Hacking the Bureaucracy

Hacking the 

Bureaucracy 

Exploring the key drivers of innovation within Government

Part 1: Innovating in Government 

05 

About 

Portable 

08 

Government Innovation: 

What is it and Why? 

Cont 

What do we mean 

06 

Report 

Background 

09 

The Personality of the 

Government Innovator 

07 

by Innovation? 

10 

Creating the Right 

Ecosystem for Innovation 

15 

Innovation Ideas 

Part 2: Hacking the Bureaucracy 

22 

Overview: 

Get Prepared 

23 

Train yourself in 

Bureaucracy Hacking 

24 

Choose a Problem, 

not a Solution 

ents 

Ensure that your 

27 

outcomes can fail fast 

35 

Go Incognito: Seek 

Forgiveness, Not Approval 

30 

Find the right 

Co-Conspirators 

37 

Demonstrate Success 

(even in your failures) 

32 

Don’t be afraid to 

look outside 

39 

Finding 

the Money 

42 

Conclusion

Innovat 

Govern 

Part 1 

Innovating in 

Government 

ting in 

nment

4 

Exploring 

the key 

drivers of 

innovation 

within 

Government

5 

About Portable 

For the past decade, Portable 

has been at the centre of design 

and web innovation across 

Australia and internationally. 

We believe in Government and in its 

power to create widespread, meaningful 

change. However, we continually come 

across individuals working to make 

great change but who are unable to 

get projects over the line, who fail to 

mediate minor technical hurdles and 

who see their work falter just when it is 

gathering steam and interest. As part 

of this report, we interviewed over one 

hundred people in Government roles, 

looked at successful and failed projects 

and identified some of the critical factors 

required for people working in policy and 

policy implementation to be successful in 

innovating. 

We believe Government already has 

good, innovative and intelligent people 

working within its walls and we continue 

to strive to help those people create 

positive change.

6 

Background 

In 2015, Portable prepared and 

delivered a presentation at Public 

Sector Week in Victoria (Australia). 

We spoke on the ways in which Design 

Thinking and agile work processes 

can transform the way in which 

Organisations deliver outcomes for 

citizens and the world in which they 

interact. 

As a result of that presentation and 

through the encouragement of the 

people who attended and supported our 

work, we began to conduct research into 

Government innovation with a goal to: 

• Understand the conditions which 

foster innovation both internally and 

externally within the Government sector 

and to identify those which directly or 

indirectly impede it 

• Explore the characteristics of those 

individuals who have successfully 

created innovative programs and 

projects within Government 

• Identify insights, tools, methods and 

best practices for generating innovation 

across all tiers of Government 

As a design and technology company, 

we have worked closely across business, 

start-ups and the Government sector to 

drive innovation for the past decade and 

this opportunity allowed us to consider 

some of the deeper machinations behind 

Government innovation, which lacks 

the traditional free market competitive 

drivers of private practice to innovate but 

still requires a mechanism to regenerate. 

Over the next eight months we conducted 

a series of workshops, bringing together 

leaders within Government to establish 

the key drivers behind successful 

innovation. The result of this work is 

contained in this report and supporting 

tool kit. 

This report aims to provoke a 

conversation around innovating in 

Government, whilst also attempting 

to outline some steps for potential 

Government innovators when first 

embarking on their innovation journey. 

The first section of this report is a brief 

snapshot of where innovation currently 

happens in Government and the second 

part provides a handbook of smart ways 

to hack the bureaucracy.

7 

What do we mean 

by Innovation? 

Innovation can be a scary word 

but it doesn’t have to be. 

Innovation 

can be 

a scary 

word but 

it doesn’t 

have to be 

Some, particularly in Government, view 

innovation with caution as they think it 

means radical, expensive, and expansive 

technological change. This isn’t the case. 

Innovation is as simple as improving a 

current process, adapting an old method 

for a new context or creating something 

entirely new. The scope of these can be 

small, like getting new coloured pens for 

your team, or large, like developing a new 

piece of infrastructure. 

We have identified two paths for 

innovation: 

• An internal pathway which deals with 

how a Department generates and 

implements innovation internally (for 

its staff); and 

• An external pathway which deals 

with how a Department sources and 

implements innovation externally (for 

the community). 

The recommendations provided in this 

report apply to those seeking to innovate 

both internally and externally.

8 

What is Government Innovation 

and why is it unique? 

As citizens, we set very high 

expectations for Government, 

much higher than we do 

for the private sector. 

Whenever there is a national problem 

affecting millions of citizens, we turn to 

Government as our first point of call to 

make change and solve big problems. 

Government has consistently been an 

advocate and champion of innovation 

in the modern area. Its capacity to 

take small policy ideas and concepts to 

broader markets and communities is 

well documented. In Australia, we see 

this reflected in the work of a range of 

Government agencies and programs at 

both Federal and State levels. We have 

seen the creation of internationally 

renowned innovations by Government, 

such as the work performed by the 

CSIRO to bringing Wi-Fi to the world 

or more recently, through the adoption 

of the National Disability Insurance 

Scheme. 

However, Government is restrained in a 

variety of ways that make it challenging 

to foster and implement innovation. The 

nature of Government, including short 

election cycles, high public scrutiny and 

probity means that navigating around 

bureaucracy is not just mandatory, but 

an artform. Yet, in this process lies the 

opportunity to innovate for those who 

are nimble and knowledgeable enough 

to embark on the journey. If you have 

innovated within Government once, then 

your likelihood of success on your next 

venture is far greater. 

Government innovation can be 

distinguished by way of outlining 

its inherent advantages: 

• the ability to drive change using high 

level policy adoptions; 

• access to vast resources, both financial 

and human if required; 

• access to political capital if required to 

push through policies; and 

• the ability to drive adoption through 

mandates or associated regulation. 

There are sections of Governments who 

have created innovative cultures that 

shield good ideas from bureaucracy and 

are able to create great things. Our view 

is that great Government innovation 

requires the right balance of sustained 

leadership, with clearly defined pathways 

for ideas and individuals who are willing 

to take risks.

9 

The personality of the 

Government Innovator 

The innovator in Government 

(or intrapreneur) can be found at 

all levels across the public service. 

In our work we have found both Heads 

of Departments driving change and 

creating impact for their team and 

agencies and also individuals in the 

trenches of policy development and 

service delivery discovering better ways 

of doing things and pushing to innovate 

in their areas against the status quo. 

There are consistent characteristics 

across these people that are useful in 

identifying intrapeneurs. 

Innovation needs to be shepherded. 

This is the most common characteristic 

we find across all Government 

Organisations, especially if there is 

no clearly defined process or pathway 

for staff to make change. Many 

Government innovators exist at the 

top, actively seeking out great concepts 

and individuals, visibly championing 

concepts, removing roadblocks within 

the bureaucracy by using their own 

superior knowledge of a Department’s 

process or a minister’s priorities, and 

taking a few hits along the way if need 

be. However, just as important are the 

doers within the bureaucracy that bring 

these concepts to life. 

At the other end of any Organisation we 

see highly motivated individuals, duos 

and (less commonly) teams, who have 

been able to put themselves in situations 

Innovation 

needs to be 

shepherded. 

where they are interacting with a 

problem, issue or opportunity to the level 

where they understand and empathise 

with other users. The more successful 

ones understand the key principles 

of hacking the bureaucracy and have 

the support and networks required to 

navigate any obstacles they may face. 

They are persistent and skilled at not 

leaving behind a paper trail (see later). 

Key traits of Government 

Innovators include: 

• knowledge of the business unit, team 

or Department they are looking to 

change; 

• strong social connections inside and 

out of immediate teams; 

• resourcefulness when it comes to 

managing time and financial resources; 

and 

• not necessarily outgoing or provocative 

personality types, instead driven by a 

strong desire to create change.

10 

Creating the Right Ecosystem 

for Government Innovation 

The drivers of innovation within the 

Government sector can be placed 

into two distinctive categories. 

Mandating change 

The first is the most common and 

is triggered by a Minister or senior 

official mandating change through 

policy directives and subsequent 

service delivery. This extends to other 

executive members of Government as 

well, but it’s a common kickstarter for 

ideas and innovation within the public 

sector which usually comes with a 

host of benefit and problems that run 

parallel. The benefit of this driver is 

that obstacles which might otherwise 

impede day-to-day operations can be 

easily removed allowing for expedited 

innovation. This allows for an innovative 

culture to quickly take hold and change 

to be effected. 

On the negative side, this process 

creates a culture of focussing on the 

demonstrable success stories, contrary 

to the usual motivators for change. 

Small seeds of innovation are usually 

overlooked or placed to the backlog in 

the pursuit of demonstrating the viability 

of the over-arching policy directive. 

Even if such endeavors create capacity 

and knowledge within a team, a great 

deal is lost in the search of creating a 

grand solution, and unfortunately failure 

punctuates the end of the innovation 

project, instead of driving it forward. 

Identifying the opportunity 

for innovation 

The second environment where we see 

innovation is from individual or small 

teams of people who have identified 

opportunities for innovation. These 

occur spontaneously in situations 

where innovation is not mandated 

or systemised and often in locations 

outside the direct line of sight of top 

level Departmental management. In 

these spaces, innovation usually starts 

in the form of problem identification 

and articulation, where change and 

experimentation can clearly make a 

difference. There is also an environment 

where there is freedom for some 

individuals and teams to run with their 

ideas to a level with or without the 

support of managers. 

However, there comes a point when 

project hurdles need to be overcome. 

All of a sudden the environment for 

innovation becomes problematic, and it 

takes specific skills held by the individual 

to keep innovation alive, through 

negotiation, strategy and funding 

creativity.

11 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

We have identified eight 

prerequisites for successful 

innovation: 

Leadership 

Communication 

The Innovation Process 

Sharing Knowledge 

Across Departments 

Knowledge of the Department 

Incentives and Rewards 

Resourcing 

Purpose

12 



Leadership 

It is crucial that any innovation agenda 

be driven by strong leadership. This 

leadership must have direct access to 

Department heads allowing them to 

promote the agenda and demonstrate 

the Department’s commitment to the 

process. 

Without the support and buy-in of 

Senior Management, the process cannot 

achieve the credibility that it needs to be 

successful. It is vital that Management 

be enthusiastic and champions of the 

process in order to avoid staff viewing the 

agenda as a ‘fad.’ 

By having leaders in positions of 

authority who are engage with the 

process, it will help to enact a cultural 

change in the Department. 

Resourcing 

Resourcing and planning is vital to the 

success of innovation. A process that 

only has resourcing for one year or cycle 

will not be successful as it will require 

staff to spend a large portion of their 

time lobbying for additional funds. These 

energies would be much better spent 

iterating on the process and enacting 

innovation. 

Successful innovation processes have 

multi-year resourcing commitments 

which demonstrates that Management 

have faith in the process lending it 

credibility. It also allows those involved 

to focus on the job at hand and long term 

change rather than trying to get runs on 

the board in unnecessary tasks just to 

prove success. 

It is also important that consideration 

be given to resourcing the team who 

will run and enact the innovation 

process. They will need to be properly 

staffed with the skills and knowledge to 

perform the duties required to make the 

process a success. It is very difficult, if 

not impossible, to maintain an effective 

innovation process with an under 

resourced team. 

the purpose 

must reflect the 

Department’s goals 

Purpose 

Any innovation agenda must have 

a clearly defined purpose. It is not 

sufficient to say you “want to innovate”. 

You need to have a purpose that reflects 

the goals of the Department. 

The purpose must also be capable 

of being supported by the resources, 

experience and circumstances of the 

Department. If a Department has a 

purpose that seeks to enact massive 

change but only has a small budget and 

inexperienced team it is likely to fail.

13 



Communication 

Any successful innovation process 

must allow for communication between 

stakeholders and users at all levels. This 

is particularly important in the discovery 

and design stages of a project where 

user feedback can be obtained and the 

solution iterated as well as resourcing 

discussed and obtained. 

Processes which allow for staff to be 

involved in the process, once an idea 

has been implemented, are also more 

likely to be successful as they promote 

engagement. This allows staff and users 

to see the outcomes of their contributions 

and provides user-testing and feedback. 

The Innovation Process 

It is necessary to have an innovation 

process that meets the needs and 

resources of a Department. It is not 

sufficient to have a “letter box” where 

staff can submit ideas if there is no 

process in place to implement those 

ideas. For this reason, before any 

innovation process can be commenced, 

the pathway and ecosystem for 

innovation will need to be designed. 

To do this, it is necessary to look at how 

innovation currently takes place in a 

Department so that the solution can 

be easily and effectively implemented. 

Then a pathway must be designed which 

allows for ideas to be created through to 

implementation. The steps that happen 

along this journey will be unique to each 

Department. 

However, a pathway alone is not 

enough. An innovation ecosystem must 

be designed to support this pathway 

taking into account elements such as 

communication, training, leadership, 

incentives etc. Without this ecosystem 

the pathway will not be self sustaining 

and will be doomed to fail. 

Sharing Knowledge 

Across Departments 

To achieve the best outcome it is 

important that information be shared 

across Departments. This allows for 

sharing of information, learnings and 

knowledge meaning that Departments 

can build on the experiences of each 

other to design innovation processes 

more efficiently and effectively. 

Communication promotes 

engagement.

14 



taking 

part in the 

innovation 

process 

promotes 

engagement 

and 

involvement 

Knowledge of the Department 

To successfully innovate, people need 

to understand the Department and the 

areas within it. This allows them to 

understand why certain practices and 

procedures are in place as well as being 

able to identify those responsible for 

issues they encounter. 

Those who have a greater understanding 

of a Department and the way it functions 

will have an easier time enacting 

innovation as they will know who and 

where to turn for help. 

Incentives and Rewards 

Encouraging people to participate 

in a new process can be challenging. 

Incentivising and rewarding people 

and employees for taking part in 

the innovation process promotes 

engagement and involvement. 

There are many different ways of doing 

this and will differ depending on factors 

including a Department’s resource. It 

may include promotion of successful 

innovation stories on websites and blogs, 

along with recognising those who helped, 

or sending staff to personal development 

sessions like pitch making training. 

It is important to not limit the rewards 

to those who generated innovation ideas. 

Instead, consideration should be given to 

those who engage in the process in ways 

such as providing feedback and support. 

This will promote engagement as not 

everyone has an idea but everyone can be 

involved. The rewards for those involved 

in the process should mirror those who 

generated an idea as their contributions 

are just as important in enacting change.

15 


Recently we have seen 

concerted efforts by the State 

and Federal Governments in 

Australia to create the right 

environments for innovation. 

This has provoked a lot of inward looking 

and thinking to determine how best 

change can happen. Some of the best 

ideas are outlined as follows. 

• Innovation Challenges 

• Digital Transformation 

• Code for Australia 

• Behavioural Insights Teams 

• Public Sector Innovation Funds 

• Co Design 

• Hackathons 

• Innovation Forums 

• Idea Platforms 

• Innovation Offices 

• Co Working Spaces 

Innovation Challenges 

Government Departments have 

recognised that innovation cannot rely 

on individuals to informally navigate 

the bureaucracy to create change within 

Government. The creation of ‘innovation 

challenges’ allow the beginning of 

structured processes for ideas to pass 

from internal staff to the Organisation. 

These challenges tend to work like 

competitions with incentives for 

engagement by staff. Staff members 

are encouraged to submit ideas for 

improvement as part of a simple 

submission process. The topic can be 

one proposed by the Department or left 

for staff to submit any general ideas. 

Ideas are then reviewed and vetted before 

being assigned for further exploration 

and development. There can be many 

rounds of review and voting done before 

final candidates progress to a final round. 

The final candidates that survive the 

review process are voted upon either 

by a team, series of experts or heads 

of Department. The ideas ordained as 

winners are provided with the resources 

and capital to continue to be explored 

within the Department. Depending on 

the resources of the Department those 

involved in submitting the idea may be 

seconded or involved in some way to the 

further exploration and development of 

the idea.

16 


Digital Transformation 

The Australian Federal Government 

have recently create the Digital 

Transformation Office, which was 

created to help Government change its 

processes to deliver a better experience 

for Australians. It was modelled off the 

Government Digital Service (UK) with a 

number of early staff coming over to set 

up the Australian office. 

Along with being charged to help 

overhaul digital service across the 

public sector, the Organisation brings 

in individuals and teams from select 

Government Departments to work on 

specific projects. This occurs in in the 

span of eight weeks. An ideal is building 

capacity within the teams involved to 

bring back to their own Departments and 

continue the innovation process. 

Code for Australia 

The emergence of the not-for-profit 

organisation, Code for Australia 

(based on a model founded in the 

United States), showcases how to work 

with Government Departments to 

build capacity to allow innovation 

to take place. 

Each year Government Departments 

can apply to have a “fellow” join the 

Organisation for a year, free of charge 

to the Department, to work on a range 

of projects, mainly technical in nature. 

This allows Departments that would 

otherwise be without the resources or 

incentive to act upon opportunities to 

have an internal technical resource at 

their disposal. The intent is to build the 

capacity within the public sector and 

expose external developers and designers 

to working within the sector. 

build the capacity 

within the public 

sector

17 


Behavioural Insights Teams 

Behaviour Insights is a tool that employs 

‘nudge theory’, an idea in psychology 

and political theory that is used to 

understand and influence choices 

in decision-making. Its purpose is to 

improve Government policy and service. 

This aligns with human-centred design 

practices that are core to innovative 

service delivery. 

Behavioural Insights Teams or Nudge 

Units derive from a model set up in 

the UK in 2010 under the stewardship 

of David Halpern. There are now 

Behavioural Insights Teams with the 

NSW and Victorian Governments, both 

sitting within the Department of Premier 

and Cabinet who are looking to roll out 

a series of prototypes to change service 

delivery for citizens. 

Public Sector Innovation Funds 

Within Victoria, the Public Sector 

Innovation Fund supports projects that 

test new approaches to solving complex 

policy challenges and delivering public 

value. By providing project grants they 

seek to transform innovative ideas into 

better outcomes for Victorians, while 

fostering a dynamic environment of 

collaboration within the Victorian public 

sector. 

The Victorian Public Sector Innovation 

Fund sits under the Public Sector 

Innovation branch which includes the 

Behavioural Insights Team. 

Co Design 

Co Design is a model in which 

stakeholders work together, possibly 

with external parties such as agencies or 

other Departments, to design solutions. 

The different stakeholder groups can 

bring different perspectives, experiences, 

skills, knowledge and insights to projects. 

different 

stakeholders 

can bring 

different 

perspectives, 

experiences, 

and insights 

The belief underlying this model is by 

involving these additional groups in the 

design process, they are able to provide 

valuable contributions, resulting in 

a solution that would not be possible 

were it designed in isolation. This is 

an increasingly popular process of 

developing policy and practice outcomes.

18 


Hackathons 

Hackathons are great opportunities 

to increase engagement internally 

and externally. Generally, they are 

gathering of like-minded individuals and 

teams (usually programmers, software 

developers, designers and others) to 

collaborate and create software projects 

in a short sprint. Useful in finding and 

attracting talent, hackathons also allow 

people to come together and share their 

enthusiasm and excitement around a 

particular topic. 

Innovation Forums 

Innovation forums combine elements 

of hackathons with training and 

workshops to educate staff about human 

centred design to promote innovation 

in organisations. Attendees are able 

to attend workshops and sessions to 

learn about human centred design and 

techniques which can then be put into 

practice in a hackathon. 

hackathons also 

allow people to 

come together 

These hackathons can either be a 

learning tool or more tailored with a goal 

to reach objectives of the Organisation 

depending on their needs. 

In addition to providing education and 

practical experience to staff Innovation 

Forums also allow for a longer dialogue, 

socialisation and for ideas to germinate. 

Idea Platforms 

Within an Innovation Pathway there is 

something called an Ideas Platform. This 

platform is a tool for users to submit their 

innovation ideas. There are a number of 

ways they can work; a common model 

is for the idea to be reviewed and voted 

upon by other users. Once an idea 

receives enough votes, it can either be 

sent for final approval by a panel of 

decision makers in the Department 

or straight through to scoping. To 

promote engagement, the system is often 

gamified with users receiving points for 

submitting ideas and engagement with 

the process. 

This engagement can be for things such 

as commenting, voting and other things 

specific to the platform. Those who 

“win” with a high number of points then 

receive rewards such as being involved in 

the team who develops the idea or being 

involved in specialised training. The 

benefit of the engagement model is to 

encourage users who have not submitted 

“winning” ideas to be involved in the 

process.

19 


promote 

sharing 

concepts 

and 

ideas 

Innovation Offices 

Innovation Offices are the teams within 

Departments who are responsible 

for running and implementing 

the innovation agenda. They act 

as an internal consultancy arm 

to the Department and provide 

expertise in oversight, training, 

communication, design, development 

and implementation. An example is 

Bizlab with the Department of Industry, 

Innovation and Science, an Australian 

Federal Government Department. 

Co Working Spaces 

Co Working Spaces were originally set 

up in capital cities and regional towns to 

promote sharing of concepts and ideas. 

We are now seeing private businesses 

aligned with these as generators 

of generators and implementation 

pathways.

Hackin 

Bureau 

Part 2 

Hacking the 

Bureaucracy 

g the 

cracy

21 

A practical 

guide for 

making 

change

22 

Overview 

this report 

can be used 

as a tool by 

anyone in 

Government 

to make the 

changes 

they need. 

We understand that transformation 

is underway across all sectors of 

Government, however not many 

innovators are prepared to stand 

around waiting for it to sweep 

through their Departments. 

Hacking the bureaucracy is always going 

to be important, so we’ve taken some of 

the great insights and comments from 

our research and put together a more 

practical guide. 

This part of this report can be used as a 

tool by anyone in Government to make 

the changes they need to get innovative 

projects off the ground. 

We recommend a starting 

exercise of training yourself in 

bureaucracy hacking which then 

leads into seven key themes: 

1. Choose a Problem, not a Solution 

2. Keep your Outcome Minimum and 

Viable so you can Fail Fast 

3. Find the Right Co-Conspirators 

4. Don’t be afraid to look outside 

5. Go Incognito: Seek Forgiveness, 

Not Approval 

6. Demonstrate Succes 

(Even In Your Failures) 

7. Finding the Money

23 

Getting Started: Train Yourself 

In Bureaucracy Hacking 

From the respondents we 

interviewed there was one critical 

and consistent element that came 

out: the experience of hacking 

Government changes you, your 

environment and interactions. 

Self awareness is a critical tool for 

anyone looking to make significant and 

lasting change within an organization. 

We propose potential innovation hackers 

consider these questions: “Who are 

you? Am I the right person solving this 

problem? Do I have the right skills? Do I 

have the right knowledge?” 

The answer to some of these questions 

may be no, but it’s wise to assess the 

landscape of your organization and 

determine what impact your ideas might 

have on the broader bureaucracy and 

on your career. Momentary change is 

easy. Lasting and extensive change 

draws down on resources. Once you start 

working away at a problem, you will 

invariably start to own that problem. So 

draw up your battle plan, figure out what 

the worst thing that can happen will be 

and plan around this. 

Tips to remember: 

• Map out your Organisation including 

the key touch points 

• Identify the key players, i.e. if you think 

it’ll impact the tech team identify who 

is in this team, who will be open to the 

concept, who may be a blocker? 

• Assess your own resources: do you 

have time to champion this cause? Can 

you make time? What happens if it 

succeeds? Do you want to be involved 

every step of the way? 

• Seek out others who have innovated 

successfully and if it’s safe ask them for 

support 

Here are some good places 

to look for more guidance: 

• Public Sector Innovation Toolkit 

• DTO Design Guides 

• Innovate UK 

• Innovation Union 

• OECD Innovative Government 

• Ideo Human Centred Design Toolkit

24 



“It’s 2016, everyone’s had 6 

horrible IT experiences” 

The main driver of consistent innovation 

across all spheres of the public service is 

work performed by individuals or teams 

responding to a variety of problems. 

You can galvanise behind problems. It 

could be an opportunity to improve a 

process or system or the sudden visibility 

of an efficiency that could be made 

by new technology or tools. It’s one of 

the drivers of Government in general 

- working for the greater good. This 

bottom-up innovation seems to attract 

individuals who feel compelled to make 

change at all costs. 

Hacking the bureaucracy means keeping 

focussed on the problem at all times, 

while ignoring discussions around 

product and solutions. Regardless of the 

impetus, failing to define the change 

you are seeking is the very first point 

of failure for most projects. Seeking to 

define the very thing you want to achieve 

is the most overlooked stage in hacking 

any bureaucracy. 

Don’t replace 

an old and 

crappy system 

with a new 

and crappy 

system 

The instant you pick apart elements of a 

system, you will be faced with a plethora 

of entities who feel they instantly have 

the silver bullet solution. Your co-worker 

may suggest an app would be perfect for 

that or a tech guy you know may say that 

they already have a piece of software that 

will take care of your problem. After a

25 

Self awareness is 

a critical tool for 

anyone looking to 

make significant 

and lasting 

change within 

an organization.

26 



find out as 

much as 

possible 

about what 

needs to 

change 

while the problem will transition from 

being a “problem” to being a “product” 

or “solution”. Often we see briefs that 

are too prescriptive from the outset. The 

problem is already defined and as a result 

the solution is already identified. 

If you come to a technical team without 

a clear definition of the problem you 

are looking to solve, you will likely 

spend needless amounts of money and 

you’ll destroy your chances of creating 

momentum. If you want to really create 

change, you need to delve deep into the 

problem, do your research and find out 

as much as possible about what needs to 

change. 


• Do your research. If you have an issue, 

you may not be the only one affected 

by it. Conversely, you may be the only 

one at all who sees a problem with it. 

Find out. Ask around. Socialise your 

idea and get feedback. Determine if it’s 

an idea that even needs solving. 

• Define on paper first, whether it be 

in the press release of the anticipated 

outcome would be (i.e. get x amount 

of cases out of the system) or the 

drawn prototype. Never start with the 

technology. 

• Focus on the end user. Always draw 

back to how to benefit citizens or 

the bureaucracy. Lead with Design 

Thinking principles.

27 

Keep your outcome Minimum 

and Viable so you can fail fast 

Building anything takes money, 

time and resources. The fewer 

features your solution has, the 

less of these you will need. 

Once something is built, you need to 

test it in order to make sure it does what 

it should and whether your users can 

actually use it. There will inevitably 

be teething problems; identifying an 

issue and fixing it is more costly, time 

consuming and difficult if you have to 

sort through a haystack of features to 

find your problem needle or throw away 

features you have made if it turns out 

they aren’t wanted, necessary or working. 

Identify your features 

This is why you need to identify what 

features you need in your solution 

before you start building. You can then 

determine what are the minimal features 

you can release with. By launching a 

minimum viable product you are saving 

yourself and the Department time, 

money, resources and stress. 

The best example of a minimum viable 

product is transport. If you wanted to go 

from A to B, what would you build to get 

you there? A car? A bike? A scooter? The 

answer is a skateboard. It has everything 

you need and nothing else. It is quick and 

easy to build and when tested, any issues 

can be easily identified and remedied. 

Test and test and test... 

and then build 

It is also important to remember that 

once something is built it is more 

expensive, time consuming and difficult 

to change. So don’t build anything 

until you have tested your concept and 

design with users. This can be done with 

interviews, surveys, storyboards, sketches 

and wireframes. Things you pick up early 

will save you a lot of pain later. 

Things you 

pick up 

early will 

save you a 

lot of pain 

later

28 

Keep your outcome Minimum 

and Viable so you can fail fast 

Once you have built and tested the 

skateboard you can iterate on it and add 

additional features like the handlebars of 

a scooter, the seat of the bike and so on. 

The point is to start with only what you 

need and iterate on that design. Testing 

after each iteration is crucial. This will 

tell you how your users find and engage 

with your solution. You may end up 

with a car or even a rocketship but that 

shouldn’t be your first iteration. Each one 

should build on the one that came before 

it to ensure that it is meeting the needs 

of your users and the goals of the project 

rather than just becoming cluttered with 

features. 

Failing fast 

And if the first or early designs don’t 

work, then don’t worry because you 

haven’t invested much. This is called 

“failing fast” and allows you to try out 

new ideas without the fear and issues 

associated with large projects. You can 

try new and innovative things because 

they are low cost and impact. Then if 

something is unsuccessful stakeholders 

are not compelled to continue 

resourcing it as can be the case with 

large Government projects. Instead, new 

approaches can be taken to find new 

solutions and lessons can be taken from 

earlier attempts. 


• Start by identifying the features your 

solution needs based on the needs of 

your users and goals of the project. 

You can rank them according to Must 

Have, Could Have, Should Have and 

Won’t Have. 

• It’s more expensive and difficult to 

make changes once something is built, 

so test early and often. 

• Iterate, iterate, iterate. 

• Fail fast so you can learn 

and improve with minimal cost.

29 

iterate, 

iterate, 

iterate.

30 

Find the Right Co-Conspirators 

Unfortunately for every person 

you find willing to champion 

your concept or innovative idea 

you are sure to find five who 

will at best get in your way or at 

worst actively try and block it. 

Organisational politics are always at 

play and just because you think you’ve 

found the game changing policy idea 

or revolutionary program delivery 

framework doesn’t mean it will rise to 

the top. Therefore, it is essential that 

you nurture your relationships not just 

within your own team but all across the 

Organisation and at all levels. 

You can use these relationships to 

validate your ideas. It is important to 

remember that just because something 

is a problem for you does not mean 

that it will be a problem for everyone. 

Conversely, it might be a problem that 

has been solved elsewhere. This is why 

it is important to discuss your idea with 

people to get their feedback early on. 

This will determine whether you pursue 

the idea and how. 

discuss 

your 

ideas with 

people to 

get their 

feedback 

early on

31 

Find the right Co-Conspirators 

Align your goals, communicate 

them clearly and create a 

teammate, working together 

will greatly improve your odds 

of successfully innovating. 

In addition, one of the most common 

issues we see is when innovative concepts 

are generated outside of the team directly 

responsible for their delivery. This 

kind of cross Department innovation is 

incredibly difficult and is only possible if 

you have the right access and knowledge 

across your Organisation to help those 

ideas traverse the silos. 

So seek out the right allies. Never take a 

concept cold to an unfamiliar audience: 

get to know all of the key players first so 

that they can give you the context as to 

why your idea may be rejected, how to 

sidestep that rejection or pitch to a more 

receptive audience. 

Finding the right co-conspirators is 

similar to finding a co-founder for a start 

up. You want to make sure that you have 

aligned objectives and balanced skill sets. 

An exit strategy with your co-conspirator 

is also useful. Do you want to: 

1. get the concept up and go back to your 

normal work; 

2. be seconded to a team working to 

evolve your concept; or 

3. join a completely new role and team. 


• Socialise and validate your idea inside 

and outside your team to see if it’s a 

problem that needs solving or has been 

solved. 

• Find people to help you with aligned 

objectives and skill sets. 

• Have an exit strategy. 

• Get to know all the key players who will 

be involved in the project. 

• When pitching your idea sell the 

benefits to others and the Department.

32 

Don’t be afraid to look outside 

Don’t reinvent the wheel. 

Your problem will not be unique and 

chances are it may have been attempted 

by someone in Government, even in 

your Department before. Recognise the 

sometimes blinkered mentality of large 

Organisations (Government included) 

and do the legwork to find out what 

might have previously been tried. 

Similarly, your problem might have 

been solved in another (or your own) 

Department but you just haven’t 

been made aware of it. Government 

encourages silos - so break them 

down. You do this by understanding 

your Department and having good 

relationships with people outside of your 

own team, whether in co-conspirators 

or people receptive to your ideas. 

We recommend doing this through 

socialising your idea with your network 

created. 

Government 

encourages 

silos - so 

break them 

down. 

This is where doing your research comes 

back into play. By talking to others 

you will start to understand who your 

problem affects. But don’t just limit 

your enquiries to your own team and 

Department. Talk to anyone you can and 

see how they have solved the same or 

similar problems. Do you they have any 

experiences you can learn from? Advice? 

Suggestions? It’s useful to know the 

model.

33 

Don’t be afraid to look outside 

Additionally, a barrier to change 

can be the internal facing 

nature of organizations. 

When new ideas or innovations are 

brought up, they often bounced around 

internally, without being able to find a 

footing and gain traction. Innovators 

often feel like they are held captive 

within the very organizations they love. 

The antidote is for an individual to 

reach out to someone external from the 

organization for help and to start to use 

their external thinking and methods to 

help bring about change. 

Even a conversation can help to start 

to bring ideas and generate a sense 

that change is possible. But taken to 

its furthest bounds, having someone 

external can help to validate the 

problems that are being experienced, 

help define exactly what those problems 

are and provide a means of articulating 

them can cross across an Organisation. 

There’s many methods of achieving this: 

Design Thinking, User Centered Design, 

even traditional consulting, however just 

that first step is worthwhile. 


• Have a clear elevator pitch of the 

problem you’re look to solve. Make it 

so straightforward that someone else 

could explain on your behalf 

• People outside of Government - 

consultant, agencies - may have a 

better idea than internally on where 

and how to look 

• Get to social events, meet ups - 

whether focused on Government or not 

- to help find the people you’re seeking. 

Tools and resources: 

1. Service Design Examples 

2. IDEO 

3. LinkedIn - Introductions outside of 

LinkedIn hold more gravity however it 

is a great place to connect the dots to 

individuals you’d like to talk. 

4. Public Sector networks - whether 

formal or informal, these are a space of 

where you can get in the room with our 

people in the sector 

5. External agencies with shared value - 

ask your friends, do a search

34 

The best 

way to get 

change 

happening is 

to just start 

doing it.

35 

Go Incognito: Seek Forgiveness, 

Not Approval 

One of the most common lessons 

we’ve learned from intrapeneurs 

and Government hackers is 

that the best way to get change 

happening is to just start doing it. 

If you can, don’t go out and seek approval 

from anyone else, embark on the journey 

on your own. It helps if you keep it small. 

Regardless of the trajectory that this 

enquiry takes, you are already working on 

a solution and producing artefacts of that 

process, which are essential the further 

you go along. 

Having 

something 

tangible to 

demonstrate 

your concept 

is crucial 

Start by “doing” it 

Having something tangible to 

demonstrate your concept is crucial, 

so focus on creating tangible artifacts 

that can be added. These could be 

as simple as a series of photos or a 

presentation; you don’t actually need 

the finished product in most cases. You 

need something that points towards what 

success could look like. At this point, 

you can build a case to keep going when 

you inevitably need to bring more people 

along for the journey by focusing on what 

you can do. 

Bide your time 

Timing can be everything: if there’s an 

election coming up or a big release that 

will hog the media spotlight, then it may 

be be best to go incognito for a longer 

period. But keep the key talking points 

and next steps in your top drawer for 

the time to create the wedge to build 

the momentum you need. Doing it in 

incognito is a key factor in getting the 

series of small wins you need in order to 

build the change that you are looking for. 

Make an assessment if your immediate 

team or supervisor will help put this idea 

in motion. Bring them on board if they 

can help. If you don’t know, ask others 

about how receptive these people are to 

change and new ideas of doing things. If 

you do this and it’s not encouraging read 

the following.

36 

Go Incognito: Seek Forgiveness, 

Not Approval 

Stay quiet longer if it keeps 

your idea in motion 

This may sound like a bit of an oxymoron 

but the best way to keep your idea in 

motion is to not fully disclose what 

it is that you are doing until you feel 

comfortable that you can garner the help 

you need. There is an art to launching 

successful internal projects and the 

fundamental rule from our experience is 

to keep as quiet about the idea as possible 

(from those who will want to block it) 

until you have something tangible, 

something with momentum, under your 

wing. 

The reasons for staying quiet are 

varied. Often embarking on a new 

concept means deviating from your 

current or routine workload and this 

could set you against your colleagues 

or even managers. Your idea may come 

into conflict with the aspirations and 

planning of other people within your 

Department who are more senior and 

have a greater will to get their own ideas 

into action. The more evolved your 

innovative concept can be, the greater 

the chance it will be able to survive in the 

light of day. 

An idea needs time to grow and evolve. 

The sooner you let it out into the world, 

the sooner it receives scrutiny, which 

could result in a premature death. So do 

your best to shield your ideas for as long 

as possible from audiences that you don’t 

think initially will be receptive. 


• Work in the shadows and only reveal 

your work to those who can actively 

progress your cause 

• Seek support at the early stages 

from only those who you believe are 

essential to success 

• Don’t leave a paper trail. Keep your 

ideas in incognito mode. 

• Finding a way to innovate within the 

existing parameters whether it be your 

funding delegation. 

• Ability to second yourself from roles.

37 

Demonstrate Success 

(even in your failures) 

Innovating in a new area is a 

venture into the unknown. You 

start out with a very poor view 

of what an implementation looks 

like and over time, you start to 

come to an understanding of 

what a solution might look like. 

Document your success 

Throughout this process, it is extremely 

important that you capture, document 

and share your findings in a way that 

builds knowledge and confidence around 

the area of enquiry in which you are 

innovating. 

By doing this you can start to define the 

issues you are trying to solve and create 

artefacts which can work together in 

line with future people who might join 

the journey with you. Small successes 

create pathways that are critical to 

overall project success, so it’s crucial to 

capture these moments, either in written 

form, or through some kind of cohesion 

point (like a blog or website) in order to 

highlight them further down the line. 

The same applies to failures. 

Small 

successes 

create 

pathways 

that are 

critical 

to overall 

project 

success

38 

Demonstrate success (even in your failures) 

Speak up about your failures 

The most critical mistake we see 

across the public sector is to keep quiet 

surrounding project failings. Failures 

are an inherent part of innovating. But 

it’s not enough to just fail; you need to 

document those failures and talk openly 

about them. 

They need to be rationalised into the 

broader context of the area, sector, 

field or component you are working to 

innovate. At all times we need to create a 

culture to find a safe space to fail, so it’s 

important to promote all outcomes. 


• Use Canva to present your findings - a 

simple and cheap way to make things 

engaging without needed design 

experience 

• Evernote to track your documents - 

good to keep on your phone, tablet and 

desktop so you always have on hand to 

jot down a name, link or though when 

on the go 

• Google Drive to store your artefacts 

including presentation, documents, 

audio, images and video. 


• Always frame your experience. The 

steps taken are more important than 

the outcome. 

• Ask yourself and the broader team if 

you’d make anyone’s life better. 

• Scope to demonstrate time and cost 

savings for the Department and/or 

citizens are useful and shift the work 

away from a “pilot” 

• Draw examples from other 

jurisdictions trying to get change - 

relate theory and practice in other 

sectors 

• Present in person, don’t do it via an 

email, you need more engagement 

and insight from your co-workers and 

bosses to get the future buy in you 

need.

39 

Finding the Money 

Any concept needs resources 

at some stage, and more often 

than not, your own time is your 

most important resource. 

Once you embark on change, you are 

stealing time from roles and functions 

that you otherwise would have 

performed. This may affect your role 

at work. As momentum gathers this 

will become a challenge, so you need 

to be conscious that you will have to be 

stealing time from somewhere, and it 

may be your personal time. The second 

challenge is financial. Often you need 

money to get some kind of prototype and 

the most common theme we have heard 

is that using discretionary spending is 

the fastest and most practical way of 

commencing movement. 

Acquiring the funds 

It’s one thing to come up with a great, 

innovative idea. How that idea acquires 

the funding needed to come into the 

world of Government and survive is 

another matter. Being aware of your 

delegation is important, in terms of 

being able to justify using it and showing 

the outcomes you’ve been able to get. 

Demonstrating how and where you 

are finding savings and increasing 

productivity is essential in being able to 

justify your actions. 

Alliances are important. Is your problem 

solving a problem for someone else? Can 

your concept be transposed beyond your 

home base? In our experience, we’ve seen 

many concepts stifled internally by petty 

beefs and power plays, however, when 

seen by another area, are hailed as great 

examples. So if you’re not getting traction 

at home, go outside to find it. 

using discretionary spending is 

the fastest and most practical 

way of commencing movement

40 

Finding the Money 

Sell the concept 

To do this, you need to be able to sell the 

concept and be clear on what it is trying 

to do, both internally and externally. If 

you work can be shaped by context it can 

be a key parameter of success i.e how it 

solves your boss’s boss’s problems. This 

can be as simple as pitching a business 

case that promotes efficiency allowing 

staff to dedicate time to other tasks 

rather than requiring them spend time 

on the issue you are trying to change. 

Remember, when you’re pitching your 

idea to others try to think about how it 

will help them, their own self progression 

or the values of their division. This will 

ensure you get the greatest amount of 

buy in and support. 


• Make alliances outside of your home 

base. 

• Know what your and your partners 

procurement delegation is. 

• Find people in other jurisdictions that 

want the same thing you want, build 

your coalition of the willing 

• Keep it minimum and viable - learn to 

produce enough to get the momentum 

you needs 


• One Page Business Model, or for more 

ideas 

• Example of pitch decks for successful 

start ups - there is a lot to learn in how 

ideas and concepts are funded in the 

VC market 

• Putting a productivity gain on your 

activities 

• Examples of Minimum and Viable 

Products

41 

We want to 

support people 

who are willing 

to put their 

head above 

the parapet to 

make change.

42 

Conclusion 

We believe that every person 

working within Government has 

the power to push innovation 

and drive change for the broader 

community or, at a minimum, 

their own area of interest. 

While we would have liked to have 

interviewed more individuals and 

Departments (it’s an inspiring process to 

hear from those who have gone through 

all of the machinations of success and 

failure) the insights we have gathered 

feel consistent and strong enough to 

make an impact. We hope that you take 

away some of the ideas and thoughts 

generated, share them and put them to 

use. 

We want to support people who are 

willing to put their head above the 

parapet to make change. 

This change can be both internal and 

external facing. The same rules apply. 

We encourage internal innovation 

first, to get a grasp of the outcomes and 

the culture, and then move this into 

focusing on external change outside the 

Government sector. You need to create a 

change culture within the Organisation, 

start with small wins and fail fast, fail 

early. We need to build a strong more 

robust culture around failure, but 

in a way that is shared, studied and 

collaborative rather than ashamed. 

Governments need to be able to 

incentivise its staff and partners that 

support it, to try new things. Without 

this, we will repeat the mistakes of 

the past, exasperate wasted resources, 

goodwill and our chance to build a 

greater civil society. 

Acquiring the skills needed to 

successfully hack the bureaucracy should 

be front of mind for any young graduate 

seeking out a career in the public service 

or for those private sector converts 

looking to put their skills to work for the 

public.

43 

Conclusion 

There are always going to be 

impediments, whether they are the 

resources that have been allocated, 

the culture of the Organisation 

or the attitude of superiors. 

These barriers are not unique to 

Government; they exist in the private 

sector and in our everyday lives. 

Practicing the navigational skills learned 

from other walks of life are essential to 

key ideas moving and change possible. 

Inertia is the enemy of innovation. 

For Departments and Organisations 

looking to drive innovation internally, 

the crucial element we stress is to 

establish a plan with clear milestones 

and to communicate these well to 

everyone within your Organisation. 

Innovation is often a messy process, but 

it needn’t be administratively messy. 

There are enough organisations around 

the world going through the same 

process and using the same technologies 

to streamline the process, so learn from 

the very best and go about the process in 

a speedy but well articulated manner. 

Let’s 

collectively 

set up a 

culture 

to help 

change. 

Government can and should continually 

innovate. It has always to some degree 

and has the capacity to do this. It just 

needs to have the courage to make it a 

key part of its culture. 

Let’s collectively set up a culture to help 

change.

Thank you. 

Learn more about Portable at 

portable.com.au

Hacking the Bureaucracy

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