Creating Opportunity & Improving the Citizen Experience: Lessons Learned from the GovCX Collective

Jonathan Finch, Digital Experience Director for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and Renee Wynn, former NASA CIO, joined us and the GovCX Collective last month for a conversation about something that affects all of us, whether we work in government or rely on government services:

What does it take to make the citizen experience simpler, clearer, and more consistent, and how do we keep improving it over time?

We talked about real success stories, practical lessons, and the challenges that show up when good intentions meet complex systems. If you couldn’t join us in person, here are a few highlights from our discussion:

Citizen experience is shaped by both “behind-the-scenes” work and public-facing services

We discussed the difference between internal-facing and external-facing experiences, and why both matter.

• Internal systems may feel removed from citizens, but there is zero tolerance for downtime. When internal tools or processes stall, the effects show quickly in how well services are delivered.
• External services feel more directly connected to the public, but right now, there are often multiple points of entry, with different websites and different experiences depending on where someone starts.

In other words, even when the government is trying to help, people can still end up asking: Where do I begin, and why is it so different depending on which door I walk through?

This resonated with me. We talk a lot about the front door, but the back office is just as much a part of the experience. Fixing one without the other is only half the job.

CX takes teamwork, but ownership can be complicated

A major theme was that customer experience is a collaboration exercise.

Many teams have the mission and the desire to streamline services, but they may not “own” the full process or the budget. Often, the people who own the process are not the same as the people who own the technology. That can create real accountability challenges.

This is something I see play out constantly. Collaboration gets you to the table, but without clear ownership, good ideas stall. It’s not a motivation problem; it’s a structure problem.

We also acknowledged something important: improving CX is often common sense, but it can still be hard to coordinate. Even good ideas can take time and careful planning to put into action, especially when multiple offices and stakeholders are involved.

Don’t just put the same old process online; step back and reimagine it

We talked about how important it is not to simply digitize an existing process.

Sometimes the work isn’t glamorous, but it’s meaningful: imagining a different day at NASA helped the organization accelerate and pivot to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19.

We also discussed the bigger picture of the government’s digital footprint. It’s not only about removing contradictory information. It’s also about the reality that there are more than 7,000 official public-facing websites, and how helpful it can be to reorganize information based on the process or service someone needs, rather than the organizational unit that owns it.

That idea is simple, but powerful: people aren’t thinking in org charts, they’re thinking, “What do I need to do, and how do I get it done?”

We need a clearer view of how services are performing

Improving service delivery requires knowing how we’re doing in the first place.

There is a real opportunity to create a more consistent view of service performance across government. By combining insights from call centers, websites, and direct user

feedback, agencies can give leadership a clearer, more actionable understanding of how services are performing.

We discussed how some disciplines, like cybersecurity, have well-established routines to answer, “How well are we performing?” Bringing the same level of thoughtfulness to service-delivery measurement would strengthen continuous improvement and accountability.

Collaboration is essential, but long-term success depends on sustained ownership

We also touched on a common challenge with highly collaborative work: maintaining it after the initial push.

Often, teams come together to reimagine and implement processes. But for complex initiatives, especially those that span offices or agencies, long-term ownership is needed to sustain progress and continue improving over time.

We discussed the hope that new Federal Service Agency points of contact, along with the Federal Service Delivery Lead, can help maintain and continue improving complex processes.

Big challenges can lead to big breakthroughs, and new opportunities

One of the most energizing parts of the conversation was how issuing challenges drives ingenuity.

We reflected on NASA’s shift from the end of the shuttle program to commercial crew, and how public and private partnerships can be incredibly beneficial for innovation and the economy, contributing to a space economy valued at more than $630 billion.

We also discussed how Americans increasingly expect services to be seamless and intuitive, and how those expectations are shaped by private sector experiences. That’s why this resonates so strongly:

When someone can track a package in real time but can’t figure out which of five government websites to use to apply for Medicare, that gap is felt.

Looking at federal procurement and engagement with industry partners can help us reimagine problems and expand “the world of the possible.”

Shared infrastructure can make the experience simpler and more consistent

We also discussed how shared infrastructure can simplify the citizen experience by creating consistency, reducing fear and friction, and creating opportunities for processes or partners with limited resources to improve their user experience.

Why this conversation matters (and why we’ll keep convening it)

I continue to be invigorated by the opportunity to highlight the impact of effective digital service design on individuals, organizations, and even our economy.