DCHS Insights CX Human-Centered Design @ DCHS PROTOTYPE no real data
DCHS Insights CX How We Spotlight — Spotlights
The half a person writes

The part no pipeline can produce

One program, one community fact, the week's signals, and the people who did the work. Where Resources in Action continues — and the only content here that instructs rather than informs.

What this is

Everything else in the deck is computed. This group is written, by a person, every week — which makes it the most fragile part of the publication and the most valuable. It is also where Resources in Action continues: the rotating program spotlight carries the same goal the roundtables had, in a form that reaches everyone in the same week.

Its position in the prototype is deliberate. The program spotlight lands immediately after the programs-by-volume treemap, so the sequence reads “here is who was busy this week — and here is one of them, in depth.”

Two things follow from that, and both are worth saying plainly. It is the only scene that requires somebody to write something every week, which is why naming owners matters more than it looks. And it is the only scene that can change what a staff member does on Tuesday — the rest inform; this one instructs.

What could go in it

Options to react to, not a recommendation. Strike, keep, and add — reacting to a concrete list is far more productive than starting from a blank page.

The program spotlight

One program a week on a fixed template, so the owning center can write it in twenty minutes rather than treating it as a project. A candidate template:

  • What this program actually does, in plain language — not the brochure.
  • Who is eligible, and the signs to look for in a client in front of you.
  • How to refer — the actual mechanism, one sentence.
  • One real, de-identified example of a client this helped.
  • One thing most staff get wrong about this program.

A community fact

One statistic about Alexandria that reframes the week's numbers. Cheap to produce, easy to get wrong, and the slide most likely to be repeated out loud in a meeting.

Staff highlights

Service anniversaries at five, ten, fifteen years; recognition; a team that did something worth copying. The only content in the deck that is about the people reading it, which is probably why it would get read.

The week's signals

Two or three things that happened, each a number and a sentence. A disciplined format for the announcements that would otherwise arrive as separate all-staff emails.

A client story, de-identified

Not currently in the deck. The persona work made concrete — one real journey through the week. High impact, high consent burden, and it would need a clear rule about who reviews it.

Questions to settle

These are the decisions that have to be made before anything here can run every Monday. Most of them are editorial rather than technical.

Who writes it, and by when?

  • This is the only content that requires a human every single week.
  • What is the Friday deadline, and what runs in its place when the deadline is missed?
  • Who approves it before it reaches 650+ people?
  • A good idea becomes a publication at exactly this question, or it does not.

What is the rotation, and is it published in advance?

  • How many programs are there, and how long until one comes round again?
  • Does a center find out weeks ahead so it can prepare, or the Monday before?
  • What happens when the rotation reaches a program that is having a difficult month?

Which bullet is non-negotiable?

  • “One thing most staff get wrong about this program” is probably the bullet that makes people read.
  • Do we agree — and will a center genuinely write that about itself?
  • If it gets quietly dropped in week three, the spotlight becomes a brochure.

How do we handle naming people?

  • Staff highlights need a consent rule, a fairness rule about who chooses, and a plan for the week nobody is nominated.
  • Is publishing a service anniversary an approved use of that record?
  • Recognition that looks arbitrary does more damage than no recognition at all.

Does the community fact have to connect to the week?

  • The prototype ties its Census fact to that week's busiest program, which is what makes it land.
  • Is that connection required, or is an interesting fact enough on its own?
  • Requiring the connection makes it much harder to write on a Friday afternoon.

What stops this becoming another ignored all-staff email?

  • Everything in this group is a reason to open it. Everything in the other groups is a reason to keep reading.
  • What is the one thing a reader would miss if they skipped a week?
  • Would this Monday's edition have changed what the front desk knew when Janice walked up?

What it would take

What each slide needs, and the question that has to be answered before we know whether we can produce it. The systems are named loosely on purpose — which system holds what is exactly what the working group should nail down.

Metric Where it would come from What we would need The open question
Program spotlight copy Not a data source — a person at the owning center A named owner per program, the template, and a submission deadline Twenty minutes a week from somebody senior enough to be accurate. Is that time real, and who covers it when they are on leave? Who can answer this: ______________
The supporting number on the spotlight Whatever the program already reports One figure the center can stand behind — cohort size, people served, referrals accepted Does the center have that number to hand? If not, a twenty-minute task quietly becomes a two-day one. Who can answer this: ______________
Staff highlights Service records for anniversaries; a nomination route for everything else A weekly list of upcoming anniversaries, plus whatever the recognition process already produces Is publishing an anniversary an approved use of that record, and who decides what qualifies as a highlight? Who can answer this: ______________
Community fact Public ACS and Census tables, plus local open data One statistic with its source and vintage recorded alongside it Who picks it, and who checks it? A wrong fact in a Monday email is the fastest way to lose the room's trust in every other number. Who can answer this: ______________
The week's signals Mixed — usually a number somebody already watches Two or three items with a number and a sentence Is anyone actively watching for these during the week, or does this become a scramble every Friday afternoon? Who can answer this: ______________

DCHS Insights CX

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