Project hypotheses

Template:

We believe <this capability>

What functionality we will develop to test our hypothesis? By defining a ‘test’ capability of the product or service that we are attempting to build, we identify the functionality and hypothesis we want to test.

Will result in <this outcome>

What is the expected outcome of our experiment? What is the specific result we expect to achieve by building the ‘test’ capability?

We will know we have succeeded when <we see a measurable signal>

What signals will indicate that the capability we have built is effective? What key metrics (qualitative or quantitative) we will measure to provide evidence that our experiment has succeeded and give us enough confidence to move to the next stage.

reference

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###Opportunity brief #1 - Landing page (homepage)

We believe that...

• there should be a landing page that nicely and professionally lays out data, apis, code, etc.
• should be thought given to graphics and layout, some text here and there but pretty intuitive
• has a hero image, possibly one from a Hackathon, maybe even the GSA DS team
• has personas - curious, developer, data consumer - with appropriate outlets to content
• adheres to style guide, largely to USWDS
• is consistent with previous GSA DS sites
• incorporates DAP scripts, search, feedback form, and signup for listserv

Will result in...

• improved use of the site by the personas and others
• being the model for government and industry open data engagement sites

We will know we are right when...

• all items listed above come to fruition,
• as seen through improved metrics and site feedback

Reference: http://open.gsa.gov/; http://federalist.18f.gov.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/site/gsa/open-gsa-redesign/; http://open.nasa.gov; https://www.epa.gov/open

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###Opportunity brief #2 - Subpage for Open Data

We believe that...

• creating an open data landing page at /data that highlights popular GSA data sets and app/software built from GSA data sets *and provides basic introductory paragraph about open data

Will result in...

• increased engagement with GSA open data assets

We will know we are right when...

• visitor click throughs to open data sets increase

Reference: http://open.gsa.gov/data/

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###Opportunity brief #3 - Blog

We believe that...

• creating a blog with an RSS feed

Will result in...

• improved communication with users of GSA open technology

We will know we are right when...

• visitors are actively engage with blog posts and subscribe to the rss feed

References: https://github.com/18F/api-standards https://developer.github.com/changes/

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###Opportunity brief #4 - Subpage for Code

We believe that...

• there should be a landing page for open source code
• it should eloquently lay out GSA's Open Source Software (OSS) policy (including link to OSS repo and pdf), links and narrative around GSA's open source repositories, some narrative around OSS guides for going open source, and where to find more assistance to get to OSS

Will result in...

• increased understanding of GSA OSS and increased use of code through GitHub public repos
• other agencies using our OSS page as a model for display and content

We will know we are right when...

• the number of clicks on our repo link or pdf file
• the number of clicks through to our GitHub repos
• increased inquiries of code that site participants would like to see

Reference: https://github.com/GSA/GSAOpenSourcePolicy

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###Opportunity brief #5 - Subpage for APIs

We believe that...

• there should be a landing page for GSA APIs
• it should display a complete listing of APIs published by GSA, as referenced on data.gov or other GSA sites
• it should enhance the ability of the general public or government agencies to use GSA's APIs
• it should provide references to other government standards regarding APIs
• it should implement ideas and best practices found on other government API pages and developer hubs (Reference https://api.trade.gov/, http://cfpb.github.io/api/hmda/index.html)

Will result in...

• increased understanding of GSA APIs and increased use
• in other agencies using our API page as a model for their efforts

We will know we are right when...

• the number of clicks on our API documentation pages increases
• the number of clicks through to our GitHub repos increases
• the number of views on our data.gov API pages increases

Reference: https://www.govfresh.com/2014/01/next-us-government-api-strategy/

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###Opportunity brief #6 - Personas - Sara

We believe that..

• having customized pages based on visitor needs (persona)

Will result in...

• Increased engagement with site subpages and specific interest topics

We will know we are right when...

• Visitors click on specific persona pages based on their interests
• Visitor click indicate a path to specific topics of interest

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###Opportunity brief #7 - Search

We believe that...

• A site search box available on all pages

Will result in

• Better user experience by allowing the user to find the content they need without clicking through navigation menus

We will know we have succeeded when

• Analytics indicate that users are using the search capability, and clicking on search results to get to pages