User centricity is about having services and policies that are designed to solve user needs, with users considered at every stage of the process so that they will say “I would do that again”.
It is about building great interfaces and having patterns that make it easy to navigate and discover information.
Public services are delivered for the benefit of citizens. Modern public services should respond to clearly identified needs.
Understanding that the needs of users must be researched and gathered from users themselves. Government must not assume it knows what users really need.
Users and their needs must be considered at every stage of a project, not just at the beginning and the end.
The user should always be at the centre of a project team’s thinking. Users shouldn’t just be considered when generating ideas and launching a product or service – but throughout the design and development of products and services
People don’t always behave in the way we expect. Using human centred design principles and behavioural science can result in better policy and services.
Understanding that by designing policy and public services around how human beings think and interact will make it easier for them to use a product or service and thus for government achieve desired policy outcomes
Working with “real” users ensures that project teams can better understand user needs and their situation.
Like a game of “Chinese whispers” every time someone other than a user explains or passes on information about a users need a bit of that information is missed out. The user is always the best source.