve got to figure out what they want/need to complete the task and then challenge yourself to convey it in as little space as possible. Limit the number of words. Use words your readers will look for and understand quickly. Use formatting (sometimes even graphics) to help convey meaning.

The Clearmark Award winners will be announced at the Center for Plain Language banquet on April 28. Go meet the winners in person, if you can; and hear how they made their websites “plain.” If you can’t go, check back on the Center for Plain Language website to see the winning entries. Then print out the Plain Language Guidelines on Plainlanguage.gov and go to work on your website.

I can’t say this enough. This is the most important thing you can do to improve your website. Fix the writing! Do your customers a huge favor. Cut out that yak, yak, yak.

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Customer Service Strategies Start With the Customers

2011-03-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

OK – you’re back from the Government Web and New Media Conference, and you’re sky high thinking about mobile apps and Facebook pages and “Meetups.” Gotta have all those channels. But where to start?

That’s easy. Start with your customers. What do they want and need? How do they want to get it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a broken record. But this works, folks.

Begin with top tasks. Go back to those very few services (transactions or information) that lots of your customers want, need, and use most. We’re talking 3-5 (no more).
Assess what you’ve got. What content do you already have for each of those tasks – on your website(s), in your social media efforts, among your mobile apps, in your call centers and print publications? Take inventory.
Assess your customers. Are customers able to complete their top tasks quickly and easily? Look at each of your delivery channels. What's working? What's not? If you don’t know, do usability testing. If customers aren’t using one of your channels, why not? Would another channel or additional channels help customers complete these tasks better/faster?
Fix what you’ve got. If your content is bad, you don't want to give your customers more ways to get to it. So fix the content before you add channels. And don’t tell me you don’t have anything to fix because content is never perfect (and I've seen a lot of your sites!). Do a plain language review. Go to plainlanguage.gov, print out those checklists, and go after your content. Edit, edit, edit. Better yet, rewrite completely. Keep in mind that you want to create content once and use it – maybe in a boiled down version – on all your channels. See if you can cut steps, simplify, make it easier for customers to use your top services. Do more usability testing - and I mean test it on all channels.
Now, open up new channels (if your customers need them). Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you only put top tasks on your new mobile site, that's a great start. Get that right and then move on. Keep testing and improving.

Give your customers what they want, when they want it, in ways that make sense to them. Start your strategy with your customers.

PS - If you didn’t make it to last week’s conference, do yourself a favor - take some time to watch the videos and review the presentations. Read Dave McClure’s overview on transforming the customer experience first. Spot on.

Three Conversations I’d Have at the Government Web and New Media Conference

2011-03-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

This week – March 17-18 – is the annual Government Web and New Media Conference in Washington DC. This conference, which is sponsored by the Federal Web Managers Council and the General Services Administration, is THE event for web communicators at all levels of government. In addition to having great “how-to” sessions, you’ll hear inspirational speakers, form your own un-conference seminars, and – best of all – network with your colleagues. It’s an opportunity to restore your passion and energy for serving the public through the internet. And it’s a great chance to have some thought-provoking conversations.

If I were going to be there, here are three conversations I’d like to have with my colleagues.

How can we use what we’re learning here to provide better customer service across government? So many terrific sessions on the schedule…innovation, new media, challenges, plain language, and more. GSA will share all the wonderful support and tools they have to offer the government web communications community to help you make your customers’ experience better. But what will you do with all that good stuff? How will you – the people who are on the line for great customer service – bundle the ideas and new skills you gain into action? What are you willing to do – on your own or as a group – to improve the way government serves its customers?
What’s next? Where are we going as a community? Where’s our niche in government? Do we want to stay what we are – a grassroots collective that’s been pretty successful by building critical mass and adopting common best practices? Or do we want/need to be something more formal to accomplish what we want to do? Do we need a Chief Web Officer at OMB? Would that help us or hurt us? What role do we need GSA to play to help us move forward? Is the Federal Web Managers Council an adequate governance group or do we need something else? What are the pros and cons? How can we cause the changes we want?
How can we expand the knowledge in our community? When you leave this conference, I guarantee you’ll be flying high. So many new ideas…things you want to try…new strategies…new skills. So how can you take that energy and knowledge back and share with others who work on your agency’s website? How can you get them excited? I’m not just talking about your web team members. I’m also talking about all those people – probably hundreds of them – who contribute content to your website and social media efforts regularly. How do you pass along the training and synergy of this conference? How do you bring others into the community?

This conference is the place for some great “big think.” Brainstorm, try out new ideas, and test your “out there” concepts. I wish I could be there to start conversations…light some fires, spark some spirited discussion. Since I can’t go, maybe you’ll have them for me. Have fun!

PS – If you can’t attend the conference in person, follow it on Twitter #govwebcon.

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