Warning: politics ahead. You’re welcome to stop reading now. Living in Canada, I’m more of an observer than a participant in the current American contest. I have four siblings living in the US, I’m a US citizen, and if I were to describe my politics, I’d say antipartisan (or maybe jaded). The bickering on both sides, Democrat and Republican, is  wasteful and shortchanges the country. Obama has been the first national leader in my generation who looks to transcend polarized politics. Like most of my northern neighbors, I hope we see a real change in Washington, with a bipartisan Obama administration instead of four more years of failed policies and misguided good intentions. 

I finished Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope  Sunday. As the 2008 US election unfolds today, there is a deep-seated need for change - not just abstract rhetoric in stump speeches, but the real day-to-day delivery of programs and services to American citizens, no matter which candidate wins. I think Obama is better prepared to deliver that change, with policy positions that bridge partisan viewpoints and transcend outdated articles of faith like trickle-down economics.

Reading Audacity I was struck by the sheer range of Obama’s interests. These positions have clarified over the 21 months since Obama declared his candidacy for President. Particularly for an Obama Administration there is a radical reconception of public policy and service delivery. The US government doesn’t have the money to launch significant new programs, thanks to demands from Iraq and the financial crisis. But a Democratic White House, Congress, and Senate will be working to set the foundation for a different kind of government service delivery.

Obama touches on multiple issues in Audacity of Hope and on the campaign trail. He’s got big hopes and dreams for things like

• implementing deeper pay-for-performance for teachers and school funding
• investing in post-secondary education, technology, and R&D for innovation
• reforming healthcare delivery, particularly through reliance on electronic medical records
• investing in alternative fuels and energy infrastructure (though I far prefer Better Place  to subsidized E85 )
• here’s the rest of Obama’s policy positions  from his website

I’m  concerned that these positions will remain just hopes and dreams, or even worse, get implemented poorly and set up a backlash against further progressive action. And that’s why Obama needs Design. And not just clever posters, or better technology, or slick promotions. Obama’s web efforts have been solid, but encouraging donations isn’t the same class of problems as dealing with Baby Boomers pressuring  Social Security and the healthcare system. To be successful, these new programs will need to look across channels at the whole experience. That’s where Design can make a real difference, particularly the emerging practice of Service Design.

Service Design applies design methods and thinking to service delivery, and uses principles of observation, prototyping, iteration, and human-centered evaluation to minimize risk for new service delivery.

Hillary Cottam is doing great work in the UK  with her firm Participle. Unfortunately, the US doesn’t have the same kind of comprehensive service design practice yet, despite the efforts of frog, IDEO, Jump, and Adaptive Path. But that’s the kind of work that an Obama administration needs to undertake, beyond the usual policy creation and design rooted in government bureaucracy.

Here’s five principles for the new administration (Democrat or Republican) to consider. They should be familiar to regular bplusd readers.

1. There are no silver bullets. Design is simply another tool that helps you do a better job, with better results and lower risk.
2. Use better methods for deep citizen insight. Methods like participatory codesign research, ethnography, and conversation analytics provide far better insights than traditional focus groups, surveys, and polls beloved of market research and politicians alike.
3. Create tangible futures  that minimize your risk by allowing you to quickly experiment with multiple possibilities at low cost. That includes things like scenarios, prototypes, sketches, and artifacts from the future. Then iterate. 
4. Map the system as a whole. Too often, public service offerings are siloed (e.g. one education unit handles textbooks, another online instruction, and a third curriculum design, while actual classrooms are administered at the local level). While an administration can’t (and shouldn’t) arbitrarily shift jurisdictional responsibility, the process needs to cut across those bureaucratic boundaries.
5. Finally, create meaningful, measurable human-centered outcomes by looking at people’s goals; their hopes, needs, dreams and desires need to guide the measures in place instead of creating false incentives (like No Child Left Behind, which encourages teaching to the test). Insight needs to drive metrics that matter.

Too often governments pay lip service to being citizen-centered. Obama has the potential to change that if he wins. The full potential of a citizen-centered administration will come from many people working together, across party lines, and across disciplines. I hope Obama wins. I hope Design is at the table.