Policy and Practice | June 2021

Chart 2

organized a set of attitudes, needs, and behaviors that spanned the resident population. Mapping these arche- types against adherence and trust in guidance further influenced the subse- quent ideation. The state could make a greater impact on those with some base level of trust, influencing them in the direction of adherence to desired health protocol. Specifically, they could focus on those major moments that matter—what do you do when you find out you tested positive? How do you keep your housemates safe and take care of your basic needs in isolation? Exploring New Opportunities Together, the State of Rhode Island and IBM applied their learnings to identify new strategies and solutions. We looked at opportunities through the lens of being empathetic to real resident needs and empowering communities to take on more responsibility. The empathy for Rhode Island residents was equally relevant in new ideation and the evolution of existing touchpoints. For example, as the state prepared to launch its first resident-facing applica- tion for case investigation and contact tracing, the product team had a new

personas, focusing on how somebody might move between categories and behaviors within a broader ecosystem. For example, Rosa highlighted the story of a high school student living in an urban, multigenerational home and working at a local restaurant. Rosa, her siblings, parents, and grandparents weren’t in a position to uniformly follow state guidelines. They needed to go to work, they couldn’t quarantine safely in their home, and they were nervous about accessing state-provided services. Rosa existed in a complex ecosystem, affected by all facets of the commu- nity around her. For her to engage in the desired behavior, touchpoints and services needed to be designed for her needs, particularly in her most vulner- able moments (see Chart 1). The representative personas and journeys opened up new insights. While the state could recalibrate aspects of its strategy to meet Rosa’s needs, it still needed to think more holistically about the individuals and moments it could influence at scale. The combination of moments that matter and archetypes helped establish a working framework to consider resident needs in strategic design (see Chart 2). The archetypes were distilled from the research and insights to date. They

from existing touchpoints, including a recently launched virtual agent and a robust contact center operation. It added a diary study that captured more than 100 videos of Rhode Islanders, within target demographics, going about their daily lives and experiences with the pandemic. Additionally, it included targeted interviews with dozens of community leaders, business owners, students, teachers, principals, administrators, front-line workers, and contractors. Each story and experience brought new depth to the resident’s per- spective, surfaced barriers to complying with state protocol, and highlighted opportunities to better connect reimag- ined services within communities. The Ecosystem: Mapping Connections and Building Out Archetypes As the multidisciplinary team analyzed research data points, the resident ecosystem and a set of resident archetypes emerged. It was no longer possible to look at K–12, high-density, and small business as independent categories. The majority of individuals fit more than one category, and many exhibited different behavior depending on their setting. The team looked at curated stories for representative

See Empathy on page 26

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June 2021 Policy&Practice