Service design identifies what processes, people, and tools are needed to reach the desired state of customer experience. Rooted in a deep understanding of the user, service design practices take a holistic approach by understanding and synchronizing the employee experience and the customer experience. Service design is a growing skill set within government shaping the way people interact with the government and bolstering all aspects needed to support those experiences.
We create safe and experimental spaces for service designers to learn, network, and evolve. This is a free community open to any public sector service designers that are curious and want to grow. In addition to supporting government service designers, we present and share many different methodologies, including Liberating Structures, Game Storming, Participatory Design, Behavioral Design, Equity-centered Design, Design Futures, Inclusive Design, Systemic Design, and much more.
The Service Design in Government group brings together practitioners to learn and share as a community of practice. This group will bring together all levels of service design talent from federal, state, county, and municipal governments.
Description: For over a decade, civic tech cemented itself as a field of practice -- aiming to make accessible, human-centered, and efficient government public service delivery a reality. 2025 ignited huge changes in capacity across the federal government, effectively dismantling new and established digital service teams working in the public interest. Despite these changes at the federal level, so much of the field is eager to continue the work ahead. With the advent of AI and shifting political winds, what does it mean for civic technologists to collaboratively define the future that we're advocating and envisioning in 2029? The intention of this discussion is to open space for dialogue and reflection, aligning with a myriad of already ongoing oral histories aiming to understand what we learned and where US civic technologists are going. Some complementary readings that attendees may benefit from reviewing prior or following the discussion include the following:
Bio: Chizo is a people-centered technologist and passionate about making government work better for people. Her previous work explored different angles of digital transformation and workforce capacity including but not limited to her time with CMS and Cloud.gov. She thrives when sitting at the intersection of operations, delivery, and facilitation. Currently, she's serving on the Board of Technologists for Public Good. When she's not nerding out, she loves writing and solving 1000-piece puzzles.
We meet twice a month--one time for a speaker/training and one small group discussion as part of the Lab Series. Each month The Lab Series provides a space for an inclusive community of service designers to openly ideate, troubleshoot, and experiment with old and new activities and methods. Check out our upcoming meetings below.
January 28 [Lab]: Intentional Gathering with Susanne Wiggins
February 11 [LAB] Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight into US Civic Tech Futures (a Collaborative Discussion) with Chizo Nwagwu
February 25 [SPEAKER]
March 11 [LAB] Atlanta Government with Mariama Ndiaye
Mark 25 [SPEAKER] Germany Digital Service with Anja Alburg and Sonja Wilczek
April 15 [LAB]
April 29 [SPEAKER] Bring Clarity to Complex Services (Without Service Mapping) with Ayesha Moarif
May 13 [LAB]
May 27 [TALK]
June 10 [LAB]
June 24 [TALK]
July 15 [LAB]
July 29 [TALK]
August 12 [LAB]
August 26 [TALK]
September 16 [LAB]
September 30 [TALK]
October 7 [LAB]
October 21 [TALK]
November 4 [LAB]
November 18 [TALK]
December 2 [LAB]
December 16 [TALK]
Check out our speakers page to view a full list of past speakers/facilitators from 2021-2025.