

In light of HealthCare.gov struggles, here are the UK's design principles. - quickpost
https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples?rost=1

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Osmium
Gov.uk is, amazingly and surprisingly, well run, and I think this advice is
solid. But broadly speaking, it's not like the British government has done
much better with large computer projects.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHS_Connecting_for_Health](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHS_Connecting_for_Health)

~~~
DanBC
Many UK government big IT projects have been _disastrous_.

[http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1280096822/Government-
IT-...](http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1280096822/Government-IT-disasters-
a-clear-case-for-change)

> But in central government there is no such thing as an IT disaster: project
> names are usually changed or the failed scheme continues indefinitely. A
> project to deliver unified systems for magistrates has continued for about
> 17 years, complete with name changes.

[http://www.zdnet.com/the-top-10-it-disasters-of-all-
time-303...](http://www.zdnet.com/the-top-10-it-disasters-of-all-
time-3039290976/)

> Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, was outraged when
> the National Audit Office subsequently picked through the wreckage:
> "Ignoring ample warnings, the DWP, the CSA and IT contractor EDS introduced
> a large, complex IT system at the same time as restructuring the agency. The
> new system was brought in and, as night follows day, stumbled and now has
> enormous operational difficulties."

> It was the summer of 1999, and half a million British citizens were less
> than happy to discover that their new passports couldn't be issued on time
> because the Passport Agency had brought in a new Siemens computer system
> without sufficiently testing it and training staff first.

[http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/mod...](http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/mod+system+unmitigated+disaster/1054057.html)

> Over £4bn is being spent on a huge new defence computer system designed to
> help Britain's troops operate more effectively in Iraq, Afghanistan and
> across the globe.

> But a joint investigation by Channel 4 News and Computer Weekly magazine has
> uncovered internal emails from civil servants describing parts of the system
> as "an unmitigated disaster" and "not fit for purpose"

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rjknight
The notion that British healthcare IT is a model for success is somewhat
disputable: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
politics-24130684](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24130684)

Yes, I know that the gov.uk guidelines are very good, but they relate
primarily to customer-facing websites and user-interface design, and don't
really cover the gnarly, painful back-end integration jobs. To the extent that
healthcare.gov is an expensive failure, it's due to the complexity of the
back-end systems and not due to, say, poor UX (although it might have poor UX
too).

~~~
dawson
Government Digital Service (GDS) covers this and more, see their service
manual [https://www.gov.uk/service-manual](https://www.gov.uk/service-manual)

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anon1385
>We should share what we’re doing whenever we can. With colleagues, with
users, with the world. Share code, share designs, share ideas, share
intentions, share failures.

…and also share data about the interactions between UK citizens and their
government with a foreign corporation.

Who on earth thinks it is appropriate for Google Analytics to be informed
about my interactions with my government? Or for Google Analytics to be
informed when I anonymously report a crime[1]?

[1] [http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/47069/is-it-
et...](http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/47069/is-it-ethical-to-
use-google-analytics-on-a-site-crime-victims-use-to-make-anony)

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mseebach
_Government should only do what only government can do. If someone else is
doing it — link to it. If we can provide resources (like APIs) that will help
other people build things — do that. We should concentrate on the irreducible
core._

That's good advice for all of government, not just digital services. For way
too many government services, the irreducible core is simply the wealth
transfer to make sure the better off are taxed to pay for services to be
available to the poor, not actually providing the service.

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dopamean
These seem to me like they'd be good principles regardless of who your client
is.

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hobolobo
_Gets on hobby-horse_

For the jobcentre site (as was), 'Start with needs' means IDS needs to be able
to monitor these shysters for not getting a job.

 _Gets back off_

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xanderstrike
Is this in response to the problems with the website or the system as a whole?

