Since when did eGovernment need the Royal Mail?

eGovernment is supposed to save us time (and them money). It is supposed to make things easier and more accessible for citizens. Well, that's the theory at least. The reality can be somewhat different.

I've moved, so decided to order a new drivers license. You can do this online via DirectGov. In theory it's a simple exercise. I have a digital passport (so no need for a new picture) and I have my Government Gateway User ID.

Good. Only trouble is I have no idea what my password is. Why would I. I never use it. I know the number (it's on the card) and I've tried every possible combination of every possible password I have ever used. Not working.

No worries, you can reset the password.

Well, you can.... But to do this, you have to provide information to confirm who you are: Name, date of birth and address. Not unreasonable but I'll come back to this.

You then answer three security questions set up months, even years, before. If you're like me these aren't something you're going to get right straight away. Eventually I narrowed down the options, an exercise in mental contortion in its own right. The system told me it would send me a new password. By post. To the address I entered. Hello! I don't live there anymore, do I! That's what I wanted to change in the first place.

Apart from being hugely frustrating for the user (me), this is also a really badly designed system. And not exactly secure either. Posting me a password to an old address is possibly the most stupid way you could do this, short of scribbling it on a beer mat and leaving it on the bar in some random pub.

And the point of this is? If we are to engage people online, get them transacting online, participating online and eager to come back and do it again (online), then the visitor experience must be a pleasant and successful one. Bluntly, it must be easier and more convenient than doing any other way: It must work for the user.

This is a classic example of a system designed on the inside, by the inside, for the inside. This paradigm died years ago and is even more inappropriate in a web environment.

If government is serious about working online then online needs to work.