Weeknotes from our housing repairs alpha work

1.
Housing repairs alpha week notes - 17 January
We’re working on an alpha project with Greenwich, Southwark, Lincoln and South Kesteven councils
exploring approaches for the design of a common pattern for reporting, diagnosing and scheduling of
housing repairs. The project is part of MHCLG’s local digital collaboration fund.
We send out week notes to update the team and stakeholders on the progress of the project. The week
notes will highlight the key things we’re working on, acknowledge achievements and show progress.
They will also outline any blockers, and what we’re planning to work on next.
Our first show and tell will be on Monday 20th Jan at 2:30 in Southwark Council. We’ll make a recording
available shortly afterwards.
Along with our show and tells, this is the main way you will find out about the project so please read on.
Get in touch with Alex with any questions or feedback.
What are we thinking about?
This week we built the first iteration of a prototype and tested it with residents. The testing sessions
give us incredibly valuable feedback for where to focus design on the next iteration.
Because this project is for a ​common service pattern ​(rather than a transactional service for a single
organisation), we’re thinking about what this service pattern should actually look like, and if it is a viable
solution, how it could work for as many organisations as possible. You can read more about service
patterns and see some examples ​here​.
It’s essential that we understand and test what works for the local authorities and not just the residents.
Our original plan was to concentrate our three sprints on three iterations of a prototype, tested with
residents. We’re now looking at how to incorporate more co-design with council staff and contractors to
validate the viability of the pattern.
t:​ 0345 257 7520 e:​ ​contact@dxw.com w:​ dxw.com a:​ Unit B7, 8-9 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NU
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2.
What have we done in the last week?
● We analysed the outputs from our workshops in each of the four authorities
● The outputs from these workshops, the information we’ve learned from the discovery, and
our knowledge of existing housing repairs services meant we could rapidly build an initial
prototype for testing with residents
● On Thursday, we ran testing sessions with residents, using their feedback to gain insights into
how to iterate and where to focus design efforts.
t:​ 0345 257 7520 e:​ ​contact@dxw.com w:​ dxw.com a:​ Unit B7, 8-9 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NU
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3.
What are we planning to do next?
● We’ll be holding our first show and tell on Monday
● Our second sprint starts on Tuesday, we’ll prioritise the items in our backlog and emerging
ideas for the following two weeks.
● We’ll design and build a second iteration of the prototype for testing.
● We’ll design the framework for what our alpha common service pattern will look like
● Technical discovery starts in the following week, so we’ll be making sure we’ve identified the
right questions and council officers in advance
Who is on the dxw team?
● Daria Kwiatkowska (service designer)
● Debs Durojaiye (interaction designer)
● Vita Mangan (user researcher)
● Alex Yedigaroff (transformation manager)
t:​ 0345 257 7520 e:​ ​contact@dxw.com w:​ dxw.com a:​ Unit B7, 8-9 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NU
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