{"id":18713,"date":"2023-02-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techforgood.cymru\/resource\/good-services-scale\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T08:14:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T07:14:07","slug":"good-services-scale","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/promo.cymru\/cy\/resource-articles\/good-services-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use the Good Services Scale to measure your service’s user-centredness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s intro: Last month we shared seven insights from GOV.UK\u2019s former Design Director, Lou Downe. Today we are publishing in full their introduction to the Good Services Scale. This is relevant for charities because it\u2019s the first attempt we\u2019ve seen to create a scale based on what users need from a service, rather than what organisations think it should do.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lou\u2019s scale could be applied to any type of service, but we think it works best for digital services, or services that involve a lot of digital interaction. <\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Lou\u2019s post introducing the scale.<\/em><\/p>\n

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I made a scale to measure the quality of services<\/a> using the 15 principles of Good Service design. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

When I wrote Good Services<\/a> I made a pledge \u2013 to write something useful, and above all simple.<\/p>\n

I deliberately didn\u2019t include any kind of matrix, \u2018canvas\u2019 or score into the book because hell is other people\u2019s diagrams, and I wanted to see how people would make use of the 15 Principles of Good Service Design<\/a> before making it into any kind of \u2018thing\u2019 from it.<\/p>\n

The book is now on its 3rd reprint and people are using the principles in all sorts of incredible ways \u2013 as a self assessment tool, user research discussion guide and even a way of prioritising change across an organisation. <\/p>\n

There are many, *many* methods of measuring service quality out there \u2013 from NPS to SERVQUAL \u2013  but the problem most of them face is that they are either too complex to have an impact (and what\u2019s the point of measuring something if you\u2019re not going to do anything about it?!) or they measure entirely the wrong thing; at best not telling us what we need to know, and at worst incentivising behaviours that make our services worse.<\/p>\n

What gets measured gets done<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve seen so many organisations head over a cliff chasing NPS ratings with gimmick after gimmick, ignoring the lack of accessibility in their service or the basic sign up processes riddled with dead ends.<\/p>\n

If you measure recommendations you\u2019ll do absolutely anything to get them. Measure cost and you\u2019ll do anything to make your service cheaper. But measure whether your service is good for users? Then, maybe we stand a chance of motivating ourselves towards a better service.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I decided to make a Good Services Scale.<\/p>\n

The Good Services Scale<\/a> won\u2019t give you a pat on the back for being the best, or \u2018achieving excellence\u2019 \u2013 only your users can tell you that.<\/p>\n

In fact, the top of the scale is the bare minimum you can do to enable your users to achieve what they set out to do: using a functional service. <\/p>\n

The Good Services Scale<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s no complex 5 circled-spider-web to negotiate \u00a31000s to pay in order to learn how to use it. It\u2019s just a spreadsheet that helps you score your service on a scale from 0-4 for each of the 15 principles of good service design.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s available for free as a google sheet, spreadsheet, printable PDF (we\u2019ll be heading back into offices sometime right?!) and a Miro template.<\/a><\/p>\n

Use it to<\/p>\n