NSW Government (DPHI). NSW Planning Portal.

Co-designing a digital experience with 232 councils.

The context

The NSW Planning Portal is the hub for all planning and housing approvals in NSW. Used daily by 232 councils, state agencies, applicants and the public.

Design faults such as complex terminology, UX limitations, and inconsistent policy application were causing frustration across the industry. Councils were measured by how quickly they approved development applications, even as they worked within a system that slowed them down. Industry confidence was slipping.

The work

Working with the ED Customer and Digital and a small team, I led the customer journey discovery and co-design across the platform, we used customer, service, and workforce data to identify where the system was failing and for whom.

Then I ran six co-design workshops across 232 councils. The job was to surface the real pain points, the genuine design faults, and the priorities for what to fix first. Not to present a finished roadmap for feedback. To build the roadmap with the people who would live with it.

The insight

The answer wasn't more user research. It was proximity.

We brought senior stakeholders from across DPHI to the workshops and ensured the team managing the delivery participated in every conversation. The people building the platform heard the friction directly from the people using it, without having to rely on second-hand research.

That is what moved 232 councils from frustration to alignment. Not a report. A team sitting in the same room as the end users, hearing them.

The outcome

A prioritised delivery roadmap adopted by executive leadership. 98% satisfaction across the 232 councils that took part. A shared digital strategy that moved councils and central government in the same direction on a platform that had been a source of industry frustration for years.

Councils were left more aligned, clearer about what was coming, and with greater regard for the customer and the digital team.

↗ 98% council satisfaction across the engagement

↗ Prioritised delivery roadmap adopted by executive leadership

↗ Shared digital strategy across 232 councils and central government