Digital Transformation Agency

Mapping what it really takes to go digital across the Australian Public Service

We partnered with the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to find out what helps — and what gets in the way of — digital capability across the Australian Public Service. Our research revealed that digital transformation isn't just a technology problem. It's deeply tied to leadership, culture, and the relationships between people at every level of government.

A set of posters found on the walls at the Digital Transformation Agency that say do the hard work to make it simple and choose obvious over clever every time.

Outcomes

Shaped the Australian Government's agenda for transforming services to make them easier, cheaper, and faster to use
Identified concrete strategies for building the skills needed to design, deliver, and lead digital projects within the APS
Directly informed the development of the Building Digital Capability (BDC) Program, delivered by the DTA and the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) — including digital talent attraction and retention strategies and a senior executive digital leadership program

Services

Sectors

Public Sector

Two digital leaders in the APS mapping out their relationships inside and outside of the APS

A drawing of a flow diagram showing the key stages of a digital project in the APS. Starting with a discovery phase and then moving into the double diamond design process.

Photos from the research phase that was designed to uncover the relationships and processes found within the DTA

The challenge

The Australian Government wanted to transform its services to make them simpler, cheaper, and faster for people to use. But the public sector faced a familiar tension: the ambition for digital transformation was outpacing the capacity to deliver it.

Agencies were grappling with limited resources, difficulty attracting digital talent, and competing priorities that pushed transformation efforts down the list. Leaders across the APS needed a clear picture of what was actually holding their organisations back — and where to focus effort to shift things forward.

A diagram that shows the relationship leaders have inside and outside of the APS — A relationship map that highlighted how closely connected leaders were to different people and organisations inside and outside of the APS

Understanding large, complex organisations

The APS is a sprawling system — hundreds of agencies and departments, each with their own strategy, procedures, legacy systems, people, and culture. There's no single lever you can pull to drive change at that scale.

We conducted research across fourteen APS agencies and departments in Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne, speaking with 66 employees from a wide range of professional backgrounds and levels of seniority.

What we found was that digital capability wasn't just about skills or tools — it was fundamentally shaped by the roles, responsibilities, and relationships between leaders, managers, and staff. An agency's ability to embrace new ways of working depended on how these layers connected and supported each other. That insight helped us identify the key tactical areas the DTA needed to target.