Where: Online, on Zoom

This workshop will show you how to use service design tools to spot opportunities to improve services; estimate the cost of pain points and organisational waste and create a case to invest in service design.

This course is relevant for designers, researchers, product people, policy people, delivery people, BAs, data, developers and technologists - anyone working in digital products and services in Government.

You might be aiming to:

• Employ a service designer
• Build a service design team
• Run a service design focussed or lead project
• Get training in service design for you or your team

We will take a learning-by-doing approach. There will be a bit of theory but mainly lots of interactive exercises and activities in small groups, with time for reflection and sharing.

Attendees will not need to prepare anything, and no prior knowledge is required. There will be a lunch break in the middle. 

We have a few subsidised or free tickets available. If you’re Black, disabled, trans, First Nations, not university educated, or if you’re working in the climate space - get in touch ucdtrainingcourse@gmail.com

We have a template justification letter to attend, which you're welcome to use.

What you’ll learn

• How to estimate the size of a service design problem
• How to estimate the cost and value of service design work
• How to frame the risk of not doing service design
• How to construct a compelling narrative for service design
• Influencing different stakeholders
• About the harm that numbers can do

Testimonials and feedback

"The 'Money Talks' workshop was fantastic and offered a real 'lightbulb' moment for many on how to explore and start to quantify cost benefits by using intersections between user pain points and business waste points as the starting point.
Clara and Ignacia have succeeding in taking a concept that can feel daunting or off-putting to many, and making it a straightforward, logical and achievable task.
Overall, a great confidence-booster and motivator, with the cost-benefits approach nicely balanced with a reminder to keep EDI front and centre when considering change!"

"Loved the combination of group discussion with very practical activities - really happy I got to actually try things out!"

"Well paced, loved the examples as a way to lead us through the work, very supportive, loved working in my group"

"The course was excellent. Very engaging, with a clear agenda. A great mix of both theory and group exercises. I loved attending the course and have taken lots away. 😁"

"Really enjoyed the practical structure - working through the examples step-by-step helped with understanding the approach"
"I loved the interactive sessions and being able to see how different groups solved the separate issues."

"Enjoyed the pace and focus of the session. Gentle but with clear results achieved!"

"Great session, very clearly laid out. Was probably the most useful session to explain organisational design in an easy to understand format. Good pacing and agree with the comment below - a real lightbulb moment on how to quantify cost by looking at and understanding how waste and pain points intersect."

"Enjoyed the interactive session and use of examples to clearly articulate and visualise where to prioritise actions to deliver benefits, reduce pain and waste points.
Practical approach to guestimate the cost/benefit at a high level and early stage, but need recognition that this is to be refined as we progress through design phases - likely a challenge for most organisations and leadership"

"I thoroughly enjoyed the session, the approach and how it was delivered. I did come to the session thinking it may be a little dry but it was the opposite. It has led me to think about how we show cost benefits, particularly where groups are excluded. It has created clarity for me in how to show the savings my team makes and how to be more inclusive in the approach.
A big thank you, two hours very well spent :-)"

"The content and pace of the activity was spot on - not dwelling too much on each part of the exercise but enough time to generate discussion and do the maths! I found this a very timely session and a key reminder in that we need to quantify the cost of the problem as well as defining the potential benefits."

As seen at 

About the trainers

Ignacia

Ignacia is an independent design consultant, specialising in service design, research and design strategy.

She built and led design teams and is a skilled design trainer, mentor and facilitator. She’s helped teams and organisations design and deliver joined-up, equitable, inclusive, and accessible services.

Ignacia has spent the last 5 years at the Government Digital Service as a Lead Service Designer, where she worked on numerous high profile services - like GOV.UK's Brexit and Covid content and the GOV.UK Design System. Including the design of governance models, support systems and all the things that happen in the background to enable good services for users.

You can find Ignacia on bluesky or linkedin

Clara

Clara is an independent designer, researcher and trainer. She has been working in the industry for over 18 years and has done a lot of work in building capability through training and community-based education. 

Clara worked at the Government Digital Service as a Lead Designer for 8 years. During this time she developed and ran 7 training courses at GDS for the cross-government community, training 1000s of civil servants.

She is determined to bring equity and justice into public sector digital transformation. She’s Australian, an immigrant, a part-time worker, a parent and a grieving daughter.

You can find Clara on bluesky or linkedin

Other courses available

Workshop facilitation training and clinic
Friday 19 Jun 2026

Advocating for UCD in government
Monday 5 October - Tuesday 13 October 2026

Sign ups

We need a minimum of 6 people to run this course. If we don’t reach this number we will refund your ticket, and we will let you know about a future date for the course.

Cancellation and refund policy

Course fees are non-refundable if cancelled less than 7 days before the course starts.

Please get in touch as soon as possible if you need to cancel your place on a course.

A 10% fee will apply if cancelled more than 7 days before course commencement to cover processing fees.

Get in touch

If you have a question or there is anything we can do to enable you to be able to fully participate in this course, contact ucdtrainingcourse@gmail.com