What does service design look like inside government?
In this episode, Amy Yee talks with Shannah Segal, Experience Design Lead at the Ontario Digital Service, about the craft behind designing public services that work for people.
Shannah shares honest, grounded insights from her work across government and the private sector — from the role of user research and contextual inquiry, to the realities of navigating policy, silos, and organizational culture. Together, they explore why traditional approaches often fall short, how design teams build trust inside complex systems, and what it takes to balance innovation with accountability.
Topics include:
• Why service design is uniquely suited to the public sector
• The difference between policy consultations and true user research
• Designing for diverse populations when “everyone is the user”
• Lessons from the Verify App during the pandemic
• The human and emotional context behind public services
• Working with executives and overcoming silos
• The risks of over-valuing deliverables (and why blueprints aren’t the whole answer)
• Trauma-informed research and ethical design
• The future of service design and the skills that matter most
Whether you work in government, UX, public-sector innovation, digital transformation, or policy, this episode offers a realistic and human perspective on the practice of public service design.