When Your Customer is Everyone: Lessons from Building Technology for Public Good

What if we could build an organisation that operated like a modern technology company, but worked on public sector problems?  

Around the world, governments are grappling with building ‘tech-forward’ public sector organisations to keep pace with an increasing clock speed of technological change. While it is tempting to think that technology can “fix government” the same way that it has transformed industries fundamentally, the reality is government functions very differently by design, and cannot choose its customers: it must serve everyone. Against this backdrop, how can technology teams achieve product-market fit, as well as marshal resources, human capital, and rethink communications to deliver tangible impact?  

This talk will explore how it is possible to create teams that focus on real problems faced by real people by going beyond theoretical requirements to test solutions that deliver value in practice. It will challenge us to imagine what a team or organisation can look like if all our decisions are based on how we can best improve the lives of the people we serve. Finally, it will explore how, with thoughtful design of teams and structures, building a truly technology enabled government could be well within reach.