🏁Co-Design Group planning

Establish a co-design group plan to prepare to engage representatives from underserved communities to collaborate with HHS to ensure a more accessible grant experience

Summary details

Field	Value
Deliverable status	Done
Responsible parties	Risha Lee - Designer/researcher Andy Cochran - Design Sumi Thaiveettil - Product
Link to GitHub issue	Issue #327
Key sections	Overview Summary Business value User stories Technical description Definition of done Planning Implementation Logs Change log Implementation log

Overview

Summary

• What: Define scope and establish the necessary administrative work to prepare for onboarding target underserved communities to build a Co-Design Group around the Simpler.Grants.gov initiative

• Why: Ensures that Simpler.Grants.gov HHS decision makers design with the most underserved communities in the grants ecosystem and create continuous feedback loops to ensure equitable product development. This includes framing strategic problems, roadmap development, designing solutions, and iteration.

• Who

  • The most underserved applicant individuals/groups within the grants ecosystem

  • Internal Simpler.Grants.gov stakeholders

Out of scope

• Defined plans for individual Co-Design Group activities

• We will have other forms of user research for more diverse user communities that will be handled outside of this 30k deliverable

• Onboard participants to the Co-Design Group and host a Co-Design Group session. We will onboard participants and kick-off a Co-Design Group in a future, separate deliverable

Business value

Problem

Setting up a Co-Design Group with HHS requires planning and coordination with various stakeholders. We want to set up the planning processes so that we can more smoothly transition into a future deliverable of kicking off the Co-Design Group sessions.

Setting up a Co-Design Group helps us address the following problems:

• Firstly, the current grant making system privileges certain groups above others according to access to power and resources, making grants distribution highly inaccessible to specific groups.

• Secondly, the most impacted underserved communities have not been concretely identified or involved in the Simpler.Grants.gov project, which inhibits Simpler.Grants.gov stakeholders from framing and solving specific contextual problems faced by these underserved communities in tandem with product build.

• Thirdly, there are no research protocols or process for obtaining participant consent that proactively mitigates potential participant harm.

• Finally, the product roadmap has not been designed to integrate opportunities for executing and implementing insights from user research, which would mitigate risks in user adoption and usage.

Value

By completing the administrative and planning efforts to establish the Co-Design Group, we are able to remove blockers and start the work to recruit and host Co-Design Group sessions.

By identifying and directly involving representatives of the Novice archetype, identified through previous research, along with other underserved communities in project design, Simpler.Grants.gov HHS decision makers increase the likelihood of identifying and solving the right problems, those that will increase grants access to underserved communities. Moreover, building relationships with these communities will allow internal stakeholders to identify and uplift existing community designed solutions with Simpler.Grants.gov work, thereby removing the risk of duplication of effort and increasing the chance of user adoption. To this end, value is rooted in Design Justice Principles, which centers the experiences of underserved end users throughout the entire framing, execution, and evaluation of project planning and delivery and acknowledges and extends the reach of already existing community designed solutions. By improving the experience and access for the most underserved communities, we improve the experience and access for everyone who uses the service.

Once created, the Co-Design Group will enable Simpler.Grants.gov internal stakeholders to more effectively implement best practices in user research by identifying opportunities for research ahead of time, mitigating risk, and more quickly standing up generative and evaluative studies with a pre-screened target user panel. The Co-Design Group will develop research protocols and obtain participant consent to ensure that participants are protected from harm that might arise from government stakeholders obtaining potentially sensitive data.

Goals

This effort allows us to…

• Set the foundations to bring the most impacted applicants into partnership with grants.gov internal stakeholders to frame, plan, design, and solution grants experience

• Create continuous feedback loop between community groups already working on behalf of marginalized community and allows grants.gov internal stakeholders to contribute to their existing solutions and build with (not for)

• Increase speed of participant recruitment for studies that aim to gather insights center user needs and behaviors throughout the product development lifecycle

• Improve strategy and proactive planning for future grants.gov work with Co-Design Group participants to frame problems and contribute insights that will guide roadmap development based on the real challenges users navigate in their lives

User stories

• As a HHS staff member, I want to:

  • center the voices of those who are directly impacted by the outcome of the design process so that I can ensure that our solutions lead to sustainable positive outcomes

• As a Co-Design Group administrator and project maintainer, I want:

  • a streamlined process for collaborating with Co-Design Group members so that I can ensure that there is continuous feedback loop throughout strategic planning and product development

  • to ensure that the Co-Design Group includes representatives from a range of communities facing limited access so that they can reflect diverse voices and perspectives of those impacted by the outcomes

  • a longer-term view and tactical plan for how we will leverage the Co-Design Group so I can build trust with the group, set expectations, and right-size capacity needed to run the group for a defined duration of time

  • a manageable size of participants that matches the need of the project and capacity of the team

  • ensure that participants understand how their data will be used, obtain their consent, and that I have a way of protecting and anonymizing their data

• As a grantor, I want:

  • Simpler Grants.gov to be simple, effective, and accessible and work for all communities and individuals in the grants ecosystem so that it’s easier to attract a wide range of candidates

• As an applicant and a member of the general public, I want:

  • Simpler Grants.gov to be simple, effective, and accessible and work for all communities and individuals in the grants ecosystem so that it’s easier to find and apply for grants

Definition of done

Following sections describe the conditions that must be met to consider this deliverable "done".

Must have

• General requirements

  • All new services have been submitted for a 508 compliance review (if necessary)

  • Key architectural decisions made about this deliverable are documented publicly

• Finalize the name of what we will call the participatory group and approval from HHS

• A screening and consent process has been drafted and documented for the Co-Design Group, and this draft includes:

  • How to screen applicants against an explicitly documented set of selection criteria

  • Clear guidelines and expectations for participation

  • Documentation needed for onboarding participants has been created

  • How to form a community that represents underserved communities that have been determined to have unequal access to grants

• Compensation guidance has been provided to HHS based on best practices and industry standards, so that HHS can determine a budget

• The following requirements satisfied to facilitate collaboration with members of the Co-Design Group:

  • Ethn.io has been procured and configured

  • HHS security team has approved Simpler.Grants.gov to collect and store Personally Identifying Information (PII) in our systems

• Project maintainers and Co-Design Group facilitators have identified opportunities in the product roadmap where the Co-Design Group will be leveraged in decision making by HHS

Nice to have

• HHS approval of the compensation budget received

• Information and resources for the Co-Design Group are available in a central location, and this knowledge base:

  • Is built on top of one of our existing communication tools, e.g. wiki page or Google Drive

  • Should be accessible by members of the Co-Design Group at no cost to them

  • Can be accessed by (a subset of) members of the Simpler.Grants.gov team

• A centralized communication channel is selected for Co-Design Group collaboration, and this channel:

  • Is built on top of one of our existing communication tools, e.g. wiki page or Google Drive

  • Should be accessible by members of the Co-Design Group at no cost to them

  • Can be accessed by (a subset of) members of the Simpler.Grants.gov team

• A proposal for including agency and other diverse actors in continuous feedback loops that enable anyone to give feedback on grants.gov has been documented, and this proposal:

  • Answers a series of open questions about how we involve agency partners and others in a robust way throughout the project

  • Identifies potential changes that need to be made to the screening and consent process for agency representatives

Planning

Assumptions and dependencies

What functionality do we expect to be in place before work starts on this deliverable?

• Method/platform for holding and protecting participant PII, Ethn.io, will need to be procured

Is there any notable functionality we do not expect to be in place before works starts on this deliverable?

• Translations

Not in scope

List of functionality or features that are explicitly out of scope for this deliverable.

• Defined plans for individual Co-Design Group activities

• This effort will not include more than one Co-Design Group engagement schedule beyond applicants

• Onboarding participants to the Co-Design Group

• Conduct sessions with participants for the Co-Design Group

Open questions

What are the PRA requirements?

We can fast track specific approvals under the overall existing generic clearance. Fast tracks usually take 3-5 days. Felix Lorenzo at HHS owns this process.

Will we provide translations for people for whom English is not their first language?

It is likely that people whose first language is not English are more disadvantaged than other communities. We may be limited in our ability to provide real-time translations in this initial initiative, but we should plan how we can engage those communities. We should be able to provide text materials in other languages but real-time translations may be difficult.

We could potentially focus on a demographic segment where users who are fluent in English but not their first language attend sessions that help us get some input into this underserved population

Would we need a 508-compliance review of any materials (PDFs, slide decks, etc.) we're preparing for the Co-Design Group?

No 508 compliance review is required during planning. We'll be using standard, tested, accessible tools (email, Ethnio, etc.). We will evaluate subsequent materials and deliverables as needed during kickoff and ongoing operations.

Implementation

Translations

Does this deliverable involve delivering any content that needs translation?

• No, as we will not be onboarding participants in this deliverable, we will not know what translations will be needed by participants.

If so, when will English-language content be locked? Then when will translation be started and completed?

• n/a

Services going into PROD for the first time

This can include services going into PROD behind a feature flag that is not turned on.

• The tools for procurement and dispersing compensation will be a new tools utilized on the project

Services being integrated in PROD for the first time

Are there multiple services that are being connected for the first time in PROD?

• The tool for procurement and dispersing compensation and managing recruitment

Data being shared publicly for the first time

Are there any fields being shared publicly that have never been shared in PROD before?

• n/a

Security considerations

Does this deliverable expose any new attack vectors or expand the attack surface of the product?

• The recruitment and participant management tool will store PII data and we may need to have security approval to use the tool.

If so, how are we addressing these risks?

• We will check with MH and HHS security to ensure that we have permissions to use the tool selected

Logs

Change log

Major updates to the content of this page will be added here.

Date	Update	Notes
4/5/2024	Added change log and implementation log	This is part of the April onsite follow-up
4/15/2024	Updates name of deliverable to "Co-Design Group"
4/19/2024	Updated the deliverable spec to change scope to exclude onboarding activities as they are blocked by compensation	Deliverable spec title name changed (added "planning" to the name) Deliverable spec short description updated What section is updated Out of scope section Goals section updated Technical description removed DoD updated in must-haves and nice-to-haves to remove onboarding language Proposed metrics removed Planning section - solution agnostic language updates, questions updated because of descope of onboarding
5/2/2024	Moved deliverable status to "Done"	30k was identified as completed at our weekly 30k review meeting.

Implementation log

Use this section to indicate when acceptance criteria in the "Definition of done" section have been completed, and provide notes on steps taken to satisfy this criteria when appropriate.

Date	Criteria completed	Notes
April 8, 2024	Finalize the name of what we will call the participatory group and approval from HHS	New name: Co-Design Group approved by Lucas Brown — https://github.com/HHS/simpler-grants-gov/issues/1420#issuecomment-2043576623
April 12, 2024	Ethn.io has been procured and configured	Ethnio procurement plan updated, separating concerns of participant management and incentives disbursement; Nava using their own limited access licenses — https://github.com/HHS/simpler-grants-gov/issues/891#issuecomment-2052520494
March 18, 2024	Project maintainers and co-design group facilitators have identified opportunities in the product roadmap where the Co-Design Group will be leveraged in decision making by HHS	Investigate roadmap for opportunities for user research — https://github.com/HHS/simpler-grants-gov/issues/1338
April 25, 2024	HHS security team has approved Simpler.Grants.gov to collect and store Personally Identifying Information (PII) in our systems	SIA is not required for Ethn.io - https://github.com/HHS/simpler-grants-gov/issues/1508
April 25, 2024	Compensation guidance has been provided to HHS based on best practices and industry standards, so that HHS can determine a budget	Guidance has been sent to HHS. There has been a memo sent for approval of the compensation budget
April 26, 2024	Key architectural decisions made about this deliverable are documented publicly	Not applicable, no ADRs were or will be created. The Ethn.io ADR does inform this decision but was decided under the Search UI deliverable
April 30, 2024	…508 compliance…	n/a (We're using standard/tested tools, email etc. No 508 compliance required)
April 30, 2024	How to screen applicants against an explicitly documented set of selection criteria	"Intake form" (screener) written and sent thru approval process. Criteria defiend by SME interviews; they have made recommendations for representation of underserved communities.
April 30, 2024	Clear guidelines and expectations for participation Documentation needed for onboarding participants has been created	"Statement of expectations", "Intake Script", "Invitation email", and "Participation Agreement Form" written and sent thru approval process. These will define expectations for participants.
April 30, 2024	How to form a community that represents underserved communities that have been determined to have unequal access to grants	SME interviews determined representative participant candidates (verbatim notes from each meeting), contacts gathered from interviews (recorded in spreadsheet) Info sharing w/ team on radical participatory design & user research (via Slack)
April 30, 2024	A proposal for including agency and other diverse actors in continuous feedback loops that enable anyone to give feedback on grants.gov has been documented, and this proposal: Answers a series of open questions about how we involve agency partners and others in a robust way throughout the project	"Community feedback strategy" written and shared with team, documented in internal wiki: https://app.gitbook.com/o/cFcvhi6d0nlLyH2VzVgn/s/v1V0jIH7mb7Yb3jlNrgk/about-us/community-feedback-strategy