Last winter and spring I was thinking about ways to broaden our team's UX offerings. We're always looking for ways to grow and improve how we support our department clients. It was important we find a way to make the UX piece more accessible for the teams we work with.
As luck would have it, one of my QSLs for service design was about to expire, so I decided to repurpose it. I added more UX specialist services to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ). And I did this in a way so agencies could respond to offer one, or many services.
This procurement has wrapped and it was a success! We've established the QSL for UX specialist services with 16 qualifying agencies. These agencies can now offer the government one or more of the these UX services. You can see an alphabetical list of these agencies at the end of this post.
User research
Teams can now hire an agency to do this work during a project in the works or to support live digital services.
Discovery workshops, requirements elicitation and analysis
Project teams can now work with an agency to get their project moving right away. Agencies can also provide other types of UX workshops.
Wireframing and prototyping
This work could be part of the Discovery workshop or a separate piece of work you do in Discovery or Alpha.
Service design and designing digital services
There are some elements of service design in our Discovery workshops. We touch on both business and user needs, but at this point - stakeholders represent the business. This allows us to get a deep understanding of how things work in the current state. For example, business processes, policies and other requirements.
When we talk about designing digital services, the focus shifts to the end users. These are the people who will use the service. This is where we capture their current state so we can design a service that meets their needs.
Solutions design and knowledge of common platform components
This role can be helpful for teams working to solve complex problems. These specialists also understand the government has common platform components. They have experience working within this type of framework.
Service maturity assessments and eServices reviews
Agencies on this list can audit or assess existing digital services and websites. They will identify issues and solutions and help you focus on what to work on first.
Building and updating online design systems
We'll be using an agency on this list to help us update the Yukon.ca Design System. If your team has a brand exception, you could also use this list to create a new design system for your service.
Creating online design patterns
This is another service our team will be using as we update the government’s online design patterns.
How to work with a UX specialist on this QSL
Anyone in the government can use this QSL if the work fits in the scope for the service being offered.
- Email eservices@yukon.ca and describe your project and how you’d like to use an agency on the list. You can make the subject line "Forward to UX manager" so it gets to me as quickly as possible.
- I’ll let you know which agencies qualified for each service and provide you with any other details you need to engage and set up a contract for the work.
Agencies on this QSL
- 3Pillar Canada
- Aeternum Consulting
- Affinity Bridge
- Appson Time Tech
- CGI
- Code4Canada
- Evolving Web
- J5 Design Studio
- Jumping Elephants
- Outwitly
- OXD Consulting
- Price Waterhouse Cooper
- What We Make It
- Yellow Pencil
- Yooza
- YUJ Designs