News

Dec 5, 2025 | SDC staff

Fulfilling a lifelong dream, the SDC team learned how to drive a Zamboni machine as part of our annual staff retreat. We learned the multi-step process for resurfacing and conditioning an ice rink, or “zamming,” and each of us got hands-on time behind the wheel.

Thanks to the Loudoun Ice Centre in Sterling, Virginia for hosting us at their Zamboni Driving Experience!

• Events

Nov 12, 2025 | SDC staff

We participated in a unique discussion, put on by our friends at Workshop and the New Practice Lab, that focused on people-centered policymaking and designing public policy that works.

The event brought together activists, labor organizers, civil servants, and policy makers to discuss the goals and behaviors driving policy and explore the benefits of human-centered design in shaping better outcomes.

• Events

Nov 10, 2025 | SDC staff

Eddie gave a lecture for the first cohort of Congressional Tech & Policy Fellows. The fellowship aims to equip Congressional staff with an understanding of how policy is implemented by the executive branch. This was the second in a series of six events and explored how to articulate specific policy goals while leaving flexibility for implementation.

The lecture was followed by a fireside chat with our colleagues Tara McGuiness (Executive Director, New Practice Lab) and Lauren Lombardo (Policy Director, Re:Coding America Fund), moderated by Emily Tavoulareas (Georgetown University).

• Events
• Speaking

Oct 9, 2025 | SDC staff

Our life is filled with forms. We interact with them across almost all aspects of our lives, from simple things like ordering takeout, to complex, critical tasks like tax filing.

Considered and well-crafted forms can make for a more convenient experience across all these sorts of tasks, as well as help the teams or organizations deploying these forms to more efficiently operate. If a form doesn’t work well, asks unnecessary questions, or creates a confusing process, it can block people from getting what they need and place blockers on service delivery. What may seem like trivial issues with forms can result in people missing important deadlines, falling into financial hardship, or preventing them from receiving life-saving benefits.

Our training series focuses on how to build better forms and truly digitize benefits and service delivery. This series is comprehensive and covers organizational, policy, and service-delivery issues, in addition to more specific topics like content writing, choosing the right input types, and making forms easier to use for a wider variety of people.

Do you want to know more about improving your forms? Contact us at forms.project@servicedesigncollective.com to learn about customized forms training for you and your team.

• Forms
• Service design
• Design operations

Sep 23, 2025 | SDC staff

Kat and Eddie each sat down with Charlie Hamer from the Public Sector Network to discuss the need to focus on the fundamentals of civic technology.

AI and advanced technologies won’t provide real value to public services unless they are built on a responsible foundation. We discussed how to earn public trust by solving real problems for both the public and public servants, rather than reacting to the news cycle.

Fixing the Foundations: Why Government Must Invest in People and Systems Governments everywhere are under pressure. Constituents expect faster, simpler, more human services. Leaders are asked to deliver more with fewer resources. And the systems underpinning government, both technical and cultural, are often creaking under the weight of legacy infrastructure, outdated processes, and underinvestment. LinkedIn: Future Government Institute

• Speaking
• Partnerships

Sep 21, 2025 | SDC staff

In September, Eddie was invited to participate in Salzburg Global’s 78th annual American Studies Seminar on the topic of “What Next for the U.S.? What Next for America in the World?”

When Salzburg Global hosted its first session in 1947, the founders hoped that the free exchange of ideas, the ability to challenge and question the structures of power, and the practice of democratic principles in the post-war rebuilding process could support efforts to create a sustainable and lasting peace in post-WWII Europe. Today, the international system and many of the democracies that built and sustained it, including in the United States, are changing. This year’s seminar was the first time since 1947 that the seminar focused on the state of democratic backsliding in America.

Eddie represented SDC during sessions on public governance, state capacity, and diplomacy. He also highlighted the perspective of entrepreneurs and small businesses, discussing strategies to survive and compete in a newly turbulent American economy.

Update 10/27/25

Insights surfaced during the sessions were collected into the follwing report.

• Events

Aug 26, 2025 | SDC staff

We facilitated a two-hour live roundtable with other distinguished fellows from the Future Government Institute about the current and near-future state of government. The main focus of the discussion centered on the need to move from simply digitizing government to ensuring that public services revolve around, and meet, the people’s needs.

From Gov 2.0 to Gov 3.0: Lessons from FGI Live Roundtables Our latest FGI piece brings together insights from recent global roundtables where public-sector leaders shared what’s actually working (and what’s not) on the journey toward a more connected, citizen-centred, and trustworthy government. LinkedIn: Future Government Institute

• Events
• Speaking
• Partnerships

Aug 14, 2025 | SDC staff

Eddie gave the keynote address to the inaugural cohort of Tech Ethics & Policy Fellows from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI).

The Tech Ethics & Policy summer fellowships are a joint effort between HAI and the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. It was an honor to welcome new, tech-savvy policy professionals to DC!

Stanford Names 12 Tech Ethics & Policy Fellows The fellows will work across various government agencies, think tanks, and legislative offices in Washington, D.C., to better understand how the U.S. government enacts tech policy. Stanford University

• Events
• Speaking

Aug 8, 2025 | SDC staff

It was great to see some old friends (and make many new ones) in Toronto last weekend. Thank you to the organizers of Civic Spark for putting on a great event. We especially enjoyed the reflections on “Revisiting Government Efficiency.” Thanks for including us!

Revisiting "Government Efficiency." What we've lost, and what we've learned. 18F and USDS — US federal government digital teams which delivered dramatically better digital services, and guided technology procurement towards better outcomes – were cut, in the name of government efficiency. Civic Spark

• Events

Jul 23, 2025 | SDC staff

We just wrapped a quick engagement with Still She Rises Tulsa, where we helped them update a critical step in their workflow that allows them to provide mothers with free legal representation in municipal and district court.

A fast-moving period of discovery and technical evaluation led to actionable updates to their systems. As a result of the work more women were able to be supported earlier in the legal process. We are proud to have partnered with such a client-centered organization, the first of its kind in the country to support the unique challenges facing women in criminal and civil court.

• Discovery
• Security
• Partnerships

Mar 24, 2025 | SDC staff

At the end of last year we partnered with U.S. Digital Response (USDR) to investigate the motivations of technologists looking to find work in civic tech, and learn from their experiences of seeking and applying for jobs in 2024. We conducted in-depth interviews with participants across various disciplines and co-authored a report on our findings.

USDR published the full report earlier today, check it out below.

Understanding public sector job seeker's motivations & experiences New research brings to light what's keeping talented technologists from entering government service and how we might fix it usdigitalresponse.org

• Research
• Partnerships

Feb 25, 2025 | Kat Jurick, Eddie Hartwig

As we celebrate our third anniversary we’re looking back at the phenomenal year we had in 2024.

We took on our first federal prime contract and began work with the agency dedicated to improving organ donation and transplantation in the United States. We first helped to untangle a gnarly policy issue that had been in place for many years, and, after the project concluded, we were invited to continue working with agency partners on strategic next steps.

Supporting our goal of working with local government, we collaborated with the City of Boston on a project focused on assessing their city-wide use of forms and digital applications. We loved the opportunity to work with their team and relished the chance to spend time in a city that many of us at SDC have called home at various points in our lives.

On the home front, we’ve been growing our team and expanding our workspace. We moved into and built out new office space in downtown Silver Spring, MD, and, to help further expand the skillsets and opportunities our team can offer, we hired two new full-time employees. In addition, we have formed some amazing collaborative partnerships and continue to expand our network in 2025.

• Happy birthday

Dec 6, 2024 | SDC staff

Eddie was asked by the Federation of American Scientists to recommend changes to speed up and improve federal hiring.

It often takes the federal government months to hire for critical science and technology (STEM) roles, far too slow to respond effectively to the demands of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), disasters (COVID), and implementing complex legislation (CHIPS). One solution is for the Federal Government to create a pool of pre-vetted STEM talent to address these needs.

His proposal outlines a four-point plan for how the federal government can leverage existing authorities and hiring mechanisms to build a STEM talent pool.

• Hire and empower a STEM talent lead for critical hiring needs
• Proactively, continuously hire for key roles across the government
• Implement a “shared-certificate-by-default” policy
• Let departing employees remain available for rapid re-hire into federal roles

Onboarding Critical Talent in Days: Establishing a Federal STEM Talent Pool It often takes the federal government months to hire for critical science and technology (STEM) roles, far too slow to respond effectively to the demands of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence), disasters (COVID), and implementing complex legislation (CHIPS). fas.org

• Strategy
• Workforce development

Sep 19, 2024 | SDC staff

Service Design Collective is one of eight highly-qualified companies awarded a place on an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the House Digital Service (HDS). We’re looking forward to collaborating with the HDS team and the other awardees to deliver better tools to lawmakers.

HDS serves the House by leveraging human-centered design methodologies, rapid prototyping, and agile development methods to deliver product innovation to House customers in Member, Committee, and Leadership offices.

• Announcements

May 15, 2024 | SDC staff

It’s moving day! We found a new office space, located just steps from the Metro in downtown Silver Spring, MD, through Montgomery County’s Small Business Incubator program.

We’re excited to have expanded space for our local and remote team members to gather, as well as room for in-person collaboration with our friends, clients, and partners in the Washington metropolitain area.

• Announcements