Sludge Academy paves the way to better government services
No one should have to deal with sludge – frustrating frictions like difficult processes, confusing information and unexplained delays. Teams across NSW Government are learning how to apply methods like sludge audits to make their services easier and more inclusive.
The challenge
Sludge describes the unnecessary frictions that make it harder for people to do what they want to do. Sludge creates lengthy, inaccessible services that cause frustration, confusion and distrust. Sludge can also lead to inequity, often having a greater impact on people experiencing stress or disadvantage.
Public servants need tools and support to reduce sludge. The NSW Behavioural Insights Unit created the NSW Government sludge audit method to give public servants a way to identify, quantify and reduce the sludge to make their services easier and more accessible.
What we did
Each intake of Sludge Academy selects five to ten teams from across NSW Government to reflect a spread of services and to respond to the overwhelming enthusiasm from teams who want to make a difference.
The Academy runs across three to four months and includes three workshops where teams learn how to do sludge audits on their services. Examples of the types of services audited in the past include energy rebates, cancer screening appointments and teacher accreditation.
In the first two workshops, teams learn how to complete sludge audits and review case studies from past audits. In the final workshop, teams learn 12 behavioural insights techniques for designing service improvements to reduce sludge.
Between the workshops, experienced mentors who have done sludge audits before support the teams to complete their audits and plan their action.
After teams complete their audits, they review their results. The results include the time, cost and effort taken to engage with their service at each point. The teams then use this data to decide which areas to improve and start designing service improvements. Some of these service improvements include:
- making information on websites easier to find and understand
- sending text messages to remind people about their upcoming appointments
- providing a checklist to help people prepare for applications and tests.
At the end of the Academy, the teams present their audit results and plans to implement service improvements.
What we saw
In our most recent Sludge Academy, teams told us they graduated with:
- the knowledge, skills and tools to complete sludge audits
- detailed data quantifying the impact of sludge in their services
- behavioural insights techniques for designing service improvements to reduce sludge
- prototypes and plans to implement service improvements.
Throughout the program, the teams demonstrated a genuine commitment to making their services better for the people engaging with them. Their passion translated to actionable plans to implement service improvements to reduce sludge.
An example of service improvement from the most recent Sludge Academy comes from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). NESA helped applicants avoid a common error by adding a new question to their initial teacher accreditation application. By avoiding the error, applicants now save more than one day in the approval process, meaning they can start work as teachers in NSW sooner.
Here's what participants had to say about their experience in Sludge Academy:
“The Academy allowed us to gain new skills and implement it in a way that is practical and achievable.”
“[Our mentor] was calm and supportive throughout. It created opportunities and space to identify challenges in our space.”
“We’ve learnt a lot to use across other projects / processes. We’ve been well supported along the way.”
“I think one of the things that I really enjoyed was the collaborative nature of it, not just within our team, but also that there were other government [teams] going through a similar thing.”
What’s next
To learn more about sludge and sludge audits, visit the Sludge Toolkit.
If your team is interested in participating in a Sludge Academy or completing a sludge audit, email the NSW Behavioural Insights Unit at sludge@customerservice.nsw.gov.au