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Phase 1 - Setup

Jan - Dec 2016

Phase 2 - Lab as a Space

Jan - Jun 2017

The Service Innovation Lab (the Lab) was a five-month experiment, which ran from February to June 2017. It was co-designed and co-delivered by the Service Innovation Work Programme Team in the Department of Internal Affairs, in partnership with Assurity Consulting Ltd along with support and direction from the Service Innovation Reference Group. It provided a place where teams of people from different agencies, NGOs, private sector and New Zealanders can be co-located in a physical space conducive to collaboration and experimentation, supported by skilled lean and agile coaches who can help teams rapidly evolve their working methods.

  • Lab as a space (based outside of government)
  • External expertise (procured)
  • Time-limited
  • Senior Support: SIWG and SIRG
  • Cross government focus
  • Prototyping new ways of working across government
  1. Channel and Service Strategy: Discovery Phase (27 March-28 April) - Supporting agencies to develop effective channel and service strategies. The work was undertaken by a small team who identified that the level of maturity in agencies with regard to agency channel and service strategies is uneven.
  2. Innovation Toolkit to support people in agencies collaborate and innovate - Provide a range of service innovation tools, mechanisms, ways of working, templates and methodologies that can be used to support innovative multi agency and community-wide initiatives.
  3. Lab tours and showcases - More than 40 requests for Lab tours were received, over 300 people from over 35 public and private sector agencies and organisations visited the Lab. There was interest from not only Wellington, but also visitors and “virtual visitors” from Christchurch, Auckland, Tauranga, Greymouth and the UK, US and Australia.
  • Better Public Services agenda
  • Increased expectation that agencies will collaborate and work in joined-up ways
  • Increased interest in human-centred approaches across government
  • Importance of digital services and digital identity amplified
  • “We couldn’t have made this progress in this way if it weren’t for the Lab”
  • “It has been a change in approach and in the way the team interacts, more agile, less hierarchical and definitely faster.”
  • “The neutral zone was helpful in terms of atmosphere. It didn’t feel like Headmaster watching you.”

Phase 3 - LabPlus (Lab as a Service

Jul - Jun 2018

Building on the Lab as a space concept, Lab+ extended the offer beyond a space to include an in house service offer back to agencies. It focused on life-events and integrated services with a digital focus. A work programme and further funding was approved by the Lab’s cross-government governance group. This iteration brought together staff from across government to work on a new way of delivering government services. A number of key projects that progressed to implementation. Other pieces laid the foundations and secured buy-in for further work. A number of barriers also began to emerge which were presented to sponsors.

  • Increased internal capability and expertise. Reduced need for external expertise
  • 12-month work programme Focus on life events and integrated services
  • Senior Support and resources
  • Work supplemented by future-thinking e.g. Emerging Tech workstream
  1. SmartStart - SmartStart was the first “life event service” to be delivered by the New Zealand Government. The project made it easier for New Zealanders having a baby to navigate their way around government services and to access services in an integrated manner. The lab contributed to the design and development of the SmartStart platform plus helped foster cross-agency collaboration.
    2. SmartStart
  2. Rates Rebate - The lab team worked alongside the Department of Internal Affairs Service Delivery and with different local New Zealand councils to improve the experience for people claiming rates rebates. Improving uptake of the rebate was an opportunity to put money back to low-income households.
    3. Rates Rebate
  3. Victim of Crime Life Event support - This Discovery work was led by Police with support from the Lab. Early discovery led to prototyping ways to better inform victims of support services. The project highlighted the challenges and complexities of prioritising user needs and value versus what is expedient.
    4. Victim of Crime Life Event
  • General election and change of government - Oct 2017
  • Work on government’s 100-day plan took priority over lab work
  • Team moved offices 3 times in 12 months - inc emergency decant
  • Set up of dedicated lab space a positive outcome

Phase 4 - Lab: Space & Service

Jun 2018 - Sept 2019

This phase sought to embed work to make it easier for people to access /use government services.The SI lab offered both a physical space and a multi-disciplinary team with 18 months experience innovating inside government. Work on integrated services continued but some of the barriers to collaboration identified in phase 2 persisted. The team’s work was increasingly valued for the Capability uplift it enabled. Both around collaboration and Emerging tech expertise.

  • Lab as a space (based outside of government)
  • External expertise (procured)
  • Time-limited
  • Senior Support: SIWG and SIRG
  • Cross government focus
  • Prototyping new ways of working across government
  1. Wheturangitia project - In response to the lack of support for parents, families and whānau who had suffered the death of a child during pregnancy, at birth, or during infancy. The lab supported The Life Events Team, Ministry of Justice, Inland Revenue and Sands (a non-profit baby loss support organisation) and Catalyst IT to develop an online support resource.
  2. Croissant Development - Croissant is a feedback analysis engine and web-based presentation application developed from an earlier project with the Ministry for Youth Development. Croissant ensures large quantities of feedback submitted in diverse channels and formats can be quickly, efficiently, consistently and accurately synthesised, and presented in a way that best assists policy analysts to advise decision makers. It quickly develop a wider use for team needing to enrich and contextualise analysis of feedback, research and other forms of textural analysis.
    3. Croissant
  3. Hosting NZ police - For X months during 2019, the Lab hosting a project team from NZ Police working on XXXXX. The team were in need of a dedicated workspace that supported project work and a creative environment. There was less need for wrap around support from the Lab team but collocation led to opportunities share ideas, approaches and connect with other team in the Lab space.
  • Better Public Services agenda
  • Increased expectation that agencies will collaborate and work in joined-up ways
  • Increased interest in human-centred approaches across government
  • Importance of digital services and digital identity amplified

Phase 5 - Close & Transition

Oct 2019 - Jun 2020

In late 2019 it was decided that The Service Innovation Lab (the Lab) would close on 30 June. The decision was part of the transition to creating a more customer-centred digital government within the Department of Internal Affairs. Much of the work programme will continue but be led by the relevant lead agencies, Digital Public Service branch or other teams in DIA. The transition period coincided with the arrival of Covid-19 in early 2020. The wider government response and need to work remotely under level 3 and 4 enabled the Lab to help other teams by sharing its experience of agile and digital collaborative practice. The team was also able to continue delivering the Lab’s work programme.

  1. Financial Calculator tool - This cross-agency project established a Covid 19 financial help tool in response to low understanding from Employees, Employers and self-employed about what they and their staff would qualify for under the Covid 19 wage subsidy scheme. The online platform was rapidly developed during the early stage of the lock down with a strong focus on navigating the authorising environment to get tool released and available to people.
  2. Coaching and modelling remote collaborative working - The lab story has highlighted its resilience to change and ability to adapt. It has has extensive experience of online collaborative tools and apply agile principles to its work. As other teams were adapting to remote working the Lab’s experience enabled it to provide coaching and support where helpful. This includes the using of video conferencing tools, planning tools like Trello, plus capturing real time learning through retrospective sessions.
  3. Community Service Card project - Work focused on better understanding the user and system level issues related to the Community Services Card (CSC system). The card is currently a key mechanism for enabling access to low or no cost healthcare for low incomes families and individuals. The brought together 15 stakeholder operating across the CSC identify the ‘symptoms’ or ‘causes’ that could be the catalyst for greater cross-agency collaboration between agencies accountable for health outcomes and responsible for implementing the CSC.
  • Restructure and changes in home agency
  • Managing transition of lab work programme to new host teams
  • Early stages of COVID-19 and preparation for Level 3 and 4
  • Operating and adapting at level 3 and 4