Services
How we work with local governments.
Local government consultant services
We offer public sector consulting services for city websites and digital government services.
Strategy
- Content and communications
- Software procurement
- Technology services and support
Implementation
- Design, test, launch, and promote new websites and services
- Content audit and creation
Culture
- Team working agreements
- Guiding principles and purpose
- Change management
Training & coaching
- Content design and writing
- Product management and continuous improvement
ProudCity Partner
Department of Civic Things is a Certified ProudCity Service Partner.
Enhance your ProudCity experience with strategy, implementation, and coaching services from Department of Civic Things.
Plain language training
Plain language is writing that is clear, straightforward and concise.
It helps your readers understand and get the information they need quickly, with fewer questions and less confusion. It's easier to translate into other languages, more accessible, and performs better in search results.
We offer 2 types of plain language trainings.
Plain language 101
For anyone who writes content for your organization, including but not limited to your website.
Plain language 201
For people who regularly write or review content for your website. They should already understand plain language basics.
Approach
Foster a service-minded culture
Our work cultures take time to develop and require continuous nurturing. It takes leaders at all levels for culture to be authentic and sustained. It takes intention to achieve inclusivity, co-creation, and outcomes.
Improving services and websites should be baked into day-to-day operations. To do this effectively, your work culture should inspire care for and stewardship of services.
We help you build a digital service-minded culture.
Empower the product (service) owner
Product management empowers public servants to solve everyday problems, big or small. This people-first, build-better-services mindset results in government service experiences that are enjoyable, easy, and not things people dread having to do.
For digital services to be effective, it’s important for an employee to be both accountable and empowered to ensure the information and service delivery is working well for the people who need it.
We coach internal product owners so they are knowledgeable and confident in their ability to support the continuous improvement of websites and services over time.
Design with and for real people
Government cannot choose its customers; it needs to work for everyone. For services to work for people, they must be designed with people’s needs at the forefront and communicated so they understand what they are and how to use them.
Public servants are internal experts when it comes to information and services for their communities. They know the rules, guidance, pain points, ins and outs of the services their agency provides to the public.
We provide resources and training so you can get feedback from real users, communicate information effectively, and evolve digital services so they are easy to use and work for the people who need them.