Foundations for Success

Understand the team, organizational, and delivery foundations that help digital service teams create meaningful results and build lasting capacity

What Helps Teams Succeed

Successful digital service teams need a clear purpose, defined ownership, the right capabilities, effective ways of working, and organizational support. Together, these foundations shape your organization’s digital maturity by strengthening both how the team is established and how consistently it can deliver effective services.

You do not need to have everything in place before you begin. Focus on what your team needs now, then strengthen these areas as it learns and grows.

Set a clear direction

A shared direction helps the team focus its efforts and make consistent decisions.

Start with a clear, manageable scope

Define the initial problem or service the team will focus on, why it matters, and what outcome you want to achieve. Choose a scope that reflects the team’s authority, capacity, and available resources.

What this looks like:

• The team can clearly explain the problem it is addressing

• The work focuses on a defined service or user need

• Success is expressed as an outcome, not simply the launch of a tool

• The initial scope is small enough to deliver and learn from

A focused scope helps the team make decisions, demonstrate value early, and build momentum for future growth.

Establish clear ownership & authority

Clarify who is accountable for the team and its work. Define responsibilities across program, product, and technical areas, including who can make decisions, resolve disagreements, and remove barriers.

What this looks like:

• One person or team is accountable for the work

• Owners are identified for product, program, and technical decisions

• Decision-making and escalation paths are clear

• Ownership continues after an individual service launches

Clear ownership reduces delays, strengthens accountability, and prevents the work from becoming dependent on informal relationships.

Center the team's work on user and service needs

Shape the team’s priorities around the needs of the people who use, deliver, and operate government services. Program staff, service owners, and users should help identify the problems the team takes on and inform its approach.

What this looks like:

• Team priorities reflect user and service needs

• Users, program staff, and service owners help shape decisions

• Technical work supports intended user and service outcomes

• Policies, processes, and operational constraints are considered

• The team defines the problem before selecting a solution

Technology can enable better services, but it cannot resolve unclear processes, responsibilities, or service needs on its own.

Build for effective delivery

Build a cross-functional team

Bring together the capabilities needed to understand the problem, design an effective response, deliver it, and support it over time. Individuals may cover multiple responsibilities, especially on smaller teams.

Review Key Roles in a Digital Service Team for more guidance on the roles and capabilities your team may need.

What this looks like:

• Product, design, research, engineering, and subject matter expertise are represented

• Responsibilities are defined even when people cover multiple roles

• Program and operational staff participate throughout the work

• The team engages legal, procurement, communications, accessibility, and other partners when their expertise or approval is needed

Cross-functional teams reduce handoffs and allow different perspectives to shape the work from the beginning.

Work in a user-centered and iterative way

Engage residents, staff, businesses, or other users throughout the work. Test assumptions early, release manageable improvements, and use feedback to guide what happens next.

What this looks like:

• Users are involved before major decisions are made

• Ideas are tested before the team invests heavily in them

• The team releases small, usable improvements instead of waiting for a complete solution

• User feedback and performance data inform ongoing improvements

This approach reduces the risk of building the wrong solution and helps the team improve its delivery practices as it learns.

Support long-term success

Secure leadership support and resources

Identify leaders who can champion the team, reinforce its purpose, and remove organizational barriers. Confirm that the team has realistic access to the funding, staffing, tools, and operational support needed for its initial scope.

What this looks like:

• An executive sponsor actively supports the team

• Leaders communicate consistent expectations about its purpose and priorities

• Funding and staffing reflect the expected scope

• The team has a clear path for approvals and escalation

Leadership support is most effective when it comes with the authority and resources needed to act.

Plan for the full service lifecycle

Connect discovery, design, development, implementation, and ongoing operations. Consider rollout, communications, training, support, maintenance, and continued improvement from the beginning, even if every detail has not yet been determined.

What this looks like:

• Operational teams are involved before launch

• Training, communications, accessibility, and support are considered early

• Long-term maintenance and service ownership are assigned

• The team reviews user and operational outcomes to prioritize improvements

• Vendor work includes documentation, knowledge transfer, and continued internal ownership

Planning across the service lifecycle helps the team maintain what it delivers and improve services over time.

Strengthen the foundations over time

You may already have some of these foundations in place, while others will develop as your team gains experience and demonstrates value. Focus first on what the team needs to deliver effectively now, then strengthen its practices, support, and capacity as its work and maturity grow.