What astronauts can teach us about service transformation

Space Tools, Earthly Impact

Happy Tuesday, Transformation Friends. Another week, another opportunity to go Beyond the Status Quo.

Today, we're about to journey into space – not in a spaceship, but through an innovative tool developed by NASA. It's called the NASA Task Load Index (NASA TLX), initially designed to assess astronauts' mental workload. But hang on, what has this got to do with public services on Earth? Quite a lot, as we're about to discover.

By leveraging NASA TLX's principles, we can bring greater clarity and efficiency to public services. Intrigued? Stick with me as we venture beyond the stars and back to Earth, taking a new perspective on public sector transformation.

So, grab a cup of coffee and get ready for take-off.

The NASA Task Load Index Explained

Now that we've strapped in, let's set our sights on the NASA TLX. First introduced in 1988, it's an evaluation tool that provides a multidimensional rating procedure for estimating workload. The idea is that any task we undertake carries a certain load, distributed across six areas:

1. Mental Demand: assesses the mental and perceptual activity level required for a task. Think about activities requiring focus, decision-making, calculations, and memory.

2. Physical Demand: This measure looks at the amount of physical activity a task demands. This could be anything from pushing or pulling, to more nuanced controls required.

3. Temporal Demand: This refers to the pressure felt due to the rate or speed at which a task must be performed.

4. Performance: This scale evaluates how successful an individual feels they are in accomplishing the task's goal.

5. Effort: This assesses how much work an individual feels they must exert to achieve a certain level of performance.

6. Frustration: This scale measures the extent to which a task is irritating, stressful, or annoying.

Creating and using the NASA TLX involves two main steps. Firstly, participants are asked to provide a subjective ranking of the six factors, deciding which ones are more critical to the task at hand. This helps to highlight the areas of greatest concern for a specific task. Following this, participants then complete the task and rate each factor on a scale from 0 (very low) to 100 (very high). This provides an overall workload score that gives an indication of the difficulty and stress involved in the task.

This methodology allows for the TLX to be tailored to the specific demands of any task. This means it can be applied in diverse settings—from assessing workload in aviation cockpits, exploring the demands of a new software tool, and understanding how people interact with an entire service process.

Think about it when you're cooking a new recipe. The mental demand is understanding the steps, the physical demand might be chopping onions (hopefully without tears), the temporal demand is making sure everything is cooked at the right time, and effort is the overall exertion required. Frustration could rise if things don't go as planned, and performance... well, that's about how delectable your dish turns out!

In the context of public services, these workload elements can help us understand the demands placed on service users, whether it's navigating a government website or understanding policy changes. By recognizing the role of these different factors, we can identify the pain points and look at ways to reduce the 'workload' for those using our services. The holistic view of user experience presented by the NASA TLX offers us a unique perspective on the ongoing mission of public sector transformation.

Applying NASA TLX to Public Sector Transformation

When we talk about service and UX metrics, we often focus on things like efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. But if we take a step back and look at it from the NASA TLX perspective, we open up a new way of thinking about public services.

Let's look at the six dimensions of the NASA TLX to understand how they might apply in this context:

1. Mental Demand: Public sector services should strive to minimize the cognitive effort required by citizens. This can be achieved by using clear and simple language, intuitive interfaces, and providing assistance when needed. For instance, when we design a website for tax filing, we should ensure that the instructions are easy to understand, reducing the cognitive effort required.

2. Physical Demand: While public services are increasingly being digitized, the physical effort involved in some services shouldn't be overlooked. For example, consider a citizen visiting multiple offices to complete a process. We could reduce this physical demand by offering online options or centralizing services.

3. Temporal Demand: Time is a valuable resource. Services that respect the citizens' time - through efficient processes, minimal waiting times, and timely service delivery - demonstrate an understanding of this aspect of task load. For instance, a well-designed appointment booking system can help manage temporal demand effectively.

4. Performance: Here, it's about the citizens' satisfaction with their interaction with the service. Designing for success is essential—ensuring citizens can complete tasks effectively and feel satisfied with the outcomes. Regular feedback and evaluation can help to keep this in check.

5. Effort: Public services should aim to reduce the overall effort (both mental and physical) required to access and use a service. Simplified procedures, clear instructions, and easy-to-use interfaces can all contribute to reducing the perceived effort.

6. Frustration: An excellent public service reduces frustration - whether that's by reducing waiting times, providing accurate and timely information, or simply making a service easy to use. Addressing sources of frustration should be a key consideration in service design and delivery.

Now imagine if we applied these principles to areas like healthcare, taxation, voter registration, public transportation, and education. We could transform these services, making them more intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly. The NASA TLX invites us to take a different view of the user experience, allowing us to design public services that meet functional needs and create a positive experience for the user.

Wrap-up

Time to bring our spaceship back to Earth. I hope the principles of the NASA TLX have given you a different perspective, one that you can use in your quest for public sector transformation.

Let's reflect on these questions together:

1. How can the NASA TLX principles be integrated into the public services you engage with?

2. Where do you see the potential for the most significant workload reduction in the services you use?

3. What transformative changes can a holistic, user-centred approach bring to public services?

Thanks for reading. I’ll see you Beyond the Status Quo.

References

Hart, S. G., & Staveland, L. E. (1988). Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research. In Advances in psychology (Vol. 52, pp. 139-183). North-Holland.