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

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

Goals


	Learning by doing Teams get hands-on opportunities to apply new skills by designing, prototyping, and testing solutions to a real business problem relevant to their department.
	Breaking boundaries We aim to break down boundaries - in the way we work, collaborate, learn, and innovate. The Accelerator is constantly exploring, producing, and trying out different tools, resources, workshops, and activities in order to help create more digitally capable teams in the public service.
	Changing with confidence Modernizing requires change, and we recognize the importance of changing with confidence. If folks are first instilled with confidence, they may be more willing to embrace change and be more actively a part of creating change.
	Collaborating to succeed Collaboration is key to successfully finding and prototyping solutions during the Accelerator. We are always exploring and testing different tools, activities, and workshops that to help facilitate collaboration.
	Designing an empowering experience Great products and services are human-centred and designed for and with users. This applies to the Accelerator too. We design experiences with our participants in mind and support them every step of the way with coaching and mentoring, so they can have an enriching, empowering experience. We give teams the skills and tools they need to help them shift in the way they work, create, and share.

Learn more about the CSPS Digital Academy

Overview of the program

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


	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
	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.
	Corporate Partners 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


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

What's not the right problem?


	A pre-determined solution
	A large-scale complex problem with many dependent pieces
	A pre-existing project with fixed timelines and requirements
	A team that will not continue working on their solution post-Accelerator
	No access to users to collaborate with or be informed by
	Is classified and/or cannot be shared openly with other teams or the broader public service

Recap of Cohort 1

Partners

Thanks to our current partners for their support. If your team is interested in joining the Accelerator, please reach out to us to discuss. Participation in the Accelerator begins with a partnership. We look forward to working with you!

Meet the CSPS Digital Accelerator Team


Nick Scott Executive Lead	Zoe Langevin (position title)	Robyn Paton (position title)
Val Gaudreault (position title)	Christina Bondi (position title)	Khalid Egeh (position title)