We work alongside teams solving their toughest problems.

Problem: What is the work we want to be doing, and how might we move from operating reactively to doing the work we want to do, strategically and with intention?

Outcome: The team (and its stakeholders) are clear and aligned on its vision and mission; these help ORESJ prioritize projects and communicate about the services it offers.

Problem: Insufficient number and political affiliation diversity of Election Judges to staff polling locations and support necessary election processes beyond election day.

Outcome: Board of Elections has requested Civic Design support BoE in identifying challenges and developing solutions to recruit, train, and retain Election Judges.

Problem: For the last two years, MCPL has been without a programming chief and went through an organizational shift. How might we bring the MCPL Strategic Plan to life and build integrated programming at the branch, region, and system levels?

Problem: Low morale among staff appears to be a significant cause of attrition, hurting services provided to riders. How might we understand and address the challenges contributing to low morale?​

Outcome: Ride On staff have ways (and power and authority) to both raise and address problems in the work environment, improving morale and retention.

Problem: As we reset from the pandemic crisis, how might we collaborate across Recreation, Libraries, and other departments to ​

1. Learn from each other regarding youth engagement
2. Co-design youth programming
3. Create structures for cross-departmental collaboration in service of shared youth constituents and their families

Problem: While customer service challenges are gaining more visibility, they are a visible symptom of underlying issues such as systemic barriers created by State and Federal government, interpersonal challenges due to employee burnout, and lack of resources and on-site infrastructural support to bridge the customer care gaps.

Outcome: Staff are in and contributing to a functional workspace where they are able to fulfill their mission of meeting customer needs. Management is actively breaking down barriers to employee success with repeatable adaptive processes.

Problem: While CIP has multiple avenues to gain input and feedback to prepare capital investment plans, the sources seem to lack community voice, authenticity, and depth. This in turn makes it challenging for MCG to create holistic plans that elevate and serve the needs of underserved and unrepresented communities. Too many feel they are not heard by their government and do not see their priorities represented in their capital projects.

Outcome: Stakeholders are able to translate ideas, concerns, and experience from identified individuals and communities into clear areas of investment for MCG. ​ Long term, we hope OMB starts tools and tactics to encourage and engage underserved communities in Montgomery County and close feedback loops

Problem: Build and bring to life a comprehensive Community Youth Agenda to advance the County Executive and communities' goals for Youth across Montgomery County.

Problem: Technology projects are often started without a clear understanding of user needs. This is a challenge for

1. MCG when large technology projects go awry and do not meet needs
2. TEBS, who is often frustrated with the quality of requests from departments they are trying to help
3. Departments, who bet big on technology without the support to enhance services to match and integrate

Problem: With rapid advances and increased access to artificial intelligence (AI) and especially large language models, employees in organizations are rapidly deploying AI. Within MCG, non-IT employees are using AI to do everything from drafting job descriptions to drafting RFPs. How might we ensure this is done ethically and with a justice-informed lens? We’re working through a human centered design process to rapidly prototype an Ethical Framework for AI Use by local governments – and doing so in partnership with users, academic and teams in other governments across the country.

Problem: About 81,000 Montgomery County homeowners need to sign up for a State tax credit, otherwise they will not receive the dollars from a County tax credit.

Outcome: We supported the Finance Department in developing and implementing a communication strategy that involved designing postcards, updating a webpage, and analyzing the effectiveness of different types of language to make future communications more effective.

Problem: Business owners want more and better support from the County.
In preparation for the new Chief Digital Officer onboarding, we wanted to build momentum and show what was possible using a human-centered Agile approach to website development. This is about demonstrating what is possible for digital interactions that meet CX Standards of the CX Initiative.

Outcome: Built a website that was a collaboration across CEX (Business Center team), TEBS, Innovation@MCG, and a number of business owners. The old website was phased out on 3/2/2023 and there have been over 3,000 visitors since. The feedback we've received from business owners on the website has been very positive.

Problem: Entering the program can be frustrating for parents and staff. MCITP wants to improve those experiences, balancing centralized standardization with localized customization for unique community needs.​

Outcome: We've hosted 2 of 6 workshops with frontline staff, each with a site that manages a geographic part of the County. The response has been overwhelmingly positive from staff. We leave each workshop with a handful of areas that staff want to improve and ideas they came up with and want to implement. ​

Problem: Identify and disseminate “bright spots” from selected teams across MCG that have been successful in hiring quality candidates in a timely manner.

Outcome: This project will be successful if HR Liaisons and Hiring Managers in departments with a large number of vacancies have access to a resource containing “snackable” information and concrete ideas for how to streamline interviewing and candidate selection.

Problem: To design the future state of more streamlined intake processes for TEBS, the Innovation Team is supporting the Change Management team to map about 19 of their existing processes in the current state to alleviate current challenges and design an effective and efficient process.

Outcome: Ensuring that TEBS has all necessary tools to envision the future state of what ServiceNow integration would look like. These tools include process mapping tools, facilitation support, and identify opportunities.

Problem: Design call centers based on the experiences and needs of the customers and frontline staff.
Support TEBS, HHS, and 311 in collaborating around common users, each lending their unique strengths.

Outcome: Upgraded phone systems based on Avaya technology that are built on the customer's journey map; features that reduce wait time, increase language access, and prioritize high-risk needs without additional technology procurement.