Hi, I'm Chris Leo, the AI user-centred design lead in the AI capability and enablement team.
Before taking on this project, I kept seeing the same issue across Defra. Digital practitioners and our suppliers were struggling to find the information they needed to do their jobs.
Guidance for delivering services was scattered across multiple SharePoint sites, intranets and disconnected documents. Everyone knew the information existed somewhere but tracking it down was a frustrating experience.
We needed a single, reliable source of truth. A place where rules, standards and best practices were clearly defined. That is why we created the new Defra service manual.
A resource for all digital practitioners
The service manual is for anyone building digital services at Defra. We kept new colleagues and suppliers at the forefront of our minds when we designed it.
We wanted to make sure everyone has the right information from day one. To achieve this, the manual is laid out simply. It is written in plain English, making it easy to understand regardless of your background or experience level. Our goal is to reduce cognitive load, so teams can focus entirely on solving problems for users.
Experimenting with agentic design and engineering
To build the manual quickly, we tried a novel approach. I paired with AI developers Richard Stockley and Calum Gunn to use 'agentic design and engineering'. This helped us bring the project to life much faster than a traditional software build.
We moved beyond using AI as a simple chatbot. Instead, the AI acted as an autonomous software agent. It took high-level user needs, determined the best technical approaches, and iteratively refined the code alongside me.
It felt like a true collaboration. The AI automated the heavy lifting. It scaffolded the application, set up the routing and applied the GOV.UK styling system. This gave us a working, functional prototype almost immediately.
From there, we ran incredibly tight feedback loops. I provided the design direction based on user needs, and the AI executed the complex codebase changes in real time. We could try out new ideas, see how they looked in the browser and adjust them on the fly. The AI provided the execution speed, but human insight always provided the direction.
Keeping user-centred design in the loop
While we used AI to drastically accelerate the build speed, keeping a human in the loop for user-centred design was crucial. The technology is just a tool; it can never replace empathy.
To make sure the manual actually worked for our users, we relied on our in-house experts. Content designers Anita Shargall and Melissa Massey gave a thorough, expert critique of the manual. They worked closely with stakeholders to make sure the language was accurate, useful and met strict GOV.UK content standards.
Meanwhile, user researcher Sophie Werkshagen led our usability testing. Sophie took the service out to real users to observe exactly how they interacted with it. She found out what worked well and what needed to be improved.
This empirical research meant we could validate our decisions with evidence. It serves as a great example of how human empathy and machine execution can work together to produce better outcomes.
A massive community effort
The technical build might have been fast, but creating the actual content is the result of a massive, sustained community effort. This manual would not exist without the active involvement of our digital communities.
We spoke to subject matter experts from all corners of the department. Our heads of profession and leads in design, user research, content, accessibility and more all shared their expertise to ensure their disciplines were represented accurately.
Every section of this manual has been shaped, regularly reviewed and refined by the people who know it best. The manual truly belongs to all of us, and it reflects the collective excellence of Defra digital.
What's next?
After months of iterating, we officially launched the new Defra service manual at the end of March.
This launch is just the beginning. The service manual is a living resource. We are incredibly excited to share this version, to start getting feedback, and to watch it evolve over the coming months. We want to know exactly what our users think and how we can make it even better for their daily work.
We are also exploring more of these agentic design ideas within the reimagined AI capability and enablement team to see where else we can safely accelerate delivery. Watch out for more initiatives from us soon.
If you have ideas for new content, spot something missing or want to chat about our unique AI-assisted process, please get in touch with us or leave a comment below!
More information
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