Client story

Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU)

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Situation (the challenge)

Scrumconnect was asked to support the Compensation Recovery Unit team to map an end-to-end service, utilising existing user research and insights. The CRU project had been in discovery for 12 months but had not progressed due to limited evidence of user need, an incomplete picture of the full end-to-end service and too few examples of opportunities.

In January 2020 Scrumconnect created a multidisciplinary team to augment the effort with the aim of Discovery completion in March and then a move into Alpha.

Our activities

The Scrumconnect team and wider stakeholders created a detailed picture of how both external users and CRU agents interact within the service, identifying their needs and problems.

Design sprint

A broad consensus and renewed confidence in these findings came when we held a special two-day design sprint at Durham House. This involved the full team and key stakeholders using fishbone analysis in combination with the 'Five Whys' to interrogate each assumption and explore whether a digital service could be the solution.

Ideation and exploring all possible options to solve the problem was next on the agenda for the team. Using a range of techniques and games such as 'Crazy Eight' to stimulate ideas, the second day of sprint was spent honing some potential solutions. Despite working in three separate teams, the outcomes were surprisingly similar.

Working as one cross-functional team, we agreed on a set of problem statements based on current pain points within the service. From there we quantified the negative value in each case by requesting business and management information.

Outcomes

  • A reinvigorated, energised team and a project fully focused on a more efficient way of recovering compensation  
  • A design sprint that yielded up three detailed service designs and a schedule of solutions to prototype in Alpha
  • Agreement around preserving a gold standard service, fit for the future
  • A fuller understanding of the importance of internal user needs