Innovation & Performance Blog

Innovation & Performance Blog

Using data and design to creatively solve problems

Are you a freelance designer who wants to make a social impact? Join us!

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Are you a skilled freelance designer? We are looking for a Seattle-based designer to help translate insights into design opportunities through prototyping and testing.

Testing prototypes with young people and case managers

This role is a 1- to 2-month, fixed-term contract with the possibility of renewal.

What is the role?

You will work closely our cross-functional team to:

  • Support facilitation of workshops that drive our understanding of human needs and priorities.
  • Take research insights and turn them into design inspiration and product strategy.
  • Create prototypes to advance our thinking and to thoughtfully engage city staff and local residents on the goals and vision of the project.
  • Design a plan for how we might conduct research and testing in-house, with partners, and with city residents.
  • Conduct and guide studies using methods such as rapid ethnography, interviewing, participatory design, and concept value testing, usability testing, and quantitative analytics.
  • Evaluate the value of design concepts. Apply rapid, iterative evaluation techniques to optimize concepts for the best possible use experience.
  • Provide deep insight and actionable recommendations to create good user experiences.
  • Review, analyze, and communicate data to generate strategic insights and actionable recommendations.

What are your qualifications?

You should have:

  • A design process that is deeply rooted in observing user needs and creatively solving problems to improve people’s lives.
  • Experience leading qualitative research such as interviews, observations, surveys, and usability tests as well as blended research or quant-based methods.
  • Expertise in prototyping and beautiful execution.
  • Experience with creating products and services that blend the digital and physical.
  • Compelling communication and storytelling skills.
  • Passion for youth development, racial equity, and improving the lives of city residents.
  • 3+ years’ experience as a user experience, product, or service designer.
  • A degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Design, or other UX-equivalent experience.

If this sounds like an interesting opportunity – send your portfolio and resume to amie.thao@seattle.gov.

No cover letter required, but do drop us a line or two and let us know why you’re interested.

Portfolios will be reviewed until Friday, September 21st 28th at 4:00 pm.

Thanks!

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Introducing Data Analytics

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What is it?

Earlier this year, the newly-created Innovation & Performance reorganized its work around three service offerings for the City of Seattle:

  • Results driven management: defining, monitoring and acting upon measures of performance
  • Service innovation: redesigning services and processes for greater impact
  • Data analytics: using data to solve problems and work smarter

Of these, Data Analytics represents our newest offering; albeit a natural extension of the work done in the previous Performance and Innovation teams. But what is it? We define it as follows:

Using data to generate new insights and provide new actionable information, using these to improve all manner of city services to work smarter - delivering better outcomes with the same level of resources

A simple analytics definition

 

Put simply: analysis informing action. We are flexible in the tools that we use – from long division to machine learning – but inflexible in wanting to see positive change as a result of our work.

In pursuing this offering we have taken inspiration from cities across the country who have developed Data Analytics programs. These specialist units do not seek to replace data teams within City departments, but rather to augment and empower them on specific projects. Our position within the Mayor’s Office allows us to support emerging priority issues wherever they may be and hone our ability to deliver by bringing insights from across policy areas.

 

What types of projects do we pursue?

Building upon work done in New Orleans, in which I may have had a small hand, we source projects in Seattle using a framework that seeks to bridge the gap between data science and service innovation. We explore potential projects with reference to the change that we want to see, not the data tool that we will use.

 

Typology of major project types: A) Finding the needle in a haystack, B) Prioritizing work for impact, C) Early warning tools, D) Better, quicker decisions, E) Optimizing resource allocation, F) Experimenting for what works

A typology of analytics projects

 

What’s next?

We are working on a number of exciting data-driven projects for the City. Over the coming months we will share examples of our projects and the impact that they will have on improving services for those who live in, work in and visit Seattle. We are excited to share these with you!

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5 Reasons I’m Stoked for the Seattle Design Festival

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As a relatively recent newcomer to both human-centered design and Seattle, I’ve loved getting to know both at the same time over the last few years. If you’re interested in either design or the Emerald City, I highly recommend the Seattle Design Festival which opens tonight. If you’re on the fence, here are the top 5 reasons I’m excited for this year’s festival.

[Shameless plug: I’ll be speaking on a panel on using innovation and design to build a risk-tolerant, future-focused world – come join me for a great discussion on Tuesday, 9/18 from 6-8pm at Artefact!]

  1. This year’s theme: TRUST

The theme – trust – couldn’t be more relevant right now, given that trust in both public and private institutions are not exactly at their peak. I’d say that out of everything I’ve watched in the last several weeks (including confirmation hearings, news, and Netflix/Amazon Prime shows), I personally have more trust in Nike’s ability to convince me that I need new shoes than I do in John Krasinski’s ability to take on the iconic role of Jack Ryan.

With this year’s programming, SDF asks how – in this broader context of mistrust – can design affirm and strengthen critical connections of trust in our community. It’s an important and worthy question to consider, though not just for design.

     2. The timing works well with the arrival of fall weather

The first week of SDF coincides with some lovely weather, so why not come inside to check out what is #3 on my list…

     3. Curated conversations that educate and provoke

Take a quick scan of the panel discussions that comprise this year’s festival and you’ll find topics related to autonomous vehicles, AI and its challenges and opportunities, and the ins and outs of community planning. (Bonus: the latter features a wonderful and knowledgeable City colleague who will without a doubt make this a fascinating discussion.) It sounds corny, but there’s truly something for everyone in the line-up of events and conversations they’ve put together.

    4. Interactive art installations

I’m looking forward to getting out to some of the several installations that are a part of this year’s festival, including the Gates Foundation Discovery Center’s Mapping Trust installation, which visualizes how empathy and connections relate to building trust and solving local and global issues together. This is one of many installations that will be highlighted at this weekend’s Block Party, so don’t limit yourself to checking out just one.

 5. Seeing the Seattle community show up

Since moving to Seattle, I’ve found that it’s unique in how people come together around the things it loves (take hockey for example). The design community is no different in bringing folks together and provoking curiosity, and it’s one of the things that makes the Seattle Design Festival so special.

So there you have it – and if I haven’t convinced you, maybe Seattle Magazine will.

 

 

 

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Come share your ideas about economic opportunity for young people with us!

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Three sample insights from youth research

Are you interested in identifying opportunities to create or improve policies, programs, and services for Seattle’s young people?

Mayor Durkan’s administration wants to find ways to connect youth with good jobs by creating a citywide strategy for youth, economic opportunity, and the future of work. We recently completed a nearly three-month research phase.

We are now hosting several public events in mid-September to share the stories we heard and for you to contribute your ideas on ways that the City of Seattle can better serve our young people. These events will be interactive and fun! If you are a young person or have a young person in your life that you care about – we want to hear from you!

Join us to:

  • Share your career journey
  • Cultivate a deeper understanding about youth and young adult experiences
  • Learn about and use human-centered design to move from insights to opportunities

Let’s harness our collective wisdom to facilitate creative breakthroughs that will result in a set of ideas that will make a difference for Seattle’s residents.

No previous design or innovation experience is required. All you need is an optimistic mindset.

These are drop-in events. Plan to spend at least 30 minutes with us. Refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP below. This list will be updated as events are added.

Monday, September 10th
3 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Douglass-Truth Branch Library
2300 E Yesler Way
Seattle, WA 98122
RSVP

Tuesday, September 11th
3 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
4408 Delridge Way SW
Seattle, WA 98106
RSVP

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Researching Youth Economic Opportunity

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Mayor Durkan’s administration wants to find ways to connect youth with good jobs by creating a citywide strategy for youth, economic opportunity, and the future of work.

We have just completed a nearly three-month research phase focused on understanding the opportunities and challenges facing youth and young adults when considering their future – particularly when taken into consideration with the implications of changing employer expectations and forces like automation.

Our deliverable for this research phase of this project is an interactive report of all our findings including qualitative research, quantitative analyses, and supporting secondary research.

To view, go to bit.ly/youthofseattle

Research Process

To scope our project, we created a research plan and carried out literature reviews and landscape analyses. We conducted organizational research by interviewing directors and staff from departments that serve young people.

Then we hit the streets to hear directly from residents.

Interviewing Young People

Staff members and interns volunteered to interview young people at different locations around Seattle. Research activities included hour-long scheduled interviews as well as pop-up photo booths.

The photo booths elicited interest from people passing by, who–in exchange for a short interview–would receive a free photo for professional or personal use. We created several pop-up photo booths to capture people’s stories.

One location was at Seattle Central.

Free Youth Photo Booth at Seattle Central

Another location was inside The Armory at Seattle Center.

Pop Up Photo Booth

Free Youth Photo Booth at the Armory

Between our 1-hour scheduled interviews and our quick intercept-style interviews, we had over 25 hours of tape. We transcribed the the audio and pulled out interesting quotes.

Transcribing Interviews

In ten weeks, we were able to talk to over a hundred young people, parents, and employers.

Interviews

Our interviews produced hundreds of data points and to make sense of it – we externalized it all by putting individual notes on the wall.

Synthesizing Research

We interpreted each data point by asking ourselves, What does this mean? Why does it matter? We organized the notes based on inferred likeness. We started seeing patterns across people.

For example, a theme emerged around the need for young people to have support from caring adults.

Sample Data Point

Our core project team of two collected, processed, and synthesized the data, but we invited other staff to join us at every step of the process.

This served to create a shared sense of what happened in the research and helped us to make meaning out of data and come up with actionable insights.

Discussing Insights

Our research generated hundreds of data points and dozens of themes.

Data Points in Spreadsheet

Ultimately we ended up with 16 insights to refine. We used flow diagramming and combined insights and used other methods to find new ideas.

Research Insights

We shared our work with our partners as we went.

City Partners

We facilitated activities to have staff learn human-centered design tools and have the opportunity to contribute their own observations and insights.

Insight Worksheets

Through our research, city staff cultivated a deeper understanding of youth and young adult experiences and how to better support their needs on their journey to careers.

David & Litzy

Our work took a human-centered approach to shift the conversation towards designing ideas, policies and initiatives to address our young residents’ strengths and needs.

Next Steps

The insights generated from our research will be used to inform a series of public workshops on the week of September 10th.

If you are interested in identify opportunities to create or improve policies, programs, and services – join us!

This work will ultimately contribute to informing Mayor Durkan’s portfolio of youth initiatives. We’d love to hear from you.

Kaylyn, Matthew, Ana

Thank you!

Thank you to all our participants and research partners! Special thanks to Seattle Center for hosting a photo booth and to our photographer, Olli Tumelius.

Susan & River

Stay tuned to hear more about our research activities in our next post.

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An Inspiring Visit to Kansas City, Missouri: Takeways from the Middle

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Thank you, Kansas City! I visited for the Midwest Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship. I left feeling inspired by so many rich examples of community-driven efforts to promote opportunity, and by how much our cities have in common.

The middle is the new edge.

That’s how Columbia Business School Professor Georgia Levenson Keohane opened her keynote at the Midwest Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship. She fired up the crowd in Kansas City by highlighting how much “the middle” of the country has to contribute to a conversation about economic opportunity and the future of work that can at time seem focused only on what large coastal cities have to offer. Her point was that the Midwest was on the cutting edge. And she’s right. I left feeling impressed and inspired by what that community is doing to nurture community-driven ideas.

[Read more…]

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Results for America

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Results for America’s Local Government Fellows program was founded in September 2014 to provide an advanced group of local government leaders in diverse and influential cities and counties across the country the knowledge and support to implement strategies that consistently use data and evidence to drive policy and budget decisions on major policy challenges. The City of Seattle was selected in 2015, and the fellowship was transferred to the Innovation & Performance Director in November 2017 at the time of the mayoral transition.

[Read more…]

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Harvard Civic Analytics Network: Spring Convening

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Earlier this month I represented Seattle at the biannual convening of the Civic Analytics Network (“CAN”). The network, hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center, is a national network of data analytics practitioners from cities and counties that work together in order to further the use of data in government services.

[Read more…]

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For People by People: Better connecting residents to city services through design

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Amie Thao, Civic Designer for the City of Seattle

In January, Innovation & Performance worked on a project to explore opportunities to increase access to city benefit programs and streamline program processes. At the outset the solution was predetermined, an online portal which would provide a one-stop shop to all city services and programs. Innovation & Performance doesn’t do predetermined solutions, so we set off to do our own research to test assumptions. We used many approaches to investigate and develop ideas to address the problem such as interviews with city staff, observations of community hubs, and interviews with city residents.

[Read more…]

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Education & Early Learning’s new platform for continuous improvement

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This engagement… “initiated important conversations about what our department strategic goals are and how we should measure progress. These conversations were occurring in silos, not at the broader level”, “moved us to actually adopting a broader set of performance measures”, “an interactive website with goals, metrics and current progress” – Department of Education and Early Learning

THE NEED 

The Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) delivers quality programs to pre-school, K-12, and post-secondary populations served by the Seattle Public School district.  DEEL’s mission is to ensure that all Seattle children have the greatest opportunity to succeed in school and in life and to graduate from school ready for college and a career. DEEL regularly collected classroom data that provided insight into student performance trends (e.g. test scores) but sought greater insight on how to evaluate and improve the operation of their own programs.

[Read more…]

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