I had the opportunity to work with GDS on a project. These folks have a startup mentality and are the polar opposite of what one imagines a governmental office to be.
One thing that will always stick with me is one of the team leads telling me "we don't have customers, we have users" -- i.e. in the UK everyone has use Gov.uk for government-related digital information/tools/services. There's no competitor, therefore no customer choice. And they are well aware of this, hence their obsessions for the UX.
I really wish other governmental digital agencies had this same mindset.
One thing that will always stick with me is one of the team leads telling me "we don't have customers, we have users" -- i.e. in the UK everyone has use Gov.uk for government-related digital information/tools/services. There's no competitor, therefore no customer choice. And they are well aware of this, hence their obsessions for the UX.
I really wish other governmental digital agencies had this same mindset.