There is a quiet truth we rarely say out loud, but almost everyone feels it: government touches every life, yet most people find government services difficult to navigate. We deal with long lines, confusing forms, unclear instructions, repeated visits, unpredictable timelines, and offices that often feel intimidating rather than welcoming. It is not that government does not work hard. It does. Public servants work incredibly long hours, manage enormous responsibilities, and operate within complex constraints. And yet, somewhere between intention and experience, something gets lost. Citizens struggle. Officers feel stuck. Processes become heavier each year. Trust slowly wears out on both sides.

And in this gap—this space between how services are meant to work and how people actually experience them—lies the real opportunity for transformation.

This book is about that transformation. It is about making governance simple, humane, responsive, and intuitive. It is about designing public services around people’s lives rather than around paperwork. It is about rediscovering the heart of public administration, which is not forms or files or protocols, but ordinary human beings trying to get through the day. It is about seeing governance not as an abstract system, but as a collection of everyday journeys—a mother trying to immunise her child, a student trying to obtain a certificate, a senior citizen trying to access pension, a victim trying to file a complaint, a commuter trying to reach home safely.

And it is about asking a simple but powerful question: How can we make these journeys easier?

The answer lies in design thinking. Not design as in graphics or aesthetics, but design as in understanding human needs deeply, framing problems clearly, imagining solutions creatively, testing ideas quickly, and improving services continuously. Design thinking is both a mindset and a method. It starts not with instructions but with empathy. It does not assume that problems are obvious. It digs beneath the surface to see what is actually happening. It treats citizens not as passive users but as partners. And it accepts that improvement is never one big reform but a series of small, thoughtful steps.

Across the world, governments have begun to discover the power of this approach. Singapore redesigned entire life journeys—birth, parenthood, ageing—by looking at them from the citizen’s eyes. Denmark built one of the world’s first public-sector innovation labs, bringing together police, social workers, and teachers to co-create solutions. The United Kingdom’s Policy Lab uses creative techniques like journey mapping and rapid prototyping to reshape complex policies. New Zealand’s welfare reforms were grounded in deep listening rather than administrative assumptions. Estonia, the digital pioneer, reimagined governance as a seamless experience where services appear almost instantly, quietly, without friction.

Even in India, we see glimpses of design-led governance everywhere. Passport Seva simplified applications and reduced waiting time dramatically by redesigning spaces and workflows. UPI made payments intuitive by focusing on user experience rather than technical complexity. DBT transformed welfare by eliminating friction points. DigiLocker made documentation retrieval effortless. Many districts redesigned police stations, hospitals, anganwadis, and public spaces based on citizen feedback.

These successes prove one thing: when governments design for people, everything improves—efficiency, trust, compliance, satisfaction, and even staff morale.

Yet design thinking in government is still new, still emerging, still misunderstood. Many officers feel it is too abstract, too academic, too corporate, or too time-consuming. Some believe innovation requires huge budgets or special technology. Others feel that rules and regulations do not allow experimentation. Many simply do not know where to begin.

This book was written to break those myths. It aims to show that design thinking is not a luxury—it is a necessity. It is not complicated—it is actually very simple. It does not slow the system—it accelerates it. And it does not require massive reforms—it thrives on small, smart, human-centred changes. The chapters in this book follow a journey. We begin by understanding why design thinking matters today—why a world full of digital expectations, complex problems, and declining trust needs a new way of approaching governance. We then travel through the history of administrative thinking, from classical bureaucracy to New Public Management to citizen-centred governance, and finally to design thinking as the next evolutionary step. We break down the core elements of the design thinking process—empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing—in extremely simple language with stories and examples from around the world and across India. We explore how governments can institutionalise innovation, how to build innovation labs, how to run 100-day problem-solving cycles, how to measure citizen experience, and how to imagine the future of proactive and anticipatory governance.

Every chapter is practical. Every idea is accessible. Every tool is something any officer or frontline worker can use at any level—from village to district to ministry. You do not need a specialised background or a high-tech lab. You only need curiosity, humility, and a small team willing to learn with you.

At its core, this book is not really about design thinking. It is about people. It is about restoring dignity in service delivery. It is about reducing effort for citizens. It is about building trust not through announcements but through experience. It is about giving officers permission to observe differently, think differently, and act differently. It is about making governance feel alive, flexible, and compassionate again.

Public service is one of the most noble professions in the world. But it becomes even more meaningful when officers can actually see the impact of their work in people’s lives—not in dashboards or reports, but in the relief on a mother’s face when she receives a certificate without hassle, in the confidence of a young person who finds education simpler to access, in the gratitude of an elderly citizen who no longer fears visiting a government office.

Design thinking strengthens this connection. It brings officers back into touch with real lives. It helps them see the gap between what they believe the system offers and what citizens actually experience. And it gives them tools to close that gap beautifully.

My hope is that this book becomes a companion for anyone in government who wishes to create a kinder, more effective public service. A book that you can pick up during a busy week and read a few pages to gain clarity. A book that helps you make sense of the chaos. A book that reminds you why you joined public service in the first place.

This is not a textbook. It is not a training manual. It is a conversation—gentle, practical, insightful—between you and the idea of governance that works for human beings. This book does not assume that government is broken. It assumes that government is full of potential waiting to be unlocked. It assumes that officers want to improve but sometimes do not know where to start. It assumes that citizens want to trust the system but often struggle to navigate it.

Above all, it assumes that change is possible. That a single small improvement can begin a ripple. That one redesigned form, one simplified step, one kinder interaction, one well-designed space, one transparent process, one listening session can alter the experience of thousands.

Design thinking gives us the courage to try.

And trying, as you will see, is where all transformation begins.

Let us begin this journey together—with open eyes, open ears, and open minds.

About the Author:

Dr Mukesh Jain is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.  He obtained his Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University along with Edward Mason Fellowship. Mukesh Jain received his PhD in Strategic Management from IIT Delhi.

Mukesh Jain joined the Indian Police Service in 1989, Madhya Pradesh cadre. As an IPS officer, he held many challenging assignments in the state of Madhya Pradesh and Government of India. He served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Power and Joint Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) [DEPwD], Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, where he conceptualized and implemented the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), which was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.  

Dr. Mukesh Jain has authored many books on Public Policy and Positive Psychology.  His book, ‘Excellence in Government, is a recommended reading for many public policy courses. His book- “A Happier You: Strategies to achieve peak joy in work and life using science of Happiness”, received book of the year award in 2022.   After this, two more books, first, A ‘Masterclass in the Science of Happiness’ and the other, ‘Seeds of Happiness’, have also been received very well. He is a visiting faculty to many business schools and reputed training institutes.