At a glance
- Describe the user task before the feature list.
- Keep interface and service ownership explicit.
- Plan acceptance and handover alongside delivery.
Find the useful first journey
Choose a task that represents a meaningful piece of the product ambition. Understand how people complete it today, where they struggle and what information they need. The GOV.UK Service Manual offers a useful reminder to investigate needs rather than starting with a preferred solution.
Translate that understanding into a small journey with a clear beginning and end. A first release should let the team assess whether the approach helps, while making unfinished or unavailable behavior explicit.
Draw the boundaries
Identify which service owns each important record and decision. A public interface may present information from several systems without becoming the owner of their business logic. Define the contracts between those systems before connecting them.
Make error and loading states part of the journey. If an integration is unavailable, the interface should preserve the user’s understanding of what happened and which actions are still possible.
Define done for the people involved
Agree acceptance criteria for the user task and the operating handover. Include the information support teams need, the responsibilities after release and the way the team will observe whether the product remains useful.
A working platform is more than a successful build. It needs an accountable route from discovery through release to operation, with assumptions and limitations visible to the people making the next decision.
