The Beeck Center at Georgetown University has created a digital service team tracker that aims to create more accessible pathways to digital service resources, promote greater uptake of essential programs, and foster greater trust in government.
The Beeck Center explained that government digital service teams (DSTs) help facilitate the digital transformation of essential government experiences. The proliferation of DSTs across U.S. governmental organizations over the last decade should prompt a conversation about how these teams are funded and layered into existing organizational structures, the center said.
The tracker was developed by the Beeck Center’s Digital Service Network (DSN) in collaboration with a team at the University of North Carolina. DSN was created in 2019 to bring together leaders in the government digital service ecosystem to conduct action-oriented research.
The Digital Service Team Tracker is intended to investigate the increasing number of U.S.-based government DSTs and their varied structures.
For the purpose of the tracker, the DNS is defining government DSTs as in-house teams of digital practitioners with:
- Expertise in user-centered research and design, agile product management, and data-driven decision making. DSN noted that many DST practitioners also have experience in digital government policy, change management, cybersecurity, and/or cloud-based solutions.
- A mandate to create and improve, and/or help other government actors create and improve, public-facing online government experiences.
DSN also added that while DSTs across the country are broadly similar in their missions and methodologies, DST structures and funding mechanisms can be very diverse.
The new tracker is intended to serve as a living database for users looking to understand:
- Where and at what level of government current and disbanded DSTs are/were located across the U.S.;
- How U.S.-based DSTs are/were enabled, structured, and funded; and
- Primary documentation and examples from U.S.-based DSTs.
DSN encourages DSTs to reach out to have their info included in the tracker, explaining that putting otherwise internal information about DSTs in the tracker will reduce barriers for new and emerging teams by making various approaches to structuring and funding government DSTs more available and accessible. DSN is providing a DST Tracker intake form for interested teams.
