CSPS Digital Academy/CSPS Digital Accelerator


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Overview Build your team Choose your problem Meet our team Cohort 1 Recap


Welcome

The CSPS Digital Accelerator is a transformative learning experience designed for product teams, including their leaders, who want to experiment with more collaborative, open, human-centred and iterative ways of defining problems and developing solutions in a modern government era. It combines hands-on workshops, peer learning, coaching and mentoring in support of teams as they explore real business problems and prototype and test solutions with users.


The CSPS Digital Accelerator builds on the success of the first two cohorts of the CSPS Digital Academy’s Premium program. We launched the first cohort in Spring 2021 with teams, and are currently planning the second cohort for Winter 2022.



Overview of the program

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Onboarding and Skill building

(2 weeks)

  • Team building
  • Skill sessions
  • Introduction to new tools

Design Discovery

(3 weeks)

  • Problem framing
  • Ideation
  • Design thinking and user research

Deeper Learning

(2 weeks)

  • Focused learning opportunities
  • Prototype planning
  • Preparation for first pitch

Prototyping

(3 weeks)

  • Developing and testing working prototypes with users



Aftercare

(3-6 months)

  • Products progress towards beta or production
  • Access to coaches and mentors
  • Access to continuous learning



Onboarding and Skill building (2 weeks)

  • Team building
  • Skill sessions
  • Introduction to new tools




Design Discovery (3 weeks)

  • Problem framing
  • Ideation
  • Design thinking and user research




Deeper Learning (2 weeks)

  • Focused learning opportunities
  • Prototype planning
  • Preparation for first pitch




Prototyping (3 weeks)

  • Developing and testing working prototypes with users




Aftercare (3-6 months)

  • Products progress towards beta or production
  • Access to coaches and mentors
  • Access to continuous learning





How to build your accelerator team

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Product Team

  • 5-10 people
  • Diverse & multidisciplinary
  • Should bring together: 1) Subject matter experts for the business line or program, 2) Business analysts, designers, or product management, 3) Solutions designers / developers (technical, service designers, policy makers, etc.)
  • Product teams work on their problems full time during the Accelerator and ideally stay together once it is over
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Steering Team

  • 1 executive champion who participates part time in accelerator activities and fully supports the work of the product team
  • 2-4 other executive supporters who form a governance body and help support the work of the team through: approvals, guidance, unblocking, feedback, upward briefing, and funding.
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Partners (name TBD)

  • Enablers and partners who can support the product team in delivering their solution
  • Could include: corporate services, security, legal, policy, communications or other forms of expertise

The right problems for the Accelerator

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An actual problem – process, service, issue, or challenge – to be improved
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Doesn’t have an obvious, simple solution
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Has room for exploration, space to pivot, and flexible timelines
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Has a team that will continue to work on a solution once the accelerator ends
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Is related to the core work of your organization – internal or external
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Has a business owner open to solution ideas that go beyond the usual
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Has usable and accessible data to inform exploration and solutions
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Has the potential to change how people think about and do work
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Has organizational support and buy-in
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Has access to users to co-design, explore, and gather insights from
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Can be explored and shared publicly, with a team who can work in the open
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Has a manageable scope


Meet the CSPS Digital Accelerator Team


Recap of Cohort 1

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