Bring On the Plain Writing Act!

It’s looking more and more promising that Congress will pass the Plain Writing Act (S574), the law that so many have championed for so long. The Act passed the House in March by a vote of 386 to 33; and it’s being considered in the Senate now. If it is enacted, get ready, web communicators. The pressure will be on to “fix” all that bad content. Woot! It’s about time!

What’s not to like? The goals of plain language advocates are simple. When people read a government document, form, website - anything in writing - they should be able to:

• Find what they want,
• Understand what they find, and
• Act accordingly.

Aren’t those the goals of every communicator? But government communications fail more often than not.

Better writing, better service.

The Clearmark and Wondermark Awards were presented at the end of April. In case you missed them, the Clearmark Awards recognized really good examples of plain writing. The Wondermark Awards recognized – well, good examples of bad writing. The co-winners of Clearmark Awards in the government web category were the Department of Health and Human Service’s Healthfinder Quick Guide and Gresham, Oregon’s city website. What made them winners? In both cases, the teams did a lot of testing with potential readers. They kept re-working the words until they got it right. Take a look at both sites – I think you’ll see they achieved those 3 important objectives of plain writing.

Sadly, for every well-written web page, there are millions and millions of government web pages written in gobbly-gook. You can reorganize them, reformat them, make them pretty – but if the words aren’t right, it’s still gobbly-gook. You’ve got to get the words right.

The Federal Web Managers Council say it in their recent report, 2010 Progress Report – Putting Citizens First: Transforming Online Government: “Our top goal is to improve online government by writing, editing, and delivering content that is clear, understandable, and engaging. Plain language writing – even more than technology – is critical to help the public easily complete their online tasks.” And last fall, when GSA did a survey asking respondents to choose 3 things that would improve government websites, the number one response (chosen by 62%) was: write in plain language. I know you government communicators get it. You want to do the right thing.  What you lack is the mandate.

S574 says: “The purpose of this Act is to improve the effectiveness and accountability of Federal agencies to the public by promoting clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.” If the Plain Writing Act passes, you've got your mandate. You can say “no” to gobbly-gook. You’ll have powerful justification for more funding to train your writers and to do usability testing to make sure citizens can find, understand, and act on what they read on government websites.

Will it be tough to fix all the problems? Sure. Will there be a cost? Yep. There’s a lot to fix. It will require a thoughtful, long-term, cross-government strategy and careful management. But this is really important. Government has to communicate with its citizens effectively to serve effectively, and we don’t. Desire and good intentions haven’t done the trick. Maybe a law will. Bring it on!

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Keep It Plain

So Now What Are You Gonna Do?

I hope you either attended or tuned into the Government Web and New Media Conference in Washington DC, last week. What a line-up! I sat in my Tucson family room, watching the proceedings streaming live, listening to the fine line-up of speakers; and I marveled that so many terrific people are engaged in improving the way government communicates with and serves its citizens. Major kudos to Sheila Campbell, Rachel Flagg, the Web Manager University team, GSA, and the Federal Web Managers Council for organizing this fine gathering.

And you, web communicator - I hope you came away energized, vindicated, loaded with new ideas, and ready to take on the challenges you face! So…now what are you gonna do?

The biggest challenge of any conference-planner is figuring out how to make sure the attendees take home something they really can use. I know for a fact that the folks planning this conference worried about that. But you know what? The real responsibility for making that leap is yours. I don’t care if you were there in person or if you watched the live stream or just read or watched the sessions afterward. The bottom line is this: what are YOU going to do to improve government service? Every single one of you has to step up and DO SOMETHING to make change happen.

Maybe you had this discussion with your colleagues at the conference and came home with a plan. But just in case you didn’t, here are 5 suggestions:

1. Tell other web communicators in your agency what you learned. Use email. Use your intranet. Call a meeting with all the web managers and web reporters in your organization. Tell them what you learned. Tell them they can watch the tapes online. Tell them about the speakers and what they said. Tell them what you heard in your discussions. Distribute copies of the FWMC’s new paper, “Putting Citizens First – Transforming Online Government, 2010 Progress Report" – and get together to discuss it. Share what you learned. Get others excited.
2. Talk to your bosses. You heard Lisa Welchman. You and your bosses may see things differently, and you’re never going to get on the same page if you don’t talk. Don’t wait to be invited to that meeting. Find a way to create it. Honestly, you might be surprised how open your bosses will be to hearing what you have to say. I never had a boss (or a boss’s boss) turn down my request to brief him/her. So send an email. Call a secretary. Make an appointment. Ask for a half hour. If you can’t get that, send a memo – no more than one page. Now don’t blow this opportunity. Prepare. Write a point paper. Boil down your points to the top 5. Pick things that your boss will care about – big picture stuff. Don't talk process -talk goals and results.  Tell your boss what the agency needs to do to provide better customer service to citizens. Show your boss how these ideas can help your agency achieve its mission better, faster, smarter.
3. Pick 3 things you learned at the conference and do something to implement them at your agency, in the next 6 months. Make them things you can do yourself or with your team. Write them down on a piece of paper, and tape it to your desk. Look at that paper every day and ask yourself, “What did I do today to cause this change?” If you haven’t done anything, do something. Mark October 30, 2010 on your calendar, and make a note on that date to review what you’ve achieved…and then set 3 new goals.
4. Do something to improve your web content. Pick one of your top tasks and see if you can edit that content to make it easier to use. Pick some of your worst-written pages and offer to help the owners re-write them to make them more useful. Bring in a plain language trainer to do a session for all your web contributors. Go to plain language training yourself.  Do some usability testing to help you spot the worst content problems; then fix them. Go through your site and see if you can find 25 or 50 or 100 pages that are obsolete and pull them down (clutter makes it harder for people to find what they want!). Read through your top pages and see if each of them uses key words and is organized to make it easy for search engines to find that content. You’ve got to start somewhere. Start now.
5. Do something to help the web manager community. If you learned nothing else from the conference, I hope you learned that when web communicators join forces, they can cause change. So join a sub-council or working group. Recruit a new member of the Web Managers Forum. Send an email to the Forum listserv, telling them about something that works well in your agency or an idea you have or an issue you’d like to discuss. We serve best when we serve together.

Now that’s not so hard, is it? Come on. You can do this. I don’t care where you are in the organization. Don’t sit back and wait to benefit from the change others are causing. Be part of the effort. Use what you learned at this conference as your springboard.

So what’s it gonna be? What are you gonna do?

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To Citizens, You Are the World

I always get a little nostalgic this time of the year. You see, this coming week, government web communicators (web managers and new media directors) across the country will gather in Washington DC for the annual 2 days of networking, listening to government leaders and web luminaries, and discussing exciting new ventures and directions, courtesy of Web Manager University (GSA) and the Federal Web Managers Council. I used to be among you, and I miss you guys. But that’s not my message here.

My message is this: you folks – you government web communicators – rock! And I hope that - just for a few minutes, while you’re gathered together- you’ll celebrate yourselves and each other and just how much you’ve done to improve the way government serves its customers. To the world you might be one person, but to citizens, you are the world.

Fifteen years ago, government agencies were just putting up their first primitive websites. Now, look what you’ve done. You’ve created vast resources that citizens can use, day and night, 7 days a week - from their homes, their offices, their cell phones – to help their families and themselves, to solve their problems, and to achieve their objectives. You’ve put government services online that citizens never even knew existed, and you’re constantly working to make them easier to find and use. You’ve turned complicated government-ese into information and directions that citizens can understand. You’ve brought government to the people, and now you’re even helping people become part of their government. You’ve put citizens first.

You’ve done all this in spite of a huge workload, ever-increasing (and often competing) demands, insufficient resources, and – sometimes – lack of top level support. You’ve fought to make your agencies deal with citizens from their point of view because you know your audience. You’ve found ways to work together, within your agencies and across agencies, to consolidate content and eliminate duplication and connect the dots, so citizens don’t have to struggle to figure out their often overwhelming government. You understand the importance of great customer service, and you knock yourselves out to deliver. Do you have more to do? Absolutely. But, oh my – look how far you’ve come. You’ve opened a whole new world of government services to citizens.

So as your former colleague, I say, “Bravo! Congratulations! Proceed until apprehended!” If you are attending the Government Web and New Media Conference this week, look around at these amazing, hard-working people and recognize their tremendous contributions and commitment to public service. Celebrate all you’ve achieved, individually and together. If you can’t go to the conference…heck, pat yourself on the back. And follow the proceedings on Twitter (follow @WebManagerU and #govwebcon ).

But more important…as one of the citizens who count on you to open government services to us, I say sincerely, “Thank you so very much, government web communicators.” To us, you are the world.

Keep It Plain!

With the announcement of the Clearmark Plain Language Awards on April 29, this is a good time to trot out some tips on writing “plain” for your web audience.

I don’t care how good your website design is, if the writing is poor – if you don’t communicate with your target audience – your website fails. The most important thing you can do for your agency and your audience is spend time editing, re-writing, and testing your content with your target audience. A lot of time. Regularly.

Think what you’re trying to achieve. You want readers to understand what they read the first time through. And you want them to be able to act – correctly - on what you’ve told them.

So here are 3 practices that will help you succeed.

1.  Keep it simple. “Plain language” is just that – plain. Not fancy. Use simple words that everyone in your audience understands. That just seems so obvious to me, but it’s amazing how many times I read government websites that fail. You guys and your darned jargon.

Here’s one that always drove us crazy at HUD: “assisted housing.” What the heck does that mean? Is that another term for “assisted living?” Is that a place where someone will take care of me? When we tested it with our audience, they told us “rental help” made more sense to them. Now how hard was that?

Am I telling you to “dumb it down?” No, I’m telling you to communicate. Do you honestly think your readers run to a dictionary when they hit a word they don’t understand? No. They skip it and hope they’ll figure out what you’re trying to say or they give up and stop reading. So use simple words. Do the work. Figure out how to say it in words your audience understands.

2.  Write conversationally. Use first- and second-person pronouns: “I,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “you.” It drives me crazy when I read on an agency’s website, “the department of xyz announces…” Excuse me. Why are you talking in third person, as if I don’t exist? Talk to ME!

I’m reminded of that Seinfeld episode when the character “Jimmy” talked in third person. “Jimmy’s legs hurt. Jimmy can’t go with you today.” Poor Elaine held an entire conversation with Jimmy, thinking he was talking about another guy in the gym.

Communicating is personal. It’s between you and the reader. So when you write, think about that person who is reading it. Have a conversation – write like you’d talk. You’ll have more success getting your message across.

3.  Eliminate unnecessary words. With all due respect to my mom, who taught high school English for 35 years, here’s the truth: you don’t need to write in complete sentences to communicate a complete thought. As Ginny Redish puts it, “Let go of the words.”

Don’t include words like “that.” We know that we will…

Don’t state the obvious: This website is about… Welcome. On this page you’ll find…

Every word adds to reading time and delays action. People want to act. They want to get the answer and go do it. Make every single word count. If you don’t need it to communicate the message, get rid of it. Edit, edit, edit!

Both plainlanguage.gov and the Center for Plain Language have more tips, examples, and resources. Use them. The Center for Plain Language keeps a list of people who can help you. Ask them. Offer a plain language training session at your agency. Invite everyone who writes or edits your web content routinely.

If we don’t communicate effectively, we don’t serve effectively. Keep it plain!

How Does Your Website Stack Up?

Last week, a county government communications director in Oregon asked me to help her put together a session for their annual state meeting. We agreed that a “show and tell” hour, where attendees volunteer to show their county’s website and let their colleagues tell them what they think, could work well. I offered to do a short checklist to guide the discussion…and maybe to remind – even enlighten – the participants about what’s important on a government website.

So here is my 10-point checklist – the 10 best practices that I look for when I review a government website. How does your government website stack up?

10 Best Practices for Government Websites

See if you can answer “yes” to each of these.

1. Audience immediately can identify what the site is about, who it’s for, what they need to do to complete their tasks. Most-used tasks are featured prominently in the intitial screen so the audience can find them in the first 7 seconds. Note: If you have them buried in a large, rotating “feature” box that takes 30 seconds to cycle through, answer “no.”
2. Content is organized in topics the audience understands. No unnecessary topics.
3. Navigation is easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to use. Navigation is consistent from page to page.
4. Content is formatted for the web reader. Uses headers and sub-headers, bullets, and lists to make it easy to scan and find what you want. Font colors are dark against a light background. Uses a sans serif font to make it easy to read on the screen.
5. Content is organized to make it easy for the audience to complete tasks. Most important information is at the top. Steps are clear. Content is short, to the point, and anticipates questions.
6. Content is written in plain language. Uses words the audience understands and searches for. Content for the general public is written at an elementary reading level. Content is conversational...written in first (“I,” “we,” “us”) and second (“you”) person. Uses active verbs (“start here,” “read this”). Omits unnecessary words (e.g. “welcome,” “our mission is…,” “this website will…”).
7. Links are clear and useful. Link text tells readers what they’ll find (no “click here” or “more”). Content is layered appropriately (not too deep). No broken links.
8. Every graphic is essential to communicate critical information. No gratuitous graphics. No graphics just because they’re “cute” or “cool.” No photos of agency executives on the home page (put them on the “about us” page). Graphics aid skimming – no “eye-stoppers.” (Tip: check download time on a cell phone!)
9. Contact information - mailing address, phone number(s), and email address(es) - is in plain sight. May be linked from “contact us.”
10. Content is clearly current. Date of last review or update or “content current as of…” is in plain sight.

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Plain Language - the Key to Serving Citizens

Take Time to Nurture Your Web Team

At the end of my last course, I asked everyone what one thing they were going to do when they got back to their agencies. One participant surprised me by saying he was going to organize a meeting of all the web managers and major web contributors in the agency and share what he’d learned - something they’d never done before. Wow – really? You’ve never done that? So I asked his classmates if their agencies held regular agency-wide meetings and/or training sessions for the extended web “team.” Most said, “no.”

Gosh folks, this is a must-do! Part of your job as a web manager is to build a strong agency-wide team – a network across organizations that helps you move in the same direction…a group that works together, helps each other, and helps you.

Your “team” isn’t just those people who sit in the agency web manager’s office with you. It’s that broad cadre of people throughout the agency - in Washington DC and across the country - who work on the website routinely…full-time or part-time. It’s the people who compile and write and edit and post and maintain content. They probably don’t report to you in any formal way, but you can’t succeed if they aren’t working with you.

Nurture that team. Get them together – help them get to know one another…help them get to know you.

How? Here are 10 activities that have worked for me:

1. Do some training. Maybe you have a new technology to show. Maybe you have new social media policies to share. Or maybe you just want to go over the procedures for maintaining content. Get creative with your training. Do it yourself, or have one of the team members do it. Or maybe bring in outside talent. At HUD, we hired Gerry McGovern to do a one-day workshop on writing great web content - our web team loved it. But you don’t have to look outside government. Use your peers in other agencies. Nicole Burton at GSA is terrific at teaching usability principles. The folks who manage Plainlanguage.gov often are available to do training. And the social media sub-council of the Federal Web Managers Council has a number of speakers who can talk about social media best practices. Use them.
2. Solve problems together. Lay out some of the issues you’re facing and break into work groups to come up with solutions. Involve them in implementation.
3. Identify new directions. Break into brainstorming groups and come up with ideas for new or improved ways to serve customers through your website(s).
4. Take a field trip. We started taking the HUD web managers on field trips whenever we got them together. We always met in one of HUD’s field offices (it’s really good to get the web team away from Washington DC), and we’d use part of one day to visit some of the projects HUD funds in that city. There’s nothing like actually being in public housing and talking with residents and managers to see the agency’s work from the eyes of the customers.
5. Do content reviews. Have everyone come with one or two pages that are giving them trouble. Go over your writing standards (if you don’t have any, here’s an example from HUD). Then pick 4-5 of the problem pages, have everyone rate them individually, and then put them in groups of three and have them come up with a joint review, including suggestions for improvement. Whenever we did this as a group, we always saw lightbulbs go on. And we always improved the pages we reviewed.
6. Do show and tell. Pick some of your star performers and let them show and tell about a page or something they’ve done to improve web communications. Always encourage your team to share best practices.
7. Do a focus group. Ask some of your colleagues to invite family or friends (people who don’t really know your business) to come in for an informal focus group. You don’t have to hire someone to facilitate – just do it yourself. Pick a few pages of your website (or social media sites) and ask for feedback. Keep it easy and relaxed. After your guests leave, discuss what you saw and heard; and create a “to do” list.
8. Do usability testing. There is absolutely nothing more instructive than watching people try to complete tasks on your website. This can be a terrific thing to do in your web team meetings. Again, ask colleagues to invite family or friends to volunteer for some informal usability testing. 3-4 should do it. Have them come at intervals of 30 minutes or so because you’ll test them individually. Come up with two or three scenarios typical of the kinds of things citizens might do on your website (at HUD we used things like: pretend you want to buy a home but you don’t have money for a downpayment. See if there are programs that could help you). Then ask them to sit down at a computer and complete the task, while team members watch. I guarantee you – you’ll learn something from it. Usability.gov has lots more tips on doing scenario tests.
9. Brief them on the goals of the governmentwide web manager community. We serve best when we serve together, and your web team needs to know where the broader web community is headed. Invite a member of the Federal Web Managers Council to speak to your group or have a discussion about the FWMC White Papers. Get them thinking about how they fit into the bigger picture and what they can do to help.
10. Eat together, play together. There is nothing better for team-building than eating together and playing together. Do brown bag lunches or go to meals together. Set up web trivia contests or do other team games to break the ice. Make sure you stir up the group – don’t let them just sit with people they know. The goal is to build relationships so you strengthen the network.

We did routine “team” meetings at HUD for years, bringing together web managers and coordinators from across the country. EPA also gathers its “team” routinely – and very successfully. The point is: do it!

Face time builds trust among team members. Conference calls and wikis are great; but every now and then, get your folks together, in the same room. Provide some structure, and give them time to get to know one another – forge personal relationships. People leave these meetings feeling they’re part of something important. They get out of their silos and see customer service from a broader perspective.

Take time to nurture your web team. The benefits are huge.

Does Your Website Say “We Care?”

When citizens come to your website, what’s the first message they get? Is it, “we care about YOU, and we’re going to make sure you can do what you want?” Or is it, “first let me tell you about me?”

I read two interesting articles this week about how important it is to show your customers you care. First, I happened on Christina Gagnier’s blog piece: "Government must give a ***k:  a lesson from @GaryVee."  She supports social media evangelist Gary Vaynerchuk’s assertion that the most important thing government can do is show that it cares about its citizens (its customers). It’s not just letting people report potholes online – it’s doing something about it. It’s not just offering technology tools to engage – it’s acting on those ideas and showing citizens that their opinions and ideas and concerns matter. Gagnier says, “It is not the power of technology, but the power of caring. People are simply tired of having information and agendas broadcast at them.” They want to see some evidence that you’ve listened – that you care.

Then came Gerry McGovern’s weekly post, “Web design: clarity is more important than persuasion.” Gerry makes such an important point. “The customer remains invisible to most web teams and that is the single greatest reason so many websites underperform. Understanding, relating to and developing empathy for your customer is one of the greatest drivers of clarity in communication and design…get to truly know your customers and you are on the road to clarity.”

The power of listening to your customers is a frequent theme in my blog. If you listen to them, they will tell you what to put on your website. But listening is only the first part of the equation. You have to honor what your audience tells you and show them you care by acting accordingly.

Gerry points out recent market research that says you have 7 seconds to hook your reader. In that time, they decide if this site has anything for them and if it’s worth staying. Seven seconds is not much time. It means you’d better know what they came for. You’d better put it right there - front and center - so they can find it.

And – and pay attention here, web managers, because this is where the real “caring” shows – you’d better make sure that they can actually use that service - complete that task - quickly AND see success (the submitted form, the right answer to the question, the checklist they can print and use, the updates they can follow on Twitter…). What results do your customers expect? How can you show them those results? It’s not just being able to report the pothole – it’s seeing it filled.

So what does your website say in the first 7 seconds? Does it say to your customers, “I care about you!”

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Past Is Prologue – Learn From Web History

Shakespeare had it right. What came before has a bearing on what comes next. That holds true with the web, too.

I’ve been thinking a lot about web history lately. You see, I’m a little nostalgic this month. HUD’s website just turned 15; and as head nurturer for its first 10 years, I’ve been looking back, marveling at how far we’ve come…thinking about what we learned along the way…and wondering how our past will shape the future. So if you’ll bear with me (I know this is long and self-indulgent), I’ll share a little of HUD’s web history. Maybe you’ll recognize some of the lessons we learned.

Here is hud.gov’s baby picture. Actually, I wasn’t the birth mother. HUD’s technology office (no CIO yet) put this site together and posted it in March 1995. Primitive – yes. But hey, we were on the web!

I took over as HUD’s “webmaster” (we changed to “Web Manager” a couple of years later, a title coined by a Harvard “web manager”) in April 1995. It was just me and a team of 3 tech contractors, plus the IT contract manager. One of those contractors was Sam Gallagher, and I hired him a couple of years later (eventually, he got my job!).

In the interest of space, I’m going to use links to the rest of these examples. But gosh, I hope you look at them. It’s part of the fun!

HUD home page version 4

A year - and two interim versions (lesson: the public hates it when you make big changes too often) later - we debuted our first award-winner. Yeah – I know. It looks pretty hokey now. But at the time, the praise was resounding. We were going for a warmer, friendlier face of government. We changed our website name to “Homes and Communities” to show this site was about what citizens want/need - not about HUD (little known fact – that title came from an idea that Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo had floated to change HUD’s name). And we added a section called, “You, the Citizen,” to help people figure out what they could do on our website. Even then – with relatively few pages – citizens needed help knowing where to start.

Yippee! - we started earning some “awards” (in those days, it was a pretty big deal to get USA Today’s or Yahoo’s “Site of the Week”). The real benefit of awards? HUD managers wanted a piece of that action, and I got more cooperation. But most important, citizens liked what we were doing. They loved this new, friendlier government. They liked that we were using words they could understand and organizing content in ways that made sense to them. How do I know? In those days, I handled all the email that came in through the site. Thousands of emails. One of the best ways to listen to your audience.

Mistakes. That cool little ticker tape right below the graphic started eating memory on people’s computers, making them slower and slower. Lessons: just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. And being “cool” is never a good reason to do something on a government website. Learn a little, do a little, learn a little, do a little…

HUD home page version 6

In 1998, new HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo was installing a fresh look for HUD; and our website followed suit. We went lean, clean, and contemporary. I loved the look. Unfortunately, it was our least successful design. We went too lean and clean. People had to drill down too many levels to get what they wanted. Lesson: masthead navigation doesn’t work well - people assume it’s advertising and ignore it. When we moved those nav links down into the topics list…zoom! Page views shot way up. Learn a little, do a little.

HUD home page version 8

In November 1999, we launched another design…still clean, but not quite so lean. People reacted well to the white space. But we made one big mistake. See that center box: “Community News?” Most people come to HUD’s site to find out how to buy a home, how to buy a HUD home, or how to get low-rent housing. But we decided - being smarter (?) than our audience - that they should know all the good things happening in their communities as a result of HUD programs. So we smacked them in the face with that big box. Did they read it? Nope. They complained about it (why do you try to divert our attention from what we came to do? It’s annoying). Oh, some practitioners and advocates read it. But we didn’t achieve our aim. Problem was that we couldn’t make it go away. The Public Affairs folks liked it. Eventually, that box started featuring more about HUD than about communities. Audience wants don’t always win out. Just a reality. Learn a little, do a little.

HUD home page version 9

My final major redesign as HUD’s web manager went live on Inauguration Day, 2001. I guessed correctly that a new Secretary would want a new look on his administration’s website (I got a call from his top aide the next week, thanking me). So we rolled out “Big Red.” Our aims this time were to cut layers and improve our wording of topics and links. We did many, many focus groups, looking at those elements. We also circled back to that 1996 “You, the Citizen” idea by introducing “At Your Service.” We did something right because our email dropped dramatically – people were finding what they wanted.

In 2002, we added “state pages” to HUD’s site. Our “local HUD office” sites were good, but the content was inconsistent. We listened to our audience who repeatedly told us, “yes, we want to learn how to buy a home…but what we really want is to learn to buy a home in Texas.” Or New York. Or wherever they lived or wanted to live. So, with our 10 new regional HUD web managers, we created a page of state, county, and city resources for each state. We were careful not to duplicate what was already on the “national” site, but to supplement it. And we made sure that every state had the same information – because every citizen deserved to be treated equally. Those pages went up in September 2002; and from their very first month, they were among the top 2 or 3 sections on the website. Bullseye! Learn a little, do a little…

I retired, and life went on. Last year, the current version of HUD’s website went up. I like the contemporary look. The “I want to” section gets citizens to the things they really come to the website for…buy a home, find rental help…in the spirit of “You, the Citizen” and “At Your Service.” Don’t like the big scrolling “hero” box at the top (but you know that if you’ve read my previous blogs about that design device). But the beat goes on…learn a little, do a little…

History is important. It helps you avoid potholes you’ve hit before. It helps you shape your strategy for the future. Have you documented the history of your website? Do you remember why you (or your predecessors) made those choices and changes? Does your agency know? Do your colleagues know (so they can learn from your hits and misses)? Does the public know (let the sunshine in!)? Past is prologue. Learn from web history.

Related Link
HUD’s Web History

Use Your Best Resources to Engage Citizens – Your Employees

I am up to my ears judging Clearmark Plain Language Award entries, but I just had to raise my head to comment on Andrea DiMaio’s latest blog piece, “How To Love Government 2.0 and Be A Contrarian at the Same Time.” I so agree with him that we can’t just rely on technology to engage citizens in their government. We have to put our money where our mouths are – invest our best resources to make this successful.

And what are our best resources? Or, who? Government employees. Everywhere.

I haven’t heard one single word about using that huge untapped resource – government employees working in “the field.” We have thousands of government employees working in large, medium, and small government offices in every big city and many small towns across this country. They are members of the communities where they live. They have family, friends, and neighbors all around them. If you did nothing more than ask each field office – big or small – to hold one “listening session,” you could take a huge step toward finding out what citizens want, need, and suggest.

Tell your field staff to invite their family and friends, give them an agenda, and trust them to do the right thing. They won't let you down. And citizens will start to believe that their federal government isn’t just a bunch of faceless Washington bureaucrats (sorry – but that is what many think). They will know it’s their neighbors and friends – people they know…people who understand their issues, concerns…and ideas. That’s how to open up government. Bring the government to the people and the people will engage.

Related Post
Participation and Collaboration – Let’s Make It Work

Turn Your "News" Into Services We Can Use

Here’s one of the top stories on the U.S. Department of Labor website today:

DOL announces $2.5 million grant to continue to aid Maine workers impacted by Base Realignment and Closure actions [03/01/2010]

It links to the full 200 word press release that ends in a link to a DOL page about National Security Grants. What if, instead of that wording, you read this:

Attention Maine residents! Have you been laid off because your military base was downsized or closed? If so, your state Department of Labor can help. We’ve just given them additional funds to provide job counseling, training, and placement services to citizens who have lost their jobs because Maine’s military bases downsized or closed. To find out how you can take advantage of these services, contact the Maine Department of Labor (with an appropriate link directly to the place where citizens actually can apply for this service – or at least get more information about how to apply).

Short. Sweet. Conversational. Immediately identifies the audience that will care about this news, so the rest of us don’t have to waste our time (and there’s nothing that makes us madder at you than when you waste our time). Quickly summarizes what services are available, and gets us right to the appropriate contact point, in about 60 words. Oh, and it still credits US DOL for the funding. It turns a traditional press release into a service that citizens actually can use. It puts the needs of citizens first, while still giving the agency brownie points. Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? So why don’t most government agencies take the time to turn their “news” into something we can use?

Last fall, I did a workshop for some public affairs officers at state agencies; and one thing I told them (that they didn’t much like to hear) is that press releases do not make good web content. Not on front pages of government websites. Not on Facebook pages. Not as Tweets. The audience for press releases is the press – not the general public. The general public turns off when it reads something that starts out, “Governor X announced…” or “Secretary Y went to…” They turn off when they see big “hero” photos of appointed officials cutting ribbons or making speeches. When people come to government websites, they’re looking for something that can help them – personally. And they want to know how to get that “thing” as fast as possible. So just take the time to re-write your press release into something we can use.

Oh, and here’s one more tip: show us the money (thank you, Jerry McGuire!). If you want a thumbnail sketch of what citizens are looking for on federal government websites, just visit “What’s On Americans’ Minds” on USA.gov. Check out that section on “pages the public visits most” on the website. See a trend? Yep. Money. How to make money. How to save money. How to get money. How to get more with your money. How to keep your money. This is not rocket science. So if you really want to grab the public’s attention, tell us what you’ve got that can “show us the money.”

I know this isn’t how most public affairs officers have been trained. And I know they face pressure from bosses who want to look good, personally…bosses who like those traditional press releases. But think about it (and explain it to your bosses) this way – if you want people to remember you, give them something they want or need. Put their needs above your needs, and they will remember you.

I always love the “Miracle on 34th Street” analogy. Remember how Macy’s Santa sends the little boy’s mom to Gimbels to get that special toy, even though Macy’s does carry something similar? The camera pans to Thelma Ritter (the mom), and she says something like, “Well, what do you know? Macy’s is putting the spirit of Christmas ahead of profits. I never much liked shopping at Macy’s before, but I will now.”

Turn your news into something we can use. We’ll get better service, and we WILL remember you.

Related Posts
Do the Service - Earn the Image
News Flash!  Government Websites Are Not Newspapers

Customer Service Mantra: Listen, Respect, Follow

From my very first presentation about being a government web manager – way back in the mid-90s - I’ve said this: “if you listen to your audience, they will tell you what to put on your website.” Listening to your audience is absolutely the cornerstone of great customer service. But it doesn’t stop there. You also have to respect what they tell you and follow – yes, I said “follow” – what they say. I know it’s very, very hard to do…especially when you know more than your audience knows – right (wink wink)? But if you want citizens to trust you, like you, use your services, participate, you’ve got to apply the principles of customer service. Listen to your audience. Respect and follow what they tell you.

OK – I need to digress here a minute. The other day, a friend said to me, “Candi – what’s the deal with you and ‘customer service’ all of a sudden? You always preached ‘citizen service’ – not ‘customer service.’ You always reminded us that citizens are not ‘customers.’ They own their government. Why the sudden change of heart?” Well, mea culpa. That is what I preached. But I finally stopped and listened. And respected. And followed.

“Citizen service” isn’t a concept that people outside of government understand. Really, they don’t. Just ask friends or family members, “how do you think government should provide great citizen service?” They get this glassy-eyed look on their faces and then stumble around trying to come up with an answer. But ask them, “how do you think government should provide great customer service?” and you can see the understanding on their faces. That’s a concept that resonates. That’s a concept they can apply. They can tell you what they think government should be doing to give them great customer service.

Honestly, I have to thank Craig Newmark for this wake-up call. Craig is all about great customer service…he uses it as the basic value behind Craigslist. He blogs about it and talks about it all over the country. He praises others who deliver it…like his praise for the state of Georgia’s exemplary customer service efforts (and if you haven’t followed the ground-breaking things they’re doing in Georgia, I posted a link below to an article about it). I have a lot of respect for Craig. And I finally listened to him – to the words he uses…to the way he talks about the concept that I always have called “citizen service.” Duh, Candi. Practice what you preach. Use the term that citizens use and understand…people who are NOT in government…people like Craig. Listen, respect, follow. If we want to know what we can do to improve our service to citizens, we have to ask them using words that are meaningful to them.

So, are you a good listener? It takes practice to be a good listener. Here’s a little exercise we used all the time in grad school counseling courses. Sit down with an acquaintance or colleague – someone you don’t know too well. Ask him/her 5 questions (questions more complex than “what’s your favorite color” or “do you like sushi,” please!) Don’t take notes – just listen to what he/she says. After you’ve listened to all 5 responses, repeat back what you heard. Ask him/her if you got it right. Did you really understand what you were hearing? Did you get it all? Did you pick up the nuances? If so, bravo! If not…do some more practicing. We all need to be better listeners. Now go read some of that web manager email or watch some usability testing or get out of your office and go talk to some average folks about what they want from your website and apply that listening skill.

And once you hear and understand what your audience wants…what they’re interested in (and not interested in)…what they want first…what words they use to describe what they want…then you’ve got to respect what they’ve told you and follow their lead. If “buying a home” is more important to them than “see what we’re doing in your community,” then put it first. If they prefer the term “jobs” to “employment,” use “jobs.” If they tell you that your processes are slow or too complex or they can’t find what they want, do something about it. Fix it. And here’s a hard one for many government agencies – if they tell you they want to see what you’ve got to offer in the way of services before they see your news releases and photos of your agency heads, believe them…honor them. Put the services and information your audience cares about most up in that prime space at the top left and center, where they see it first. Listen, respect, follow.

Providing great customer service from government IS a big deal (another Craig-ism). It is – or should be – the number one reason we have government websites. If you listen, you will know the right thing to do. If you respect and follow, citizens will be – and will feel – well-served. I’ll end on a quote from Craig, when asked in a recent interview for his advice on creating great customer service: “Treat people like you want to be treated.” Yep – my mom said the same thing. So simple to understand. So hard to do. Citizens want their government to listen to them and to respect and follow what they say. Do that, and you will serve well.

Related Links
Georgia Praised for Customer Service

Related Posts
The Power of Watching and Listening
If We Engage, Will You Listen?
Knowing Your Audience Is A Web Manager’s Most Important Asset

Speaking With One Voice – A Basic of Good Customer Service

A recent Federal Computer Week article began by saying that, for fun, I sometimes ask a question through various channels at a government agency to see if I get the same answer. Well, I’m not sure I’d call it “fun.” But I have done just that when preparing to teach a class – mostly to get a feel for the state of customer service in the government. Unfortunately, I’m typically disappointed. Agencies fail to speak with one voice. One of the 6 terrific Customer Service Standards established by the Federal Web Managers Council is this:

Citizens…should be able to get the same answer whether they use the web, phone, email, live chat, read a brochure, or visit in-person.

Seems obvious, doesn’t it? But in many (most?) agencies, it doesn’t happen.

What exactly is this test that I do? Well, I pick some topic that would interest most citizens - I want to send my child to college...can the government help? I want to buy a home…can the government help? My child is obese and I want to know what kinds of foods to fix to help him. That kind of thing. I pick one agency to test (many topics cut across agency boundaries…so part of what I hope to find are suggestions for where else to look). I go to that agency’s website(s) to see what they have to tell me. I send an email to the web manager through the “contact us” link on the agency website. I go to the Frequently Asked Questions section on the website and see what it says.

Then I call the agency. I call at least two numbers - the general number listed on the website (usually a locator or call center service but sometimes just a recorded message) AND the number for the agency's local office. Once, I wrote a letter to the agency head (which means it’s answered through their correspondence unit), asking the same question. If the “Contact Us” page shows other ways to communicate with the agency, I try them. I particularly like to try the live chat, if they have one.

Sometimes I take another step or two – I go to USA.gov and see what their FAQs say about the topic (GSA coordinates responses with the agencies). Or I go to the Federal Citizen Information Center (you know – those Pueblo, Colorado folks) and see what information the agency has available there. Or I try the USA.gov live chat. I always ask the same question, the same way.

Here’s my recent experience. The good (and the bad) news is that most channels referred me back to the web. Good news in that they're citing one place to go (though it wasn't uncommon to be sent to different pages on the website - not the same entry point). The bad news is that if I'm a citizen who doesn't have a computer, doesn't like computers, or just prefers to talk to a live human being on the phone, I'm out of luck (too many of those darned recorded phone messages that don’t include a human alternative!).

Though I was glad to finally talk to a human being, I found it frustrating when I landed in a call center with people who really just acted as switchboard operators and didn't have personal knowledge of the subject. Most times, they eventually got me to a place to start (again, normally on the web), but it wasn’t always the same place I’d been directed by other channels. Too often, they send me on a scavenger hunt because they really don’t know enough about the subject to pick the best place to start.

OK – so why do agencies fail this test? Because communications channels are managed by different parts of the agency, and they don’t check with one another to make sure they’re all speaking with one voice. There’s no one assigned to coordinate among the channels, and no one is doing – routinely – that very simple test that I do to make sure customers are getting good service.

How could you solve this problem? Well, you could put all of those channels under one umbrella organization – an Office of Communications or and Office of Citizen Service. Hold one manager accountable for making sure everyone sings from the same songbook. That makes a lot of sense – improve citizen service and probably save a bit in overhead costs. I’ve been an advocate of this approach for years, and I think it’s the right thing to do. But it could require significant reorganization at some agencies (not to mention the political – small “p” – hurdles)…and that can take months (or years).

Here’s another idea. Maybe the “New Media Directors” that many agencies have designated could turn into “Directors of Communications Strategy.” They already create strategies for using internet-based channels – just add print, correspondence, phones to the mix. They could work with managers to decide which channels to use to deliver content AND – as important - make sure that the public gets the same message, no matter how the content is delivered.

In the best of all possible worlds, the whole government would speak with one voice. At the very least, an agency needs to speak with one voice. It’s a basic of good customer service. And it’s the right thing to do.

Related Links
3 Must-do's for Agencies to Improve Citizen Engagement (Federal Computer Week)

Related Posts
Customer Service Standards Worth Living Up To
Citizen Service – That’s What It’s All About
Dear Santa: Here’s My Christmas List

The New USAJobs – Great Customer Service!

And the award for Best Customer Service goes to…USAJobs! Finally – a federal agency (the Office of Personnel Management) that really, really listened to its audience and gave us what we want. Plain. Simple. To the point.

The new USAJobs website looks like Google. It’s a stripped-down version of its former self (which really wasn’t too bad). It recognizes that people want to do one basic thing when they visit: find government jobs. Yes, you can still get background information about working for the federal government. Yes, if you are you in a special audience group - veteran, student, person with disabilities – there’s a link right there for you, front and center. But nothing gets in the way of that single top task: find a job.

No trouble seeing where you should go first. No overwhelming long lists of choices. No unnecessary photos or graphics to distract us. We don’t have to wind our way through what the agency thinks we should know or news about what the agency is doing.

And when you go to second level pages, they’re just as easy to use and understand. They anticipate audience questions, without explaining every tiny esoteric little nuance or potential exception, ad nauseum.

What a breath of fresh air! What a terrific model for other agencies. You listened.  You got it.  You delivered what we want, in ways that make sense to us.  Now that's what I call good customer service! Very well done, OPM.

Participation and Collaboration – Let’s Make It Work

Open government. Public participation and collaboration. Awesome! So let’s make it work.

Let’s learn from the mistakes a bunch of us made back in the 90’s when we put up online “discussion” rooms and held online “town halls.” If you want the pay-off - if you want good ideas and positive outcomes - you have to invest the resources and plan strategically. Think of it as running a meeting.

• Invite participants – You’re holding a meeting. You don’t just open the door and shout, “We’re having a meeting – come one, come all!” You do a little work to make sure the right people join the discussion. You look for the people who are most likely to have an interest in and/or experience with the subject. You advertise the meeting in places where your target audience can find out about it. You seek out people with a wide array of opinions, so you’ll come out with the best result. So if you want input on a new homebuying policy, put out the call through new home guides and housing counselors and homebuying conferences and on websites (public and private) that deliver homebuying information. Open the discussion to all. But get out there and find people who have an interest in the subject.
• Share background information – When you have a meeting, you send out background materials – right? So spend a little time educating the participants on the issue, and you’ll have a much better discussion. Publish a short (1-2 page) paper laying out the issue, the objectives, and the parameters. Not voluminous government-speak. Not links to laws and regulations. Just short, plain, and unbiased. Or do a short video…something they can view in 2 minutes and get a feel for the problem on the table. Take the time to prepare the participants, and their input and satisfaction will be so much better. So will yours.
• Publish an agenda. People want to know what to expect – what the process will be. When will the process start? When will it end? Who are the key players? What are the key milestones? Publish an agenda at the beginning and stick to it.
• Designate someone to preside. Someone (a real person – not an agency) has to run the meeting. That means someone has to kick it off, pay attention to what’s going on (every day), channel the discussion, answer questions, head off the “dominators” and encourage others to chime in, and summarize the points. Assign someone with appropriate authority and the right skills to run this meeting. Grant him/her enough time and support (read: resources) to do a good job. And hold him/her accountable for the process. This is where so many efforts failed in the past. If you want good results, you have to make the investment.
• Conclude the meeting. Let everyone know the meeting is over and what’s next. Don’t just disappear and make people wonder what happened. Publish a summary and describe the next steps. Make sure everyone knows who’s doing what. Let participants know when and where they will see or hear about results.
• Follow up. Someone has to make sure that promises are kept and report back to the participants what’s happened and what hasn’t. Reconvene the group if more discussion is needed. Let everyone know when everything is finished. Then – and only then - declare victory!

One more tip. Advocates and lobbyists will be all over opportunities for public participation and collaboration. But will average citizens come to the table…citizens across the political spectrum, across generations, across the country? You need to prime the pump. Create some quick success.

I’d love to see the federal government, as a whole, start with a handful of topics for public discussion. Throw the best resources at the efforts. Establish models for public participation and collaboration, before the agencies start doing this willy-nilly. Pick issues that don’t need legislation and can be resolved in less than 6 months. Pick issues that have broad public interest, don’t require extensive research or prior knowledge, and won’t be especially contentious. Pick problems that have a good shot at being solved.

Then go out to the public. Sure – use websites and online tools and social media. But try other methods, too. See what works best. Team up with state and local governments. Hold in-person meetings and broadcast town halls on local public access stations. Ask for ideas on other ways to engage. Show in your actions that you sincerely want the public to be involved in their government.

Build some success. Success will beget more success. Get it right in the beginning, and satisfied citizens will spread the word and bring in others.

Participation and collaboration. Exciting times! Let’s make it work.

Related Links:
How Do We Measure Success?
Are We Ready for E-Democracy?
A Next Big Step for Grassroots Democracy (Craig Newmark)
Can We Categorize Participation and Collaboration? (Andrea DiMiao)

Apply for Plain Language Awards

The Center for Plain Language is sponsoring the first Plain Language Awards for the best and the worst writing in both the public and private sectors. You can submit hard copy documents or websites. 

And even if you don’t apply for the awards, check out the criteria for judging. It’s one of the best lists of writing “do’s” I’ve seen.  Print it out, and share it with your web contributors.

Deadline for applications is February 15, 2010. Go for it!

Customer Service Standards Worth Living Up To

A little more than a year ago, the Federal Web Managers Council issued a ground-breaking white paper entitled, “Putting Citizens First: Transforming Online Government.” Yes, I’ve referenced it many times. But as we begin a new calendar year, it’s a great time to take a fresh look at those 6 terrific Customer Service Standards that the Council established:

When citizens want to find government information and services online, they should be able to:

1. Easily find relevant, accurate, and up-to-date information;
2. Understand information the first time they read it;
3. Complete common tasks efficiently;
4. Get the same answer whether they use the web, phone, email, live chat, read a brochure, or visit in-person;
5. Provide feedback and ideas and hear what the government will do with them;
6. Access critical information if they have a disability or aren’t proficient in English.

Those 6 standards show a real commitment to, and respect for, the citizen's point of view.

On its website - webcontent.gov – the Council has identified best practices (and tools to use to implement them) to help agencies meet those standards, including:

• Identify, improve, and feature top tasks
• Create and manage content effectively and efficiently
• Create content once and deliver it many ways
• Collaborate within your agency and across government to manage content and eliminate duplication
• Follow usability best practices and do usability testing continuously
• Make sure the public can find your content
• Create opportunities for the public to interact with their government

But that's not all.  There's more support available.  Web Manager University offers courses every semester to help web managers gain the knowledge and skills to implement these best practices and meet those terrific standards.  And the Web Managers Forum has monthly conference calls to provide even more tips and tricks and an opportunity for web managers to share their successes and lessons learned.

The pieces are all in place. Everything is focused on the right vision. The best practices are right on. The tools and support are available. The Council is leading in the right direction to meet government’s responsibility to serve citizens.

So it comes down to this, web managers.

• Does your website live up to these Customer Service Standards?
• Have you measured them?
• Have you incorporated them in your strategic planning? 

If not, then maybe - as we start a new year and a new decade – you should take a good look at your communication practices and see how you can improve them. If you need more training, get it. The next WMU course is a free webinar on Wednesday, starring my personal favorite web guru, Gerry McGovern. Sign up!

These are Customer Service Standards worth living up to. And there’s no time like the present to “put citizens first!”

Believe!

Well, here we are…at the end of another year. I don’t know about you, but I always use this last week of the year to reflect and get re-centered for the coming year.

As I looked through my blog posts over the year, I see a trend. I started out high on the optimism that comes with a new President, hopeful that all wrongs would be righted and all dreams would come true. Well, needless to say, that didn’t happen. I really didn’t think it would…but I did HOPE.

I also looked through some of the email I’ve received from my web colleagues this year. Again, there’s that trend…high on hope at the beginning and, over the months, reality sets in. In some cases, there’s even despair. Well, yes, there are some worrisome things going on…pressure to push administration “news” overwhelming the great need to improve online services; a surprising (disappointing) number of new websites - some that look redundant, some that clearly are vanity sites, and many that show no real appreciation for usability standards – adding to the already enormous bloat of online government information; and in some cases, experienced and knowledgeable web managers being pushed aside (and even out) for trying to do what they know citizens want.

But there also are good things happening…the web manager community as a whole has come together and is being recognized for their ideas; government websites are being used to engage citizen participation in unprecedented ways; and some of the threshold issues in web management that need to be resolved are being aired and discussed at the appropriate levels. All in all, not a bad year. But what’s next? What will the new year bring? More important, what can I (and you) do to make it better?

Well, here’s where the title of this blog piece comes in. Believe! Let me digress a bit.

A few weeks ago, I walked into Macy’s mothership store (the one on 34th St. in New York), and I looked up to see a huge sign that said, “Believe!” It was their Christmas theme, and there’s no doubt that all those kids dropping their letters to Santa in the big “wish box” were taking it to heart. For some reason, that sign really struck me. It got me thinking about what everything comes down to – knowing what you believe…following your own beliefs. Keeping them in site. Using them to ground you when the going gets tough AND when you’re high on success. Reviewing them periodically to make sure they’re still right, and – if they are – recommitting yourself to upholding them. Showing in your actions what you believe in your head and heart.

So, as I reflect on the past year in the world of government web management and the possibilities for next year, here’s what I believe:

I believe in public service. I believe it’s a noble profession that attracts people who want to serve, not sell, and who want to help others, not themselves. I believe that public servants are committed and smart and resourceful and capable of solving any problem and overcoming any obstacle. I believe that once you’re a public servant, you’re always a public servant – that it’s a life-long passion, not just a job. I believe that, if you are a public servant, you do what you can (even if it’s only lobbing in some ideas through a blog) to help citizens.

I believe in courage and common sense. I believe that the best of us take risks to do the right thing. I believe that we don’t give up – that we keep looking for ways around the “no’s” and that we push on, despite the obstacles. I believe that best practices come from common sense approaches.  I believe that if we trust our common sense, show courage even when we feel powerless, and speak up even when we face disapproval, we can solve any problem and achieve any goal.

I believe in the power of the community. I believe that we serve best when we serve together. I believe in building critical mass and sharing what we know and using the combined knowledge, wisdom, and talents of our colleagues to cause real, positive, lasting change.

Above all, I believe in doing the right thing for the American people. I know that if we use this value as our compass and articulate our goals based on this belief, we cannot be wrong. And I believe that if we do right things that serve the public well, then we have succeeded.

These are my beliefs. Maybe some of them are your beliefs, too. Whatever…maybe – like me - you’ll use this last week of the year to sit down and think about what you really believe in. Get yourself re-centered. And then think about what you can do next year to show that you “believe!”

Happy New Year, one and all!

Time For a Re-Think of USA.gov

When USA.gov was born, a central links directory of the government was a huge asset. Now, however, citizens turn to Google for lists of links. So if USA.gov is to add value, I think it’s time for a major re-think of its purpose. It’s an important discussion…one that impacts - and therefore should involve - the whole web manager community - and beyond.

So what could USA.gov do that no one is doing now? To me it’s obvious. There’s a huge void that needs to be filled. We need a one-stop “government service center.” We need a place where we citizens can go and find everything we need to know about the most used, most important government services. We need it to be written in terms we understand, with as few steps between getting to the site and leaving the site a satisfied customer, as possible. We need one place to draw the very best advice and service that government has to offer, synthesized so that citizens don’t have to go from link to link, agency to agency, trying to figure out what their options are. We need content that says, “start here” and “have you thought about this?” We need decision trees…is this your situation? Go here. Is that your situation? Go there.

How do you do that? Turn USA.gov into a CONTENT site – not a links site. Focus on top tasks – starting with the things that citizens are most worried about today…how do I find affordable housing? How do I keep my home? How can I put healthy meals on the table when I don’t have much money? How can I send my kids to college? I just lost my job - where can I find a new job, and what can I do to keep a roof over my head and feed my family until I get that new job? I’m a Boomer and was planning to retire – what are my options in this economy?

Turn the USA.gov staff into content leaders. Convene teams from across agencies, around the services citizens want most. Include agency web managers and web writers, but also subject matter experts. Involve plain language experts. And for Pete’s sake, get some usability experts involved from planning through execution and evaluation.

Get citizen involvement – don’t sit around and second-guess what makes sense to citizens. And make that involvement routine, to keep the content fresh, focused, and on target. Use new media to tell citizens about this new content. Make that part of the strategy. Cycle experienced agency web managers through GSA to help with the effort. Give the USA.gov staff editorial responsibility – we need someone who can say, “no, we’re not going to use that junk” and “yes, you DO need to re-write that content to make it more citizen-friendly.”

Start small and build. Don’t wait until you get it all together and then roll out a new USA.gov website. Get a couple of services together and put it up. See what works, what doesn’t; and then do more. Call it a pilot, to get started.

Add a human component. Use that wonderful online chat service that USA.gov already has to assist citizens through these services. Bring in subject matter experts who can actually answer citizens’ questions – not just refer them to more links. Many years ago, I talked about the need for governmentwide “ombudsmen” – government employees with broad knowledge about a variety of government services whose job is to just work with citizens – online – to help them navigate government processes when they stumble. Maybe it’s time to give that idea another look-see.

Use this as an opportunity to start downsizing the inventory of government websites and consolidating government web content. Write MOUs with the agencies, getting them to agree that – when the content is absorbed into USA.gov - they’ll pull it off the agency site. Eventually, experiment with consolidating services through layers of government, so citizens don’t have to know whether what they need is federal, state, or local.

OK – you may agree or not. But here’s the bottom line: I’m convinced it IS time to come up with a new paradigm for USA.gov.  Let’s think big.

Update December 15:  GSA has just posted a link on the front of USA.gov asking the public to join the discussion about USA.gov's future.  This is your chance to weigh in - please do!

The Power of Watching and Listening

Gerry McGovern’s newsletter this week is all about the power of watching and listening to the people who use your website. According to Gerry, observing actual behavior really is the only way to know how successful (or not) your site is. It’s all about making sure people can find and do what they want, as fast as possible, and come away with the right answer. It’s all about making sure you don’t waste your audience’s time.

Pretty simple – right? Makes perfect sense. Yet how many web managers and web contributors and - dare I ask? - government managers who want their content to be prominent on agency websites have actually watched and listened to people using their websites?

In almost every class I teach, I ask how many people do - or have done - usability testing (which is using various techniques to watch and listen to people using your website). I’m always surprised how few hands go up. Government websites have been around for 15 years now, but we’re still trying to sit in our offices and second-guess our audiences. Or worse, we use our sites to tell our audiences what we think they should know. Now, there may be some people out there who want government to decide what they should know. But I don’t know those people.

From early on, I knew that listening was key to the success of a web manager. It probably came from those counseling courses I took in grad school. I took to heart what people said or asked in their emails and what they said when I talked to them on the phone or at public demonstrations of HUD’s website. I used what I learned, and I think it helped.

But I confess…it took me years to actually watch someone use the site, in a usability setting. And when I did, I was stunned at what I saw. Sure – some content worked well. Yay! But other content that I thought we had made so obvious and easy, wasn’t. Words that we thought everyone understood were confusing. People took wrong turns. People thought through problems differently than we had. People wasted their time, trying to get an answer on our website. After watching for 15 minutes, I got religion.

Do yourself – and your web audience – a favor. Put aside those site traffic reports and customer satisfaction surveys, and spend some time really listening to and watching people use your website. What you learn will give you the power to make your site better.

5 Government Services to be Thankful For

I crusade for better online government service because I have seen what we can do, when we put our minds (and common sense) to it. Here are 5 examples of really great citizen services available right now.

1. Airport status and delays: I use this tool every time someone I know is flying. At a glance, you can see where airports are running behind, so you can adjust your expectations accordingly. Sometimes this service is more effective in predicting flight delays than the airlines’ own “flight status” tools.
2. Hold my mail: Most of us leave home on business trips or vacations, at some time. This convenient little service lets you take care of holding your mail – and releasing the hold – in seconds. I love its simplicity!
3. Find sex offenders living in your neighborhood: OK – this is a little clunky. You have to agree to the terms before you get to the form. Then the default search option is to search by a specific name. You have to figure out how to search by zip code, which – to me – should be the default. But all-in-all, it is easy to use; and the results are helpful. Good service for house-hunters, parents, and neighborhood watch groups.
4. Ask an expert about food safety: This is a pretty simple service that offers multiple ways to find out if the foods you are eating – or want to eat – are safe. It gives you options to call 24-hour, 7-day hotlines; type in a question and see if the FAQ database can help; or, within fairly tight time limits, chat online with an expert. You also can find out about food recalls and sign up for alerts. Turkey day…I’m thinking this might be a good URL to keep handy!
5. Real-time chat on USA.gov: I am a huge fan of real-time chat services. It lets citizens talk to a human being, when they can’t – or don’t want to - wade through all the printed material. It really makes you feel as though your government cares about you, personally. I’ve used the USA.gov chat a couple of times, and I found it pretty satisfying. I didn’t have to wait long in line. The reps were able to understand my questions fairly quickly. And they were able to point me in the right direction for answers, even if they couldn’t provide the answers themselves. Hours are weekdays only; but they do go until 8 pm ET, so people can still use the service after they get home from work. I wish every agency provided this service. And I wish it were available 24-7.

What do these services have in common? They have a simple purpose, and they’re easy to use (if not always easy to find). The people who wrote these web pages understand what citizens want and know how to provide it in ways that make sense to them.

‘Tis the season of thanksgiving – so I truly am thankful for these smart, effective, citizen-oriented services. And now, my Christmas list:  let’s see more!